Berenice Bejo was born to Miguel and Silvia Bejo on July 7, 1976 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When Bejo was 3 years old her family fled Argentina and moved to France to escape the Argentina’s so-called “Dirty War.” Bejo has three younger sisters.
Bejo’s father is a well-known Argentinean filmmaker and her mother a lawyer.
Bejo’s first film role was the French film Meilleur espoir féminin (Most Promising Actress). Following that film she appeared in La Captive; A Knight’s Tale (her American film debut), Passionnément, 24 Hours In The Life Of A Woman, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, Populaire,The Artist, Le Passe (The Past) and Le Dernier Diamant. Bejo voiced the character Merida in the French-dubbed version of Brave.
More recently, Bejo appeared in the 2020 film A Friendly Tale and starred in the 2021 film A Bookshop in Paris. In 2022, Bejo was featured in the zombie comedy Final Cut.
Bejo shot to fame in 2011 when she starred in the Academy Award-winning film The Artist as Peppy Miller, a 1920s film actress, her second film opposite Jean DuJardin. She was surprised when she was nominated for a Golden Globe for the role. “I was very happy and proud for Michel [Hazanavicius] and Jean,” Bejo told Uinterview exclusively. “I was not expecting it for me so I was really, you know, I felt part of the group.” Bejo lost the award to Octavia Spencer (The Help). Additionally, Bejo was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress In A Supporting Role, but lost to Spencer again.
The Artist was directed by Bejo’s husband, Hazanavicius, but she doesn’t think that made the role difficult. “You just put more pressure on yourself the first few days, and then Michel came to me and he said, ‘OK you know you deserve this part, you’re good enough to be here, you don’t have to prove anything to anybody, just relax and just trust me and trust yourself,’” Bejo told Uinterview exclusively. “So after three or four days, I actually let it go and just focused on the work.”
Bejo learned a few things from her role as Peppy. “What I really like about Peppy is the way she never takes herself seriously and just enjoys every moment,” Bejo told Uinterview exclusively. “I think I’m going to keep that in mind. It’s everything — you know? I’m going to try not to take everything too seriously.”
In 2013 Bejo acted in the French-Iranian film Le Passe (The Past), directed by Asghar Farhadi, who also wrote the film. Le Passe is the Iranian entry to the 2013 Academy Awards, which got Bejo excited. “It feels great, and I’m very proud to be in this movie with this director,” Bejo told Uinterview exclusively.
The film, which documents a broken home, gave the audience a chance to relate to the story. “I think it is very universal, I don’t think it’s the French way,” Bejo told Uinterview exclusively. “We have those kinds of family everywhere around the word. Everyone is divorced getting a new partner. I have two children and two stepdaughters and I’m not the only one. That’s something that is very common in the world today.”
Bejo was nominated for dozens of awards for her role in The Artist, including an ALMA, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Academy Award and Screen Actor’s Guild Award. She won the Capri Actress Award César Award, Hollywood Film Festival Spotlight Award, Phoenix Film Critics Society Award, Santa Barbara International Film Festival – Cinema Vanguard Award, St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award and the Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screen Couple (shared with Dujardin).
For her work in the film Le Passe, Bejo won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress of the Year in a Foreign-Language Film.
Bejo married French director/producer Hazanavicius after meeting on the set of the 2006 film OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. Bejo gave birth to the couple’s son, Lucien, in 2008, and daughter Gloria in 2011. She returned to work on the film Populaire three months after giving birth to Gloria. Bejo is stepmother to Hazanavicius’ daughters Fantine and Simone, from his previous marriage to Virginia Lovisone.
Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival.
Bejo is one of 12 French actresses to be nominated for an Academy Award, and one of two Argentinean actresses to be nominated.
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