Amira Casar

Amira Casar is a British-French film actress. She was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress for the 1997 film La Vérité si je mens! and also for the Palme d'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival for the film To Paint or Make Love. In 2010, she won the Best Actress award at La Rochelle Television Film Festival in 2010 for her turn in La femme qui pleure au chapeau rouge.

Early life Amira Casar was born in London and raised in England, Ireland, and France. She studied drama at the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique de Paris between 1991 and 1994. She is fluent in English, Kurdish, and French and has also worked in German, Italian, and Spanish.

Career

Casar's first role was in the 1989 film (Error of Youth) by . She played Sandra Benzakhem in the 1997 film La Vérité si je mens !, for which she was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress. She later appeared in the film's two sequels, in 2001 and 2012.

Casar portrayed Myriem in How I Killed My Father (2001) by Anne Fontaine; Assia Wevill in Sylvia (2003) by Christine Jeffs; the lead role of The Woman in the Catherine Breillat erotic film Anatomy of Hell (2004); and Eva in To Paint or Make Love (2005) by Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.

Other roles include Marianne in Hypnotized and Hysterical (2002), a film by which won the Grand Golden Rail at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival; Malvina van Stille in The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes by the Brothers Quay (2005); and Marie in Tony Gatlif's Transylvania in 2006.

In 2007, Casar appeared in installation artist Sophie Calle's Venice Biennale piece Prenez soin de vous (Take Care of Yourself). and portrayed Irene in Werner Schroeter's last film, Nuit de chien. Casar played the lead role of Anna Di Baggio in the Éléonore Faucher film in 2009.

She won the Best Actress award at La Rochelle Television Film Festival for her portrayal of Dora Maar in in 2010. In 2011, Casar played Irène in , and Deniz in Playoff. In 2013, she appeared in the Arnaud des Pallières film Michael Kohlhaas, and portrayed Anne-Marie Munoz in Bertrand Bonello's Saint Laurent in 2014. and portrayed Béatrice, Madame de Clermont, in the TV series Versailles. In 2017, she played Annella Perlman in the film Call Me by Your Name. She also appeared in the 2019 Caroline Fourest film Sisters in Arms, about a team of female Kurdish soldiers and volunteers.

In 2022, Casar appeared in the film The Contractor. She portrayed Edith Frank, the mother of Anne Frank, in the 2023 Disney+ series A Small Light. the title role in Hedda Gabler at Le Petit Théâtre de Paris, and Olivier Py's 2009 production of Les Enfants de Saturne at the Theatre National de L'Odéon, Paris. In 2011, she appeared in the title role of Petra in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and received critical acclaim in Arthur Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher at the Barbican Centre with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Casar also appeared in the 1995 Bryan Adams music video for "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?".

Filmography

+Film Year Title Role Director 1989 Girl on the train 1994 Le Temps du bonheur (short) Caroline Champetier 1995 Départ immediat (short) Woman Thomas Briat Alice 1996 Farida Bernard Rapp Mirada liquida Ana Rafael Monleon 1997 Marie from the Bay of Angels Young woman at the villa Manuel Pradal La Vérité si je mens ! Sandra Benzakhem 1999 Why Not Me? Camille Anne-Laure Valérie Lemercier 2000 Catherine Le coeur à l'ouvrage Noëlle 2001 Claire La Vérité si je mens ! 2 Sandra Benzakhem How I Killed My Father Myriem Anne Fontaine Fatima / Carmen Carlos Saura 2002 Hypnotized and Hysterical (Hairstylist Wanted) Marianne 2003 Un autre homme Marie Catherine Klein Sylvia Assia Wevill Christine Jeffs The Very Merry Widows Claudia Catherine Corsini Under Another Sky (Les Chemins de l'oued) Nadia Gaël Morel 2004 (short) Ghost Zelda Mitchell Jacques Baratier Anatomy of Hell The Woman Catherine Breillat 2005 The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes Malvina van Stille Brothers Quay To Paint or Make Love Ava Arnaud Larrieu Vera 2006 Transylvania Marie Tony Gatlif 2007 The Last Mistress Mademoiselle Divine des Airelles Catherine Breillat Kandisha Nyla Jayde Jérôme Cohen-Olivar Muriel Emmanuel Bourdieu 2008 Quelques nouvelles du continent Alice Max Jourdan Nuit de chien Irene Werner Schroeter Isabella Socialite journalist Dolorès Laetitia Masson 2009 Mme Gommette Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt Anna Di Biaggio Éléonore Faucher Park Benches Customer Bruno Podalydès 2010 Districted Leporello (short) Woman Julião Sarmento 2011 Playoff Deniz Eran Riklis Irène 2012 Michael Kohlhaas Abbess Arnaud des Pallières Sandra Benzakhem 2013 Guy Maddin 2014 Saint Laurent Anne-Marie Munoz Bertrand Bonello Not My Type Marie Lucas Belvaux 2015 The Last Summer of the Rich Hanna von Stezewitz Peter Kern The Forbidden Room Mrs. M____ Guy Maddin Me and Kaminski Miriam Kaminski Wolfgang Becker 2016 Renate Bode Virgil Widrich 2017 Call Me by Your Name Annella Perlman Luca Guadagnino 2018 At Eternity's Gate Johanna van Gogh-Bonger Julian Schnabel 2019 Sisters in Arms Commander Caroline Fourest Curiosa Madame de Heredia 2020 Honey Cigar Selma's mother Kamir Aïnouz 2022 The Contractor Sophie Mohsin Tarik Saleh 2023 Visions Johana Van Damaker Yann Gozlan 2025 Honeyjoon Lela Lilian T. Mehrel

Accolades 1998 – Nomination: César Award for Most Promising Actress for La Vérité si je mens !