Amira Casar
Amira Casar is a British-born actress who grew up in England, Ireland, and France.
Early life
Amira is the daughter of a Kurdish father and a Russian mother. She was born in London and was subsequently raised in England, Ireland, and France. She studied drama at the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique de Paris between 1991 and 1994. She is fluent in both English and French and has worked in German, Italian, and Spanish.Career
Casar's first role was in the 1989 film ' by. She played Sandra Benzakhem in the 1997 film La Vérité si je mens !, for which she was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress. She later appeared in the film's two sequels, in 2001 and 2012.Casar portrayed Myriem in How I Killed My Father by Anne Fontaine; Assia Wevill in Sylvia by Christine Jeffs; the lead role of The Woman in the Catherine Breillat erotic film Anatomy of Hell ; and Eva in To Paint or Make Love by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
Other roles include Marianne in Hypnotized and Hysterical, a film by which won the Grand Golden Rail at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival; Malvina van Stille in The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes by the Brothers Quay ; and Marie in Tony Gatlif's Transylvania in 2006.
In 2007, Casar appeared in installation artist Sophie Calle's Venice Biennale piece Prenez soin de vous.
In 2008, she played Dolorès in Laetitia Masson's ', and portrayed Irene in Werner Schroeter's last film, Nuit de chien. Casar played the lead role of Anna Di Baggio in the film ' in 2009.
She won the Best Actress award at La Rochelle Television Film Festival for her portrayal of Dora Maar in ' in 2010. In 2011, Casar played Irène in , and Deniz in Playoff. In 2013, she appeared in the Arnaud des Pallières film Michael Kohlhaas, and portrayed Anne-Marie Munoz in Bertrand Bonello's Saint Laurent in 2014.
In 2015, Casar appeared in The Forbidden Room by Canadian director Guy Maddin. and portrayed Béatrice, Madame de Clermont, in the TV series Versailles. In 2017, she played Annella Perlman in the film Call Me by Your Name. She also appeared in the Caroline Fourest film Sisters in Arms, about a team of female Kurdish soldiers and volunteers.
On stage, Casar's work includes the Almeida Theatre production of Aunt Dan and Lemon; the title role in Hedda Gabler at Le Petit Théâtre de Paris; and Olivier Py's 2009 production of Les Enfants de Saturne at the Theatre National de L'Odéon, Paris. In 2011, she appeared in the title role of Petra in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and received critical acclaim in Arthur Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher at the Barbican Centre with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Casar also appeared in the 1995 Bryan Adams music video for "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?".
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Director |
| 1989 | ' | Girl on the train | |
| 1994 | Le Temps du bonheur | Caroline Champetier | |
| 1995 | Départ immediat | Woman | Thomas Briat |
| 1995 | ' | Alice | |
| 1996 | ' | Farida | Bernard Rapp |
| 1996 | Mirada liquida | Ana | Rafael Monleon |
| 1997 | Marie from the Bay of Angels | Young woman at the villa | Manuel Pradal |
| 1997 | La Vérité si je mens ! | Sandra Benzakhem | |
| 1999 | Why Not Me? | Camille | |
| 1999 | ' | Anne-Laure | Valérie Lemercier |
| 2000 | ' | Catherine | |
| 2000 | Le coeur à l'ouvrage | Noëlle | |
| 2001 | ' | Claire | |
| 2001 | ' | Sandra Benzakhem | |
| 2001 | How I Killed My Father | Myriem | Anne Fontaine |
| 2001 | ' | Fatima / Carmen | Carlos Saura |
| 2002 | Hypnotized and Hysterical | Marianne | |
| 2003 | Un autre homme | Marie | Catherine Klein |
| 2003 | Sylvia | Assia Wevill | Christine Jeffs |
| 2003 | The Very Merry Widows | Claudia | Catherine Corsini |
| 2003 | ' | Nadia | Gaël Morel |
| 2004 | ' | Ghost | |
| 2004 | ' | Zelda Mitchell | Jacques Baratier |
| 2004 | Anatomy of Hell | The Woman | Catherine Breillat |
| 2005 | The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes | Malvina van Stille | Brothers Quay |
| 2005 | To Paint or Make Love | Ava | Arnaud Larrieu |
| 2005 | ' | Vera | |
| 2006 | Transylvania | Marie | Tony Gatlif |
| 2007 | The Last Mistress | Mademoiselle Divine des Airelles | Catherine Breillat |
| 2007 | Kandisha | Nyla Jayde | Jérôme Cohen-Olivar |
| 2007 | ' | Muriel | Emmanuel Bourdieu |
| 2008 | Quelques nouvelles du continent | Alice | Max Jourdan |
| 2008 | Nuit de chien | Irene | Werner Schroeter |
| 2008 | ' | Isabella | |
| 2008 | ' | Socialite journalist | |
| 2008 | ' | Dolorès | Laetitia Masson |
| 2009 | ' | Mme Gommette | Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt |
| 2009 | ' | Anna Di Biaggio | |
| 2009 | Park Benches | Customer | Bruno Podalydès |
| 2010 | Districted Leporello | Woman | Julião Sarmento |
| 2011 | Playoff | Deniz | Eran Riklis |
| 2011 | ' | Irène | |
| 2012 | Michael Kohlhaas | Abbess | Arnaud des Pallières |
| 2012 | ' | Sandra Benzakhem | |
| 2013 | ' | Guy Maddin | |
| 2014 | Saint Laurent | Anne-Marie Munoz | Bertrand Bonello |
| 2014 | Not My Type | Marie | Lucas Belvaux |
| 2015 | The Last Summer of the Rich | Hanna von Stezewitz | Peter Kern |
| 2015 | The Forbidden Room | Mrs. M____ | Guy Maddin |
| 2015 | Me and Kaminski | Miriam Kaminski | Wolfgang Becker |
| 2016 | ' | Renate Bode | Virgil Widrich |
| 2017 | Call Me by Your Name | Annella Perlman | Luca Guadagnino |
| 2018 | At Eternity's Gate | Johanna van Gogh-Bonger | Julian Schnabel |
| 2019 | Sisters in Arms | Commander | Caroline Fourest |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1997 | Opération Bugs Bunny | Marie-Noëlle | TV movie |
| 2000 | Arabian Nights | Morgiana | TV miniseries |
| 2001 | Murder on the Orient Express | Helena von Strauss | TV movie |
| 2003 | 40 | Kristina | TV miniseries |
| 2003 | ' | Rachel | TV miniseries |
| 2008 | ' | Antonia | TV movie |
| 2010 | ' | Dora Maar | TV movie |
| 2015 | Versailles | Béatrice, Madame de Clermont | TV series |
| 2017 | ' | Gabrielle Monti | TV movie |
| 2019 | Savages | Daria | TV series |
Accolades
- 1998 – Nomination: César Award for Most Promising Actress for La Vérité si je mens !
- 2016 – Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters