Virginie Efira

Virginie Efira (born 5 May 1977) is a Belgian and French actress. She had her first leading role in It Boy, and subsequently received praise for In Bed with Victoria (2016), for which she received a Magritte Award for Best Actress and her first César Award for Best Actress nomination.

She also starred in the psychological thriller Elle (2016), the comedy drama Sibyl (2019), the black comedy Bye Bye Morons (2020) and the psychological drama Benedetta (2021). In 2023, she won the César Award for Best Actress for Paris Memories (2022). For her performance in the drama All of a Sudden (2026) she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.

Virginie Efira, winner of the Best Performance by an Actress Award for “All Of A Sudden,” speaks during the Palme d'Or winners press conference at the 79th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 23, 2026 in Cannes, France.

Early life Efira was born on 5 May 1977 in the Brugmann district of Brussels, Belgium, the daughter of Professor André Efira, a hemato-oncologist, and Carine Verelst. She has Greek-Jewish ancestry. Efira has three siblings. She grew up in Schaerbeek. Her parents divorced when she was 18 years old.

Efira studied Latin, maths, psychology and social sciences in Brussels. She moved to Paris at the age of 28.

In 2013, Efira starred alongside Pierre Niney in the romantic comedy It Boy, about a 38-year-old woman and her relationship with a teenage boy. The film was highly successful in France and received positive reviews. Variety wrote that she "has a particular talent for transmitting thoughts and eliciting laughs using facial expressions alone, a gift that gets another glorious workout here".

2016–2021: Expansion to dramatic roles In 2016, Efira starred in Justine Triet's romantic comedy-drama In Bed with Victoria, which premiered in the International Critics' Week section of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. Her performance received critical acclaim, with The Hollywood Reporter describing it as "vibrant" and "well-tuned", and earned her the Magritte Award for Best Actress as well as her first César Award for Best Actress nomination. That same year, she appeared alongside Isabelle Huppert in Paul Verhoeven's psychological thriller Elle. Following the success of both films, Efira increasingly took on more ambitious dramatic roles.

In 2018, she starred in Catherine Corsini's drama An Impossible Love, portraying a woman over more than three decades of her life. Her performance was widely praised, earning Cesar Award, Globe de Cristal Award and Lumière Award nominations for Best Actress. That same year, Efira appeared in the ensemble comedy Sink or Swim, which was screened out of competition at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, earning her a César Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Efira continued her collaboration with acclaimed French auteurs in Sibyl, her second film with Justine Triet. Premiering in competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the film further established her as one of France's leading dramatic actresses, with Variety describing her as "a first-class leading lady of consistently expanding range and elan". In 2020, Efira starred as a terminally ill hairdresser seeking to reunite with her long-lost child in Albert Dupontel's comedy-drama Bye Bye Morons. The film became a major commercial and critical success in France, winning seven César Awards, including Best Film, and earning Efira her third nomination for Best Actress.

In 2021, Efira reunited with Paul Verhoeven for the title role in the historical drama Benedetta, portraying the 17th-century Italian nun whose mystical visions and forbidden relationship with another nun challenge religious authority.

2022–present: Established career In 2023, Efira won her first César Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the film Paris Memories (2022), in which she played a woman who is struggling with the lingering mental health effects of having survived a terrorist attack in Paris, a role originally intended for Nicole Kidman. Her performance in Rebecca Zlotowski's drama Other People's Children (2022) earned her high praise from critics. The Hollywood Reporter called it "a career-best turn" and "her best work yet as a woman who, compared to the usual Parisian narcissists and neurotics, is a model of selflessness." Also in 2023, Efira continued to work with female French filmmakers and had two films premiere at the Cannes Film Festival: the psychological drama Just the Two of Us, for which she earned her sixth César Award for Best Actress nomination, and the drama All to Play For.

Efira starred in two films selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival: Asghar Farhadi's Parallel Tales and Ryusuke Hamaguchi's All of a Sudden. In the latter, she portrayed the director of a nursing home seeking to implement the Humanitude approach to elderly care, whose convictions are challenged after meeting a terminally ill Japanese playwright. The film received widespread critical acclaim and her performance earned her the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.

Personal life Efira married comedian and actor Patrick Ridremont in 2002. They separated in 2005, and filed for divorce in February 2009. From 2012 to 2017, Efira dated director and actor Mabrouk El Mechri, with whom she has a daughter, born in 2013.

In 2016, Efira obtained French citizenship, becoming a dual citizen, for which she later cited her desire to vote in France as the reason. Since 2017, Efira has been in a relationship with actor Niels Schneider, her co-star in the films An Impossible Love (2018) and Sibyl (2019), with whom she has a son, born in 2023. The couple live in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.

Filmography

Feature films

Television Year Title Role Director Notes 2006–2009 Kaamelott Berlewen, Bohort's wife Television series, 2 episodes 2007 Un amour de fantôme Anna Television film 2007 Off Prime Herself Television series 2010 En chantier, monsieur Tanner The Banker Television film 2011 À la maison pour Noël Sarah 2016 La Folle Soirée du Palmashow 3 Herself Television series 2017 Call My Agent! Television series, 1 episode

Dubbing Year Title Role Director(s) Notes 2004 Garfield: The Movie French voice 2005 Robots & 2006 Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties 2008 Max & Co & 2011 Puss in Boots French voice 2012 Hotel Transylvania 2015 Hotel Transylvania 2 2017 Tall Tales from the Magical Garden of Antoon Krings &

Awards and nominations