'', 1973 At the age of 14, Adjani starred in her first motion picture, '''' (1970). She first gained fame as a classical actress at the
Comédie-Française, which she joined in 1972. She was praised for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in
Molière's ''
L'École des femmes.'' She soon left the theatre to pursue a film career. After minor roles in several films, she enjoyed modest success in the 1974 film
La Gifle (
The Slap), which
François Truffaut saw. He immediately cast her in her first major role in
The Story of Adèle H. (1975), a project that he had finished writing five years prior but had waited to cast the right actress for the part. Critics unanimously praised her performance, Only 19 when she made the film, Adjani was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, becoming the
youngest Best Actress nominee at the time (a record she held for almost 30 years). She quickly received offers for roles in
Hollywood films, such as
Walter Hill's 1978 crime thriller
The Driver. She had previously turned down the chance to star in films like
The Other Side of Midnight. She had described Hollywood as a "city of fiction" and said, "I'm not an American. I didn't grow up with that will to win an award." Truffaut on the other hand said, "France is too small for her. I think Isabelle is made for American cinema." The film was seen more than 1.1 million times in Adjani's native France but did not do as well in the US. She played Lucy in the German director
Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of
Nosferatu which was well-received critically and performed well at box offices in Europe. Roger Ebert loved the film, calling Herzog's casting of Adjani one of his "masterstrokes" in the film. He wrote that she "is used here not only for her facial perfection but for her curious quality of seeming to exist on an ethereal plane." The cast and the crew filmed both English- and German-language versions simultaneously upon request of
20th Century Fox, the American distributor, as Kinski and Bruno Ganz could act more confidently in their native language. In 1981, she received a double
Cannes Film Festival's
Best Actress award for her roles in the
Merchant Ivory film
Quartet, based on the novel by
Jean Rhys, and in the horror film
Possession (1981). The following year, she received her first
César Award for
Possession, in which she had portrayed a woman having a
nervous breakdown. In 1983, she won her second César for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the French blockbuster
One Deadly Summer, and starred with
Michel Serrault in the black diamond thriller
Deadly Circuit directed by
Claude Miller. That same year, Adjani released the French pop album
Pull marine, written and produced by
Serge Gainsbourg. She then starred in a music video for the hit title song,
Pull Marine, which was directed by
Luc Besson. Adjani also drew controversy at the
1983 Cannes Film Festival when she refused to attend a traditional photocall after the press conference for
One Deadly Summer. Adjani was annoyed at the time by the intrusion of photographers into her private life. The photographers in Cannes boycotted Adjani upon her arrival on the red carpet for the premiere, at which point they put down their cameras and turned their backs to her. In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor
Camille Claudel. She received her third César and second Oscar nomination for her role in the film, becoming the first French actress to receive two Oscar nominations. The film was also nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She received her fourth César for the 1994 film
Queen Margot, an ensemble epic directed by
Patrice Chéreau. She received her fifth César for
Skirt Day (2009), the most that any actress has received. The film features her as a middle school teacher in a troubled French suburb who takes her class hostage when she accidentally fires off a gun she found on one of her students. It was premiered on the French Arte channel on 20 March 2009, attaining a record 2.2 million viewers) and then in movie theaters on 25 March 2009. The film was her return to the cinema after eight years of absence. In 2010, she made an appearance in the social comedy
Mammuth, from directors
Benoît Delépine and
Gustave Kervern, and in which she played the phantom of
Gérard Depardieu's first love. The same year, she lent her voice to the character of
Mother Gothel in the French version of the animated film
Tangled. In 2011, she co-starred in
De Force, the first film directed by Frank Henry. She embodied the commander Clara Damico, head of the brigade for the repression of banditry. She became the first French actress to star in a
Bollywood film, playing the mother of
Preity Zinta in the 2013 romantic comedy
Ishkq in Paris, directed by
Prem Soni and alongside
Shekhar Kapur. She joined the comedy
The World Is Yours, playing the eccentric Dany, directed by
Romain Gavras alongside
Vincent Cassel, which entered into the
Directors' Fortnight during the
2018 Cannes Film Festival. In 2022, she played the movie star Sidonie von Grassenabb in the comedy drama
Peter von Kant, tribute to
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, directed by
François Ozon alongside
Denis Ménochet, which entered as the opening film into the
72nd Berlin International Film Festival. In 2023, Adjani released her second French pop album
Bande originale, written and produced by
Pascal Obispo, and arranged by Cécile DeLaurentis. She also joined the Netflix action film
Wingwomen, directed by
Mélanie Laurent, and then, the Netflix miniseries
The Perfect Couple directed by
Susanne Bier, alongside
Nicole Kidman and
Liev Schreiber. ==Personal life==