Born in 1946 in Essex (England), she grew up in Gibraltar, Spain and France, before settling in London. She debuted at the age of 20 in minor roles. The first two titles in her filmography bear the signature of British director Richard Lester: the Beatles musical comedy ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ (1964) and The Knack... and How to Get It (1965). Shortly afterwards, Luchino Visconti gave her the first major role of her career in ‘The Damned’ (1969) and it was five years later that she rose to fame thanks to Liliana Cavani’s ‘The Night Porter’ (1974).Half a century later, she has appeared in over a hundred films in Europe and the United States, as well as being the muse of photographers such as Helmut Newton and Peter Lindbergh. Her intense filmography is marked by unforgettable roles with masters such as Woody Allen (‘Star- dust Memories’, 1980), Nagisa Oshima (Max, mon amour, 1986), Lauren Cantet (‘Heading South’, 2006) or Lars von Trier (‘Melancholia’, 2011), and she has alternated auteur films, sometimes controversial, with blockbuster productions such as the post-apocalyptic ‘Zardoz’ (John Boorman, 1974), ‘Orca, the Killer Whale’ (Michael Anderson, 1977), ‘The Verdict’ (Sid- ney Lumet, 1982), ‘Angel Heart’ (Alan Parker, 1987), ‘Juego de espías’ (Tony Scott, 2001) and ‘Dune’ (Denis Villeneuve, 2021 and 2024), among others.
Her career was rewarded in 2001 with an honorary César. With ‘Swimming Pool’ (François Ozon, 2003), she won the Eu- ropean Film Award, while thanks to ‘45 Years’ (Andrew Haigh, 2015) she won the Silver Bear at Berlin, the best actress award at Seminci and a nomination for an Oscar in a year when she also received the Honorary Award of the European Film Aca- demy, before shining again with ‘Hannah’ (Andrea Pallaoro, 2017), which won her the Volpi Cup for best actress at Venice.
Her long career consolidates her figure as one of the most fascinating stars of European cinema, a symbol of a style and modernity that stands the test of time which this year’s Se- minci awards its highest distinction, the Honorary Spike.