Mood Indigo
Based on the cult novel by Boris Vian and directed by Michel Gondry, Mood Indigo tells the surreal and poetic tale of Colin (Romain Duris) and Chloe (Audrey Tautou) and their idyllic love-story.
Set in a fantasy version of Paris, their romantic adventure is turned on its head when Chloe falls sick and discovers a water lily growing in her lung...
To celebrate the release of Mood Indigo, in cinemas Friday 1st August, we take a look at other foreign actors and actresses from across the Glove and how they began their acting career, and how they established themselves in Hollywood.
- Penelope Cruz
Spanish actress Cruz was a national idol in her home country, known as the ‘Spanish Enchantress’. Born to Eduardo and Encarna Cruz-Sanchez, Penelope studied classical ballet as a child, and later moved to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting.
She was the first Spanish actress to win an Academy Award for her performance in the film Vicky Christina Barcelona.
Cruz made her film debut in 1992, in the dark film Jamón Jamón. Her performance earned her nominations for both the Spanish Actors Union Newcomer Award and the Goya Award (Spain's Academy Award) for best lead actress.
A year later, Cruz played Luz in The Age of Beauty (1992). The film won an Oscar (best foreign language film) and earned Cruz the Spanish Actors Union Award for best supporting performance.
At the age of 25, Cruz moved to Hollywood, to break the film industry overseas. Fully in command and on top of her career, she took on the role of a control freak and successful chef in Woman on Top (2000).
That same year, she played the romantic lead in Billy Bob Thornton's Western All the Pretty Horses. Both films garnered critical success. Cruz is well-known for her roles in such films as Vanilla Sky, Captain Corelli's Mandolin and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
- Jackie Chan
Chinese actor, director and producer Jackie Chan was once dubbed the successor of Bruce Lee in Hong Kong cinema. His distinctive fusion of martial arts, and physical comedy has aided in his international film stardom.
He appeared in his first film, the Cantonese feature Big and Little Wong Tin Bar (1962), when he was only eight, and went on to appear in a number of musical films.
In 1971, Chan found work as an acrobat and a movie stuntman, most notably in Fist of Fury (1972), starring Hong Kong's resident big-screen superstar, Bruce Lee.
For that film, he reportedly completed the highest fall in the history of the Chinese film industry, earning the respect of acclaimed actor Bruce Lee.
Combining his martial arts skills with an impressive nerve - he insisted on performing all of his own stunts and with this Chan found his own formula for cinematic success.
In 1995, Chan created his own comic book character, the central figure in Jackie Chan's Spartan X, hitting Asia and the US. That same year, newly anointed directing sensation Quentin Tarantino, fresh off the success of Pulp Fiction (1994), presented Chan with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the MTV Movie Awards.
Chan had another big box-office hit with Rush Hour (also 1998), an American-produced action-comedy. In Rush Hour, Chan employed his English-language skills as a Chinese police officer on an exchange program in the U.S. who is partnered with a streetwise Los Angeles cop, played by the rising comedian Chris Tucker.
In 2000, Chan starred in Shanghai Noon, another crossover comedy-action film set in the Old West and co-starring Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu.
- Antonio Banderas
Another Spanish success, Banderas was born in Malaga and shot to fame in his home country when he worked exclusively with Almodóvar in such films as Matador (1985) and La ley del deseo (1986). His first American movie role was in The Mambo Kings (1992), and still speaking no English, he was forced to learn his lines phonetically.
Early in the 1990s, largely due to the international popularity of Almodóvar's films, he began a film career in Hollywood. His real breakthrough to the mainstream American audience came with starring in Philadelphia (1993).
Banderas played the gay lover of a lawyer with AIDS, played by Tom Hanks, with a sensitivity that earned him Hollywood status.
Banderas' next big movie, Evita (1996) opposite Madonna, found the Spanish actor in a role singing and dancing.
The following year, Banderas starred inThe Mask of Zorro (1998), with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins. Along with his work in front of the camera, Banderas has found success by using only his deep, distinctive voice. He won new fans as Puss in Boots in the popular animated film Shrek 2 (2004), which was folowed by the spin-off filmPuss in Boots (2011).
- Marion Cotillard
French actress and singer Marion Cotillard was raised in a household of actors, teachers, artists and entertainers, Cotillard decided to become an actress at an early age. At 16, she moved to Paris to pursue her dream, and by 2001, she had won France’s prestigious Cesar Award for her performance as twins Lucie and Marie in Les Jolie Choses.
Cotillard made her Hollywood debut in Tim Burton’s 2003 fantasy Big Fish. She then captured her second Cesar Award for her turn in 2004’s A Very Long Engagement with Audrey Tautou.
It was Cotillard’s starring performance as fallen French singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose that made international audience take notice. Her uncanny transformation into Piaf earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for best actress.
2011 saw her break Hollywood with her role in Inception, and again in 2012 performing in The Dark Knight Rises.
- Christoph Waltz
Christoph Waltz was born to Elisabeth Urbancic, a costume designer, and Johannes Waltz, a stage builder. He was born into a theater family.
Waltz studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. He also attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York. He started as a stage actor, performing at venues such as Zurich's Schauspielhaus Zürich, Vienna's Burgtheater, and the Salzburg Festival.
He worked mostly in theatre around London and Germany in the 80s and his career really took off when he met Quentin Tarantino.
He is best known for his works with the American filmmaker, receiving acclaim for portraying SS-Standartenführer Hans Landa in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009) and bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012).
For each performance, he won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Additionally, he received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Landa.
Other films he’s worked on include Water For Elephants (2011), The Green Hornet (2011), and Carnage (2011).
Mood Indigo is released 1st August.
Tagged in Antonio Banderas Jackie Chan Penelope Cruz