She has her father's snub-nosed; the gentle look of his mother. Anna Biolay, daughter of Benjamin Biolay and Chiara Mastroianni, will climb the steps of the Cannes Film Festival this Thursday to present the film Rosalie, by Stéphanie Di Giusto, in which she plays opposite her father. A great first for this young actress of 19 years, who has always gravitated in this world. Supported by both her parents under the sun of the Croisette, she will also be joined by her grandmother, Catherine Deneuve, illustrious actress of French cinema, during the said competition. A Dantesque, intimidating family heritage that this child of the ball seems ready to endorse.
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To earn one's spurs
"You would have to be above ground not to realize how lucky I am to belong to this family that has passed on so many treasures to me. Culture first. But also the passion for art, music and cinema, "she told Madame Figaro before the ceremony. But, although aware of her status as "Nepo baby", the nickname given to the "sons and daughters of" who invest in the cultural industry, Anna Biolay feeds more than anything the desire to get rid of this golden cage, by making, eventually, a name.
Her father likes to remind us: Anna Biolay is, certainly, the granddaughter of Catherine Deneuve and the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni (La Dolce Vita), but she is also that of the grandparents Biolay, Jacques and Chantal, musicians living modestly in Beaujolais. "The world is constantly reminding her of who she is. But she is also my daughter and my parents' granddaughter. She is fully aware of these more provincial and popular roots, "said the 50-year-old singer, interpreter of the song Ton Héritage, written for her. Remember: "It's not your fault, it's your legacy... It's not your fault, it's your flesh, your blood, we'll have to deal with it, or, rather, without."
He likes to get away from easy criticism to focus only on the acting of his daughter, cast "behind his back" he says, for Rosalie. "I immediately looked at her like the other actresses that's all (...) I don't know if it's in the genes, and I'm not talking about mine, but she has a real ease when she acts. It's quite impressive to observe," he said in an interview with TéléStar last December.
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Fan of Truffaut
An opinion shared by the actress Anne Marivin, who gave him the answer in the TV movie La vie, l'amour, tout de suite, released in January 2023, one of Anna Biolay's first appearances in front of the camera. She plays Amélie, a young girl with cystic fibrosis. "Anna is an extremely sensitive, intelligent and hyper-well-mannered actress. She arrives with such a legacy that she sometimes feels disturbing. It has to exist. She is made for this job. If she continues on this path, I predict a nice course for her." A path that his mother, Chiara Mastroianni, seems totally ready to accept: "Many actors hope that their children will not take this path. Not me," she told us recently.
Where does this certain talent come from, if not from its genes? Perhaps she also owes them to her hours spent watching 'everything she could' in a rich and hand-picked film library. A fan of Truffaut, a special mention to her grandmother Catherine Deneuve, Anna Biolay has forged a strong and sharp cultural identity not without difficulty. His latest favorite: the film The Whale, by Darren Aronofsky, which earned Brendan Fraser the Oscar for Best Actor in 2023.
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Bambi Music
Child of divorced parents - Benjamin Biolay and Chiara Mastroianni left each other in 2009 after seven years of marriage - we can imagine the life of the young Anna, wandering her fingers, every other week, in her mother's cinematheque or her father's vinyl cases. An avid reader, "especially for Stefan Zweig", she is also a great music lover, who knew how to find some comfort in music and in her father's first love. The one who likes to sing and who is particularly sensitive to punk, still practices under the pseudonym of Bambi.
Thus, among his idols: Amy Winehouse and Kurt Cobain, "free and closed spirits". But also Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and rappers like Tupac or The Notorious B.I.G, proof of all his eclecticism. Endowed with great sensitivity, Anna Biolay, who likes to walk in the rain, dreamy with her music, in the streets of Paris, would also be "a born singer", hammers her father. She also contributed to his album Grand Prix, released in 2020 and widely recognized by critics, crediting herself, always, as Bambi.
Jack-of-all-trades, therefore, and visibly talented, it may well be that we discover her in a few years climbing the steps of another ceremony: that of the Victoires de la Musique, perhaps, with an album to present. His legacy?