Nathalie Baye

Nathalie Marie Andrée Baye (born 6 July 1948) is a French film, television, and stage actress. After having dance and dramatic education, Baye began acting in 1970. She has appeared in more than 70 films. She won four César Awards for Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980), Une étrange affaire (1981), La Balance (1982), and Le Petit Lieutenant (2005). She has been nominated a further five times. Baye was born in Mainneville, Eure, Normandy to Claude Baye and Denise Coustet, two painters. At 14 she joined a school of dance in Monaco. Three years later she went to the United States. On returning to France she continued with dance but also registered for the Simon Course and was admitted to the Conservatoire, from where she graduated in 1972 with a second prize in comedy, dramatic comedy and foreign theatre. Her second cinema appearance was in Two People (1973) directed by Robert Wise. She became more widely known as the script girl in La Nuit américaine (Day for Night) by François Truffaut. Throughout the 1970s she played the good girlfriend or nice provincial girl in film and television.

Actor