Josiane Balasko

Josiane Balasko is a French actress, writer, and director. She has been nominated seven times for César Awards, and won twice.

Career

One of Balasko's most recognized roles among English speakers is as a lesbian in 1995's Gazon maudit. She won the 1996 César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation, and was also nominated as Best Director. The movie was nominated for Best Film.
Balasko's other César nominations for Best Actress were for Too Beautiful for You, Tout le monde n'a pas eu la chance d'avoir des parents communistes, and That Woman.

1973–1980: Early years

Balasko began her career in 1973. She was 23 years old when she first appeared on screen, in the short L'Agression, with Patrick Bouchitey. She was in the movie L'an 01, directed by Jacques Doillon.
After an absence of three years she returned to the screen in 1976 in the film The Tenant, directed by Roman Polanski, with a screenplay written by him and Gérard Brach. The movie was based on the novel written by Roland Topor.
Balasco career exploded in 1977, when she appeared in seven films over the course of the year. She first appeared in Solveig et le Violon turc, with Eugène Ionesco and Dominique Lavanant. She played Simone in Une fille unique, alongside her boyfriend at the time, Bruno Moynot.
She appeared in Animal, directed by Claude Zidi, with a screenplay written by him, Michel Audiard, and Dominique Fabre. It was a big success with more than three million attendances in France; the movie was #5 in 1977 in France. She appeared in Pardon Mon Affaire, Too!, directed by Yves Robert and written by him and Jean-Loup Dabadie. The movie was also a big success, with more than two million attending in France alone, and was #8 in 1977 in France.
She played Nadine in This Sweet Sickness, directed by Claude Miller, based on the novel written by Patricia Highsmith. The movie starred Gérard Depardieu, Miou-Miou, Claude Piéplu, Dominique Laffin, and Christian Clavier.
She also acted in Monsieur Papa, directed by Philippe Monnier, and with dialogue written by Jean-Marie Poiré. Balasko starred alongside Claude Brasseur, Nathalie Baye, Daniel Auteuil and Éva Darlan.
In 1978, Balasko played in "Si vous n'aimez pas ça, n'en dégoûtez pas les autres", with Gérard Jugnot and Thierry Lhermitte, and in "Les Petits Câlins", directed by Jean-Marie Poiré, alongside Dominique Laffin, Françoise Bertin and Gérard Jugnot. Then, she was in La Tortue sur le dos.
Balasko had the leading role in the comedy "Pauline et l'Ordinateur", for which she wrote the dialogue and where she acted next to Gérard Jugnot, Éva Darlan, Jacques Attali and Marie-Anne Chazel. Finally, she played Nathalie Morin in the cult comedy Les Bronzés, directed by Patrice Leconte, with her friends from Le Splendid, Marie-Anne Chazel, Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Christian Clavier and Dominique Lavanant. The movie was a hit with more than two million attendances.
In 1979, Balasko played Emma-Ammé in one episode of the TV Mini-Series, "Les Quatre Cents Coups de Virginie", alongside Anémone. Then Nathalie Morin again, in the sequel Les Bronzés font du ski with the same cast, which was also a success with more than a millions attendances. She also appeared as a client in the movie "Les héros n'ont pas froid aux oreilles", with Daniel Auteuil, Gérard Jugnot, Roland Giraud, Gérard Lanvin, Michel Blanc, Thierry Lhermitte, Marie-Anne Chazel and Christian Clavier.

1981–1990: directing debut

1981 was very successful for Balasko. First, she played Louise in Clara et les Chics Types. Later, she had the leading role in the comedy Les hommes préfèrent les grosses. The movie was a commercial success. It was directed by Jean-Marie Poiré, who co-wrote the film, with Balasko. After this, she was in another comedy named Le Maître d'école, directed by Claude Berri. This film was also commercially successful, the #9 movie at the French Box Office in 1981. She played Colette, a supporting role, in Hotel America, directed by André Téchiné. It starred Catherine and Patrick Dewaere.
In 1982, Balasko was in another cult movie, Le Père Noël est une ordure, directed for the third time by Jean-Marie Poiré. The film was commercially successful.
In 1983, Balasko had two comedy hits. Papy fait de la résistance, which was #7 in the 1983 French box office, and Signes extérieurs de richesse, another success.
In 1984, Balasko played a supporting role in the comedy P'tit Con, directed by Gérard Lauzier. She had the leading role in the comedy, La smala, directed by Jean-Loup Hubert. Finally, she played a supporting role in the comedy La vengeance du serpent à plumes directed by Gérard Oury. The movie was her biggest success of that year. In 1985, she appeared in the movie Tranches de vie directed by François Leterrier. That year she also made her directoral debut with the comedy Sac de noeuds, which she wrote, directed and starred in.

1990 onward

Since 1990, Balasko has enjoyed a busy career acting in numerous films in a very wide variety of roles but having an international directing success in 1995 with Gazon Maudit, in which she co-starred with Alain Chabat and gained her a César for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation and a nomination for Best Film. In 2006 she was re-united once again with the Le Splendid team for another Bronzés film Bronzés 3: Amis pour La Vie.

2012–present

In 2018, Balasko record a song with the rapper Mac Tyer on his album C'est la street mon pote.
In February 2019, Balasko received the Crystal Comedy Award during the 4th Festival International du Film de Comédie de Liège to reward her career.

Personal life

was her partner from 1974 until 1981. In a second union with sculptor Philippe Berry, she had a daughter, Marilou Berry, also an actress, and an adopted son, Rudy Berry. She divorced from Philippe Berry in 1999 and married American actor George Aguilar in 2003, whom she met on the set of The Frenchman's Son in 1999.

Filmography

Actress

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1973	The Year 01
1976	The Tenant	Viviane
1976	An Unusual Girl	Simone
1977	Pardon Mon Affaire, Too!	Josy
1977	This Sweet Sickness	Nadine
1977	Animal	Supermarket Girl
1977	Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo	Uncredited
1977	Monsieur Papa
1978	French Fried Vacation	Nathalie Morin
1978	The Little Wheedlers	Corinne
1978	Pauline et l'Ordinateur	Pauline
1978	Si vous n'aimez pas ça, n'en dégoûtez pas les autres	A spectator
1978	Like a Turtle on Its Back
1979	French Fried Vacation 2	Nathalie Morin
1979	Heroes Are Not Wet Behind the Ears	A client
1980	Les Quatre Cents Coups de Virginie	Emma-Ammé	TV Mini-Series
1981	Men Prefer Fat Girls	Lydie Langlois
1981	Le Maître d'école	Mrs. Lajoie
1981	Hotel America	Colette
1981	Clara et les Chics Types	Louise
1982	Santa Claus Is a Stinker	Madame Musquin
1983	Signes extérieurs de richesse	Béatrice Flamand
1983	Gramps Is in the Resistance	The pharmacist
1984	P'tit Con	Rolande
1984	La smala	Simone
1984	The Vengeance of the Winged Serpent	Jackie
1985	All Mixed Up	Anita
1985	Slices of Life	Madame Dupuis
1986	Nuit d'ivresse	Frède
1986	The Joint Brothers	Aline
1987	Lady Cops	Insp. Mireille Molineux
1988	Without Fear or Blame	Handmaid
1988	Une nuit à l'Assemblée Nationale	The journalist
1989	Too Beautiful for You	Colette Chevassu
1991	My Life Is Hell	Leah Lemonier
1991	The Professional Secrets of Dr. Apfelgluck	The scientist
1993	Not Everybody's Lucky Enough to Have Communist Parents	Irène
1993	Shadow of a Doubt	Sophia
1994	Dead Tired	Herself
1995	French Twist	Marijo
1997	Didier	Madame Massart
1997	Arlette	Arlette Bathiat
1998	Un grand cri d'amour	Gigi Ortega
1999	The Frenchman's Son	Suzanne
2000	The Libertine	Baroness Holbach
2000	Actors	André Dussollier 2
2000	Chicken Run	Bernadette	French Voice
2001	A Crime in Paradise	Lucienne Braconnier
2001	Absolutely Fabulous	Edith "Eddie" Mousson
2002	The Race	Madame Jo
2003	That Woman	Michèle Varin
2004	Madame Édouard	Nina Tchitchi
2005	The Ex-Wife of My Life	Marie-Pierre Sarrazin
2005	It's Our Life!	Blanche Delhomme
2005	I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed	Marguerite Duras
2006	French Fried Vacation 3	Nathalie Morin
2006	David Nolande	Sofia	TV series
2007	The Red Inn	Rose Martin
2007	The Key	Michèle Varin
2008	A French Gigolo	Irène
2008	Ruby Blue	Stéphanie
2008	A Day at the Museum	Mother in Chanel
2008	Françoise Dolto, le désir de vivre	Françoise Dolto	TV movie
2009	The Hedgehog	Renée Michel
2009	Park Benches	Solange Renivelle
2009	Neuilly Yo Mama!	School's director
2010	Holiday	Christiane Mercier
2011	A Happy Event	Claire
2011	Beur sur la ville	Mamie Nova
2012	Sport de filles	Joséphine de Silène
2012	Maman	Paulette Mine
2012	Mes héros	Olga
2013	Demi-soeur	Antoinette Novack
2014	Aunt Hilda!	Dolorès
2014	Les Gazelles	Brigitte
2014	The law of Barbara	Barbara Malo	TV Mini-Series
2015	The Roommates Party	Alexandra Leclère
2015	Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir	Josiane / Sarah	TV series
2016	Back to Mom's	Jacqueline Mazerin
2016	Arrête ton cinéma	Brigitte
2016	Joséphine, Pregnant & Fabulous	Josephine's mother
2016	Par tous les seins	Voice	Short
2017	Let the Sunshine In	Maxime
2017	The New Adventures of Cinderella	Josépha
2018	Bécassine	Mademoiselle Châtaigne
2018	Volontaire	Muriel Baer
2018	J'ai perdu Albert	Simone Le Couidec
2018	Neuilly sa mère, sa mère !	Madame Bachelot
2019	All Inclusive	Lulu
2019	Les envoûtés	Leonora Evesco
2019	Beaux-parents	Coline Rossi
2019	15 Minutes of War	Michèle Sampieri
2019	By the Grace of God	Irène Thomassin
2019	Vous êtes jeunes vous êtes beaux	Mona
2019	Le Bazar de la Charité	Madame Huchon	TV Mini-Series
2020	L'esprit de famille	Marguerite
2020	La pièce rapportée	Adélaïde Château-Têtard
2021	Tralala	Lili Rivière
2021	C'est la vie	Dominique
2021	Mes très chers enfants	Chantal Blanc
2021	Un tour chez ma fille...	Jacqueline Mazerin
2023	Des mains en or	Martha
2024	Captives	Bobotte
2024		Marie-Claude