Acting in 2000Gainsbourg grew up on film sets, as both of her parents were involved in the film industry. She stated that her mother had pushed her into acting, believing that she wanted to be an actress and encouraging her to make her motion picture debut playing
Catherine Deneuve's daughter in the film
Paroles et Musique (1984). In 1986, Gainsbourg won a
César Award for "Most Promising Actress" for
An Impudent Girl. That same year Gainsbourg appeared in the film
Charlotte for Ever about a man who develops incestuous desires for his teenage daughter after his wife dies. Written and directed by Gainsbourg's father
Serge Gainsbourg, who also took the role of Gainsbourg's father on screen, the film heightened the controversy that had resulted from Gainsbourg's debut single
Lemon Incest, which had similar themes and also was created and sung with her father
Serge, causing press speculation that the material was autobiographical. In 1988, she appeared together with her mother in a set of films
Kung Fu Master and the
documentary drama Jane B. by Agnes V., both directed by
Agnès Varda. In 1993, Gainsbourg made her English-speaking debut in
The Cement Garden, written and directed by her uncle,
Andrew Birkin. Her stage debut was in 1994, in
David Mamet's
Oleanna at the
Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse. In 1996, Gainsbourg starred as the
title character in
Jane Eyre, a film adaption of
Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel. In 2000, she won the
César Award for "Best Supporting Actress" for the film
La Bûche. In 2003, Gainsbourg starred in
21 Grams, with
Naomi Watts,
Sean Penn and
Benicio del Toro. In 2006, Gainsbourg appeared alongside
Gael García Bernal in
Michel Gondry's
The Science of Sleep. In 2007, she appeared as Claire in the
Todd Haynes-directed
Bob Dylan biographical film ''
I'm Not There, also contributing a cover version of the Dylan song "Just Like a Woman" to the film soundtrack. In 2009, she won the award for Best Actress at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival for the film Antichrist. Gainsbourg starred in the French/Australian production The Tree'', released in 2010, and in
Lars von Trier's science fiction disaster film
Melancholia. She was on the jury for the
62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012. In May 2012,
Confession of a Child of the Century premiered, in which she starred alongside the British musician
Pete Doherty. Gainsbourg worked with von Trier once again on his 2013 film
Nymphomaniac, in which she played the title role. The 5½-hour film depicts the life of a sex addict from youth to middle age. Regarding her reservations about the part, Gainsbourg commented, "The sex scenes weren't so hard. For me, it was all the masochistic scenes. Those were embarrassing and, yes, a little humiliating." In 2014, she starred in
Three Hearts and
Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache's film
Samba, for which she was nominated for a
Lumière Award for Best Actress. She then played Dr. Catherine Marceaux in
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016), sequel of the 1996 film
Independence Day. In 2017, she starred alongside
Michael Fassbender and
Rebecca Ferguson in the
crime thriller film
The Snowman. In 2020, Gainsbourg had a guest role playing herself in the first episode of the fourth season of
Call My Agent!.
Music , New York City, April 2010 Gainsbourg made her musical debut on the controversial song "
Lemon Incest" in 1984. Gainsbourg, who was 13 at the time of the song's release, later stated that she had just begun boarding school and was therefore unaware of the controversy regarding the song until she was much older. In 1986, she released her debut album
Charlotte for Ever, which was produced by her father. In 2000, Gainsbourg was featured on the
Madonna album
Music on the track "
What It Feels Like for a Girl". The lengthy spoken introduction by Gainsbourg is taken from the film
The Cement Garden, which inspired the title of the song. The track was further remixed for a single version in 2001, with Gainsbourg's
The Cement Garden speech repeated during the song. In 2000, Gainsbourg was featured on the
Soundwalk Collective with
Patti Smith album
Peradam on the track "The Four Cardinal Times". In 2004, she sang a duet with French pop star
Étienne Daho on his single "If". In 2006, Gainsbourg released her second album
5:55 to critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching the top spot on the French charts and achieving platinum status in that country. In the UK, the album was moderately successful, reaching No. 78. (The single "
The Songs That We Sing" only achieved No. 129.) Gainsbourg attributed the twenty-year break between her debut album and
5:55 to her father's death and her reluctance to explore a musical career without him. In late 2009, Gainsbourg released her third studio album,
IRM, which was produced by
Beck. One of the influential factors in the album's creative process was her time spent filming
Antichrist. Gainsbourg's head injury in 2007 influenced the title of the album "IRM", an abbreviation for the French translation of
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). During her brain scan, she began to think about music. "When I was inside that machine," she said, "it was an escape to think about music. It's rhythm. It was very chaotic." Her song "Heaven Can Wait" was chosen as the
Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week on 2 March 2010. Her song "Trick Pony" appeared at the beginning of the ''
Grey's Anatomy episode "Perfect Little Accident" (Season 6, Episode 16/airdate: 25 February 2010), is featured on the FIFA 11 soundtrack, was used in the 2012 Teleflora Super Bowl advertisement featuring supermodel Adriana Lima and can be heard in episode 2 ("Wild Thing") of the Amazon Prime Video television series My Lady Jane'' (2024). In 2011, Gainsbourg released the double album
Stage Whisper, a collection of unreleased songs from
IRM and live tracks. In 2013, Gainsbourg released a
cover version of the song "
Hey Joe", recorded with Beck, for the soundtrack of the film
Nymphomaniac, in which she was the lead actress. Her music influenced artists such as
Tove Lo, who cited the simplicity and quirky lyrical content of Charlotte's
IRM as the main inspiration behind her career in music and said that it "opened a new world" for her as regards sound, and she performed a bilingual cover of "
The Maiden's Prayer" in French and English as the opening tune for the Anglo-French crime thriller television serial
The Tunnel. Since 2014, Gainsbourg has been supporting the
Hear the World Foundation as
ambassador. In this role, she advocates for equal opportunities and a better quality of life for people with
hearing loss. She was featured in the Hear the World Calendar 2014, the proceeds of which were to benefit the foundation's projects. Gainsbourg worked for four years, mainly in New York, with producer
Sebastian Akchoté (known as SebastiAn) on her fifth studio album, titled
Rest.
Rest is a portrayal of her feelings after the deaths of her father Serge Gainsbourg and her half-sister
Kate Barry, with the theme of
alcohol addiction. About the album, she said: "The album took a different direction. I wanted to express [my grief] not only with sadness but with anger." The music videos feature her children. A companion EP for
Rest was released the following year, titled
Take 2. Gainsbourg additionally featured on Akchoté's second studio album
Thirst in November 2019. Throughout late November 2020, Gainsbourg posted images to social media of her in the recording studio with Irish-Scottish music producer Salvador Navarrete, known better by his stage name
Sega Bodega. Navarrete described the sessions as "sounding beautiful". It was unveiled in September 2021 that Gainsbourg would appear on Navarrete's second studio album,
Romeo, which was released on 12 November 2021. It is expected that more music between the two will be released. == Personal life ==