Matt Shakman

Irène Marie Jacob is a French-Swiss actress, best known for her performances in Krzysztof Kieślowski's films Double Life of Veronique and Three Colors: Red. Born in 1966 in Suresnes, a suburb west of Paris, to a physicist father and a psychologist mother, she was the youngest of four children. At age 3, she moved with her family to Geneva, Switzerland, where she developed an interest in theatre and made her stage debut at age 11. She later trained in London and at the prestigious Rue Blanche acting school in Paris. In 1987, she appeared in her first film, Au revoir, les enfants. In 1991, she starred in Kieślowski's Double Life of Veronique, playing two women living in Paris and Warsaw respectively, linked by a spiritual bond. This performance earned her critical acclaim and the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival. Three years later, she starred in another of Kieślowski's memorable films, Red, the final installment of the Three Colors trilogy, alongside Jean-Louis Trintignant. She continued to act in numerous films in Europe and occasionally in Hollywood in subsequent years. Jacob, considered one of the most intellectual figures in world cinema, is fluent in French, German, Italian, and English. She is married to French actor Jérôme Kircher.