Vanessa Paradis Biography

Vanessa Chantal Paradis () (born 22 December 1972), known as Vanessa Paradis, is a French singer, model and actress.

She became a child star at 14 with the worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi". Since 1991, Paradis has been a spokesmodel for Chanel. She was in a relationship with actor Johnny Depp from 1998 to 2012. Vanessa's sister, Alysson Paradis, is a French actress.

Biography

Early years

Vanessa Paradis was born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, France, to interior designers André and Corinne Paradis. She began to develop her singing career at the age of eight when her uncle, record producer Didier Pain, helped her appear on the local television program L'"?cole des fans, a talent show for child singers.

1983"1991

She recorded her first single, "La Magie des surprises-parties", in 1983 and performed it in an Italian festival in 1985. Although "La Magie des surprises-parties" was not a hit, it paved the way for the song with which she became internationally famous, "Joe le taxi", in 1987, when she was 14 years old. It was No. 1 in France for 11 weeks and, unusually for a song sung in French, was released in the United Kingdom, where it reached No. 3. It was taken from her first album M&J (it stands for Marilyn & John) which, although it gained a number 13 placing in France, drew little attention in the UK and did not enter the chart.

In March 1989, at age 16, she left high school in order to pursue her career.

She released the album Variations sur le même t'aime in 1990, containing a remake of the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side". The album was written by acclaimed French composer Serge Gainsbourg, whom she met when she received the best singer award at Les Victoires de la Musique, on 4 February 1990. In 1990, Paradis won the 1990 César Award for Most Promising Actress for her role in Noce Blanche.

In 1991, Paradis promoted the fragrance Coco for Chanel. In the advertisement, she was covered in black feathers, portraying a bird swinging in a cage. The advert was shot by Jean-Paul Goude. Paradis spoke of her continued admiration of Chanel in 2010 saying, "The more I know them, the more I love Chanel."

1992"1996

In 1992, she moved to the United States to work with Lenny Kravitz, whom she also dated at the time. Paradis started working on a new album in English, a language in which she was now fluent. Written and produced by Kravitz, the album, titled Vanessa Paradis, topped the French chart and briefly made the UK listings (number 45). One of the singles from it was "Be My Baby", which made number 5 in France and gave her another Top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at No. 6.

In March 1993, Paradis started her first international tour, the Natural High Tour; she performed in France, England and Canada.

In February 1994, Live was released in France.

In April 1994, Paradis filmed "?lisa, under the direction of Jean Becker. Elisa was a big success in France, and was released internationally.

1997"2006

In 1997, Paradis played in Un amour de sorcière with Jeanne Moreau and Jean Reno, before filming Une chance sur deux, with Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo. In March 1999, La fille sur le Pont, by Patrice Leconte was released. This movie was shot and released in black and white. In 2004, she promoted Chanel's new handbags called Ligne Cambon.

In 2005, she modeled for Chanel again for The New Mademoiselle handbag. In 2008, she modelled for Miu Miu.

On the musical side, she was included in the French children's album and concert Le Soldat Rose in 2006.

2007"present

Paradis released a new album (Divinidylle) in 2007 which was released in the UK on 11 December (September in France). There are three versions (regular, limited edition, and the Christmas edition). She started the Divinidylle Tour in October. Some concerts were filmed and a DVD/CD of the tour was released. Paradis won two 'Les Victoires de la Musique' awards for this album in February 2008. Some of her later projects include a greatest hits CD (Best of Vanessa Paradis) which includes the commercial jingle "I love Paris in the Springtime"; she also starred in the animated film Un monstre à Paris, released in 2010.

Canadian film director Jean-Marc Vallée cast Paradis in a starring role in his film Café de Flore, in which she plays a single mother in the 1960s with a Down syndrome child. The film was released in 2011, and Paradis garnered a Genie Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 2012 Genie Awards.

She released an acoustic album in November 2010 entitled Une nuit à Versailles. The album was recorded at L'Opéra of the Palace of Versailles during her Vanessa Paradis Concert Acoustique Tour. She also released a set of DVDs in 2010 called Anthologie which collected rare live performances and interviews from 1987"2007.

In 2010, she became the face of Chanel's new lipstick, Rouge Coco, and also became the face of their new handbag line Ranger.

Her 2011 international tour included performances in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Turkey.

Personal life

From 1988 to 1991, Paradis dated French singer Florent Pagny. In 1992, she started dating Lenny Kravitz. Afterward, she dated French-Slovenian actor Stanislas Merhar, until their breakup in 1998.

From 1998 to 2012, Paradis was in a relationship with American actor Johnny Depp. They have a daughter, Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born 1999), and a son, John Christopher "Jack" Depp III (born in 2002). Rumours of a separation began surfacing as early as January 2012; until Depp's representative officially announced their breakup on 19 June 2012.

Discography

Studio albums

• 1988: M&J
• 1990: Variations sur le même t'aime
• 1992: Vanessa Paradis
• 2000: Bliss
• 2007: Divinidylle
• 2013: Love Songs

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	Noce Blanche	Mathilde Tessier
1995	"?lisa	Marie Desmoulin
1998	Pleasure (And Its Little Inconveniences)	La Voix du nouvel âge (voice)	Original title: Le plaisir (et ses petits tracas)
	Une chance sur deux	Alice Tomaso
1997	Witch Way Love	Morgane	Original title: Un amour de sorcière
1999	Girl on the Bridge	Adèle	Original title: La fille sur le pont
2002	Lost in La Mancha	Herself	Documentary film about the failed making of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
2004	The Return of James Battle	Concia	Original title: Le retour de James Bataille
	My Angel	Colette
2005	The Magic Roundabout	Margote (voice)
2006	Le soldat Rose		TV movie
2007	The Key	Cécile	Original title: La clef
2010	Heartbreaker	Juliette Van Der Becq	Original title: L'arnacoeur
	A Monster in Paris	Lucille	Original title: Un monstre à Paris
2011	Café de Flore	Jacqueline

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work(s)	Award	Category	Result
1988	"Joe le taxi"	Victoires de la Musique	Best Song
	Herself		Best New Female Artist
1989
1990	"Mosquito"		Best Music Video
	Noce Blanche	César Award	Most Promising Actress
	Herself	Prix Romy Schneider	Most Promising Actress
		Victoire de la Musique	Best Female Artist
1991	Tandem		Best Music Video
1993	Herself		Best Female Artist
2000	La fille sur le pont	César Award	Best Actress
2001	Bliss	NRJ Music Awards	Best Francophone Album
	Herself		Best Francophone Female Artist
2007		Ordre des Arts et des Lettres	Chevalier
2008		Trophée des Femmes en Or	Femme de Spectacle
	"Dès que j'te vois"	NRJ Music Awards	Best Song
	Divinidylle		Best French Album
		Victoire de la Musique	Best Pop Album
	Herself		Best Female Artist
		Globe de Cristal	Best Actress
2009	Divinidylle Tour	Victoire de la Musique	Best Music DVD
2011	Herself		Best Female Artist
	Une nuit à Versailles	Globe de Cristal
	L'arnac"ur		Best Actress
2012	"La Seine" (with -M-)	Victoire de la Musique	Best Music Video
	Café de Flore	Genie Award	Best Actress
		Jutra Award	Best Actress
		Cabourg Romantic Film Festival	Swann d'honneur
		Vancouver Film Critics Circle	Best Canadian Actress