Editing Irène Jacob

{{short description|French-born Swiss actress}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Irène Jacob
| image         = Irène Jacob Deauville 2017.jpg
| caption       = Irène Jacob in 2017
| birth_name    = Irène Marie Jacob
| birth_date    = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1966|7|15}}
| birth_place   = [[Suresnes]], France
| agent         = Christopher Robba
| other_names   =
| occupation    = Actress
| years_active  = 1987–present
| spouse        = {{marriage|[[Jérôme Kircher]]|2000}}
| children      = {{plainlist|
* [[Paul Kircher]]<ref>{{cite magazine|author=LR Médias|date=27 January 2024|title=Qui sont les frères Kircher, tous les deux nommés pour le prix de la Meilleure révélation masculine aux César 2024 ?|url=https://www.marieclaire.fr/freres-samuel-kircher-paul-kircher,1469995.asp|url-access=subscription|url-status=live|magazine=[[Marie Claire]]|language=fr|archive-url=https://archive.today/20240216060959/https://www.marieclaire.fr/freres-samuel-kircher-paul-kircher,1469995.asp|archive-date=16 February 2024|access-date=16 February 2024}}</ref>
* [[Samuel Kircher]]
}}
| parents       = [[Maurice Jacob]] (father)
| awards        =
}}

'''Irène Marie Jacob''' (born 15 July 1966) is a [[France|French]]-[[Switzerland|Swiss]] actress known for her work with [[Polish people|Polish]] film director [[Krzysztof Kieślowski]]. She won the 1991 [[Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress]] for the Kieślowski film ''[[The Double Life of Veronique]]'', and was nominated for the [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role]] for her 1994 film ''[[Three Colours: Red]]''. Her other film appearances include ''[[The Secret Garden (1993 film)|The Secret Garden]]'' (1993), ''[[Beyond the Clouds (1995 film)|Beyond the Clouds]]'' (1995), ''[[U.S. Marshals (film)|U.S. Marshals]]'' (1998), and ''[[Eternity (2016 film)|Eternity]]'' (2016).

==Early life==
Irène Jacob was born in [[Suresnes]], [[Hauts-de-Seine]], a western suburb of Paris. The youngest child with three older brothers, she was raised in a highly educated and intellectual family and environment: her father, [[Maurice Jacob]], was a [[physicist]]; her mother, a [[psychologist]]; one brother, Francis Jacob, a musician; and her other two brothers, scientists.<ref name="Flint">Flint</ref><ref>''Biography Base''. "Irene Jacob Biography." Retrieved on 13 December 2007.</ref> In 1969, at the age of three, Irène moved with her family to [[Geneva]], Switzerland, where she became interested in the arts.

{{blockquote|My family was very shy with feelings and never spoke about them, but we evolved a little bit. I think part of the reason I was attracted to theater was because I wanted to be close to stories because they could help me relate to my family.<ref>McKenna, Kristine. "A Face That Tells the Story." ''Los Angeles Times'', 1994.</ref>}}

Jacob developed an interest in performing after seeing the films of [[Charlie Chaplin]]. "They took my heart", she has recalled. "They made me laugh and cry, and that was exactly what I was waiting for in a film: to awaken me to my feelings."<ref name="McKenna">McKenna</ref>

She made her stage debut in 1977 at the age of 11. She attended the [[Conservatoire de Musique de Genève|Geneva Conservatory of Music]] and earned a degree in languages (she speaks fluent French, English, German, and Italian).<ref name="Flint"/> She also studied at the [[Drama Studio London|Drama Studio]] in London, England.<ref>''Yahoo Movies''. "Irene Jacob Biography." Retrieved on 13 December 2007.</ref><ref>''Net Glimpse''. "Irene Jacob Biography." Retrieved on 13 December 2007.</ref> In 1984, she moved to Paris, where she studied acting at the prestigious ''Rue Blanche'' (the French national drama academy).

==Career==
In Paris, the 21-year-old drama student obtained her first film role in the [[Louis Malle]] film ''[[Au revoir les enfants]]'' (1987), playing the part of a piano teacher. She followed her film debut with several French movies—mostly minor roles—over the next four years.

Polish film director [[Krzysztof Kieślowski]] cast her in the lead role of his film ''[[The Double Life of Veronique]]'' (1991), the allegorical story of two young women, one in Poland and the other in France, both of whom are played by Jacob. For her performance, Jacob won the [[Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)|Best Actress award]] at the [[Cannes Film Festival]].<ref>''Biography Base''. "Irene Jacob Biography" Retrieved on 13 December 2007.</ref>

From 1992 to 1993, despite numerous offers from Hollywood that came in the wake of her success, including the lead role in ''[[Indecent Proposal]]'', Jacob focused on smaller French films.

Jacob gained international acclaim as the protagonist in Kieślowski's ''[[Three Colours: Red]]'' (1994), which received three [[Academy Award]] nominations for Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Screenplay. The film was also named Best Film or Best Foreign Film by the National Board of Review, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, National Society of Film Critics Awards, and Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. It received [[César Award]] nominations for Best Film, Best Actor (Jean-Louis Trintignant), Best Actress (Irène Jacob), Best Director (Krzysztof Kieślowski), Best Writing (Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz). ''[[The New York Times]]'' included the film in its list of "The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made."<ref name="Flint"/><ref>''Biography Base''</ref>
[[File:Irene Jacob Cannes.jpg|thumb|left|Irène Jacob at the [[1991 Cannes Film Festival]].]]
Naturally an introvert, Jacob has the remarkable ability to express the emotional turmoil of her characters with very few words. This was very evident in her performance in ''Three Colours: Red'', the third part of Kieślowski's trilogy. Jacob described her unique experience working with the Polish film director:<ref>{{cite news | url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/Feature_Story/interview/0,,220664,00.html | title=From arthouse to funhouse | newspaper=The Observer | author=Akin Ojumu | date=14 May 2000 | access-date=15 September 2007}}</ref>

{{blockquote|The camera was really like a microscope. Krzysztof was always very close and very precise in his directions. It was not something he talked about beforehand; he would only work on the set. He liked to rehearse just before a take, if at all. | Irène Jacob | The Guardian}}

Her performance in ''Three Colours: Red'' gained huge international recognition, bringing further offers from major American motion-picture studios. Jacob retreated from public attention and took nine months off, spending most of her time reading Tolstoy, Balzac, Singer, and several autobiographies.<ref name="McKenna"/>

From 1995 to 1999, Jacob made a series of American and European films that met with varying degrees of commercial and critical success. In 1995, she appeared in six films, including ''[[Victory (1995 film)|Victory]]'', with [[Willem Dafoe]] and [[Sam Neill]]; [[Michelangelo Antonioni]]'s ''[[Beyond the Clouds (1995 film)|Beyond the Clouds]]''; and Oliver Parker's adaptation of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Othello (1995 film)|Othello]]'', in which Jacob spoke all of her lines in English for the first time on film.<ref name="Flint"/> In the following years, she made several moderately successful American films, including ''[[Incognito (1997 film)|Incognito]]'' (1997); ''[[U.S. Marshals (film)|U.S. Marshals]]'' (1998), starring opposite [[Wesley Snipes]] and [[Tommy Lee Jones]]; ''[[The Big Brass Ring]]'' (1999), with [[William Hurt]]; and ''[[History Is Made at Night (1999 film)|Spy Games]]'' (1999), with [[Bill Pullman]] and [[Bruno Kirby]].

Beginning in 2000, Jacob's film career slowed down, and after a series of independent, mostly European films, she revived her theatre career. In 2000, she played the title character in ''Madame Melville'' opposite [[Macaulay Culkin]] in London's [[West End theatre|West End]]. In 2016, she began appearing as a featured character in Season 3 of the [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]] series ''[[The Affair (TV series)|The Affair]]''.

In August 2018, Jacob appeared at the [[Edinburgh International Festival|Edinburgh Festival]] in a one-hour dramatization of the novella ''La Maladie de la mort ([[The Malady of Death]])'' by [[Marguerite Duras]]. Jacob played the role of the unseen narrator.<ref>{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Phil|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/16413280.irene-jacob-on-la-maladie-de-la-mort-acting-on-stage-and-screen-and-advice-from-krzystof-kieslowski/|title=Irene Jacob: On La Maladie de la Mort, acting on stage and screen, and advice from Krzystof Kieslowski|work=Sunday Herald|location=Glasgow|date=12 August 2018|access-date=12 August 2018}}</ref>

Jacob is author of the book ''Big Bang'' published in 2019.<ref name="Jacob2019">{{cite book|author=Irène Jacob|title=Big Bang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1K6DwAAQBAJ|date=6 November 2019|publisher=Albin Michel|isbn=978-2-226-44718-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Fiction, in theory|url=https://cerncourier.com/a/fiction-in-theory/|last=Gillies|first=James|date=31 March 2020|website=CERN Courier|language=en-GB|access-date=6 May 2020}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="width:40px;"|Year
! style="width:300px;"|Title
! style="width:300px;"|Role
! class="unsortable" style="width:400px;"|Notes
|-
| 1987
| ''[[Au revoir les enfants]]''
| Mlle Davenne
| English: ''Goodbye, Children''
|-
| 1988
| ''[[Gang of Four (film)|La bande des quatre]]''
| Marine
| English: ''The Gang of Four''
|-
|rowspan=3|1989
| ''Erreur de jeunesse''
| Anne
| 
|-
| ''Les mannequins d'osier''
| Marie
| 
|-
| ''Nick chasseur de têtes''
| 
| [[Television program]]
|-
| 1990
| ''La Veillée''
| Johanna
| English: ''The Van Gogh Wake''
|-
|rowspan=2|1991
| ''[[The Secret of Sarah Tombelaine]]''
| Sarah
| French: ''Le secret de Sarah Tombelaine''
|-
| ''[[The Double Life of Veronique]]''
| Weronika/Véronique
| French: ''La Double vie de Véronique''<br />[[Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)|Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress]]<br />[[César Award for Best Actress]] nomination<br />[[Sant Jordi Award]] for Best Foreign Actress
|-
|rowspan=2|1992
| ''Le moulin de Daudet''
| Mme Daudet
| English: ''Daudet's Windmill''
|-
| ''Enak''
| Lucille Spaakv
| 
|-
|rowspan=3|1993
| ''[[Trusting Beatrice|Claude]]''
| Beatrice
| English: ''Trusting Beatrice''
|-
| ''[[The Secret Garden (1993 movie)|The Secret Garden]]''
| Mrs. Lennox/Lilias Craven
| 
|-
| ''[[Prediction (film)|Predskazaniye]]''
| Lyuda
| English: ''The Prediction''<br />Nika Award Best Actress nomination
|-
| 1994
| ''[[Three Colours: Red]]''
| Valentine Dussaut
| French: ''Trois couleurs: Rouge''<br />[[César Award for Best Actress]] nomination<br />[[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|BAFTA Award for Best Actress]] nomination
|-
|rowspan=6|1995
| ''[[Victory (1995 film)|Victory]]''
| Alma
| 
|-
| ''Fugueuses''
| Prune
| English: ''Runaways''
|-
| ''[[Beyond the Clouds (1995 film)|Beyond the Clouds]]''
| The girl
| French: ''Par-delà les nuages''
|-
| ''[[All Men Are Mortal (film)|All Men Are Mortal]]''
| Regina
| 
|-
| ''Faire un film pour moi c'est vivre''
| 
| 
|-
| ''[[Othello (1995 film)|Othello]]''
| Desdemona
| 
|-
| 1997
| ''[[Incognito (1997 film)|Incognito]]''
| Prof. Marieke van den Broeck
| 
|-
|rowspan=3|1998
| ''Jack's potes''
| 
| 
|-
| ''[[U.S. Marshals (film)|U.S. Marshals]]''
| Marie Bineaux
| 
|-
| ''[[American Cuisine (film)|American Cuisine]]''
| Gabrielle Boyer
| French: ''Cuisine américaine''
|-
|rowspan=4|1999
| ''Cuisine chinoise''
| Patricia
| 
|-
| ''[[The Big Brass Ring]]''
| Cela Brandini
| 
|-
| ''[[My Life So Far]]''
| Aunt Heloise
| 
|-
| ''[[Spy Games]]''
| Natasha Scriabina/Anna Belinka
| 
|-
| 2000
| ''L'Affaire Marcorelle''
| Agneska
| English: ''The Marcorelle Affair''
|-
|rowspan=2|2001
| ''Letter from an Unknown Woman''
| Rose
| French: ''Lettre d'une inconnue''<br />Television film
|-
| ''[[Fourplay (2001 film)|Fourplay]]''
| Fiona Delgrazia
| 
|-
| 2002
| ''Mille millièmes''
| Julie
| ''The Landlords''
|-
|rowspan=2|2003
| ''La Légende de Parva''
| Voice of La mère de Parva
| 
|-
| ''Nés de la mère du monde''
| Clara Sidowski
| Television film
|-
|rowspan=3|2004
| ''The Pornographer: A Love Story''
| 
| 
|-
| ''Automne''
| Michelle
| English: ''Autumn''
|-
| ''[[Battle of the Brave]] (Nouvelle-France)''
| Angélique de Roquebrune
| 
|-
| 2006
| ''[[The Education of Fairies]]''
| Ingrid
|
|-
|rowspan=2|2007
| ''[[The Inner Life of Martin Frost]]''
| Claire Martin
| 
|-
| ''[[Fallen Heroes (film)|Fallen Heroes]]''
| Anne
| 
|-
| 2008
| ''[[The Dust of Time]]''
| Eleni
| Directed by [[Theo Angelopoulos]]
|-
| 2009
| ''[[The French Kissers]]''
| Aurore's mother
| French: ''La mère d'Aurore''
|-
| 2010
| ''[[Rio Sex Comedy]]''
| Irène
| 
|-
|rowspan=3| 2014
| ''[[L'Art de la fugue]]''
| Mathilde
| 
|-
| ''[[Dying of the Light (film)|Dying of the Light]]''
| Michelle Zuberain
| 
|-
| ''[[Salaud, on t'aime]]''
| Printemps Kaminsky
| 
|-
|rowspan=2| 2015
| ''Ella Maillart - Double Journey''
| [[Ella Maillart]]
| voice over
|-
| ''[[Sayonara (2015 film)|Sayonara]]''
| 
| 
|-
|rowspan=4| 2016
| ''[[The Collection (TV series)|The Collection]]''
| Marianne
| 
|-
| ''[[Eternity (2016 film)|Eternity]]''
| Gabrielle's mother
| 
|-
| ''[[The Affair (TV series)|The Affair]]''
| Juliette Le Gall
| TV series (10 episodes)
|-
| ''[[Capitaine Marleau]]''
| Sister Maryse
| TV series (1 episode)
|-
| 2019
| ''[[The OA (TV series)|The OA]]''
| Elodie
| TV series (3 episodes)
|-
|rowspan="2"| 2020
| ''[[Villa Caprice]]''
| Nancy Fontaine
| 
|-
| ''[[Romantic Guide to Lost Places]]''
| Brigitte
|
|-
|rowspan="3"| 2024
| ''[[Who by Fire (film)|Who by Fire]]'' (''Comme le feu'')
| 
| 
|-
| ''[[Hotel Silence (film)|Hotel Silence]]'' (''Hôtel Silence'')
| Kristina
| 
|-
| ''[[Meeting with Pol Pot]]'' (''Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot'')
| Lise Delbo
| Directed by [[Rithy Panh]]
|}

==Awards==
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Award
! scope="col" | Category
! scope="col" | Nominated work
! scope="col" | Result
! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Ref.
|-
! scope="row" | 1991
| [[Cannes Film Festival]]
| [[Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)|Best Actress]] 
| rowspan="3" | ''[[The Double Life of Veronique]]''
| {{Won}}
| align="center" | <ref name="lff">{{cite news |last1=Vivarelli |first1=Nick |title=Irène Jacob to Be Honored by Locarno Film Festival |url=https://variety.com/2024/film/global/irene-jacob-locarno-film-festival-1236040102/ |access-date=2 July 2024 |agency=Variety}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" | 1992
| [[César Awards]]
| [[César Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] 
| {{Nominated}}
|  align="center" | <ref name="swiss">{{cite web |title=Irène Jacob |url=https://www.swissfilms.ch/en/person/irene-jacob/16E9FBE922704CC9A2D8D88B05889462 |website=Swiss Films |access-date=2 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" | 1993
| [[Sant Jordi Awards]]
| Best Foreign Actress Award
| {{Won}}
| 
|-
! scope="row" | 1994
| [[Nika Award]]
| Best Actress
| ''Predskazaniye''
| {{Nominated}}
| 
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | 1995
| [[César Awards]]
| [[César Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Three Colours: Red]]''
| {{Nominated}}
| align="center" | <ref name="swiss" />
|-
| [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|Best Actress in a Leading Role]]
| {{Nominated}}
| align="center" | <ref name="swiss" />
|-
! scope="row" | 2002 
| [[Camerimage]]
| Krzysztof Kieślowski Special Award
| rowspan="2" {{N/a}}
| {{Won}}
| align="center" | <ref>{{cite web|title=Camerimage 2002|url=http://www.pluscamerimage.pl/tresc.php?id=26765&lang=en&highlight=irenejacob&phase=irenejacob|access-date=30 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120528215818/http://www.pluscamerimage.pl/tresc.php?id=26765&lang=en&highlight=irenejacob&phase=irenejacob|archive-date=28 May 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Camerimage2002 |url=https://camerimage.pl/en/archiwum/kronika-nagrod-camerimage-2002/camerimage-2002/ |website=Camerimage |access-date=2 July 2024}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" | 2024
| [[Locarno Film Festival]]
| Leopard Club Award
| {{Won}}
| align="center" | <ref name="lff"/>
|}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{Instagram|irene_jacob_}}
* {{IMDb name|1393}}
* [http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Irene_Jacob/190010 Irène Jacob] at Hollywood.com

{{Prix d'interprétation féminine 1980–1999|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Irene}}
[[Category:1966 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève]]
[[Category:People from Suresnes]]
[[Category:Actresses from Île-de-France]]
[[Category:French stage actresses]]
[[Category:French film actresses]]
[[Category:French television actresses]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Switzerland]]
[[Category:Swiss stage actresses]]
[[Category:Swiss film actresses]]
[[Category:Swiss television actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century French actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century French actresses]]
[[Category:Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite]]
[[Category:Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners]]