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Nathalie Baye?
Nathalie Baye
🎂 Jul 6, 1948 — 🕯️ Apr 17, 2026 (77 years)
Mainneville, Eure, France Top 1000
Nathalie Baye, born in Mainneville, Eure, France, is an actor and producer. Made their debut in 1972 with Faustine and the Beautiful Summer. Best known for Catch Me If You Can, playing Paula Abagnale. Also starred in Alibi.com and It's Only the End of the World. Their filmography spans 119 movies and 22 TV shows over 54 years, across genres including drama, crime, comedy.
77R.I.P.
0Oscars
87Movies
6Series
77 R.I.P.
R.I.P.
0
Oscars
87
Movies
6
Series
Movies
Catch Me If You Can
2002
Beau Pere
1981
Downton Abbey: A New Era
2022
Tell No One
2006
Alibi.com 2
2023
Day for Night
1973
Laurence Anyways
2012
Alibi.com
2017
The Man Who Loved Women
1977
It's Only the End of the World
2016
The Return of Martin Guerre
1982
An Affair of Love
1999
Absolutely Fabulous
2001
Moka
2016
Venus Beauty Institute
1999
The Last Woman
1976
La Balance
1982
Detective
1985
Mado
1976
C'est La Vie
1990
Haute Couture
2021
Him
2021
Visage
2009
A Week's Vacation
1980
The Flower of Evil
2003
Our Story
1984
SK1
2015
The Green Room
1978
The Guardians
2017
Hitler in Hollywood
2011
Barnie's Minor Annoyances
2001
Every Man for Himself
1980
Off and Running
2008
Rive droite, rive gauche
1984
I Married a Shadow
1983
Paparazzi
1998
Feelings
2003
The Slap
1974
Every Other Weekend
1990
Strange Affair
1981
The Young Lieutenant
2005
My Son
2006
A French Gigolo
2008
Beautiful Lies
2010
Faustine and the Beautiful Summer
1972
Lou!
2014
Préjudice
2015
Small World
2010
France Boutique
2003
One Stays, the Other Leaves
2005
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Nathalie Baye
1948-07-06 · Mainneville, Eure, France
Nathalie Marie Andrée Baye (July 6, 1948 – April 17, 2026) was a French film, television, and stage actress. She began her career in 1970 and has appeared in more than 80 films. A ten-time César Award nominee, her four wins were for Every Man for Himself (1980), Strange Affair (1981), La Balance (1982), and The Young Lieutenant (2005). Her other films include Day for Night (1973), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Tell No One (2006), and The Assistant (2015). In 2009, she was appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
Baye was born in Mainneville, Eure, Normandy to Claude Baye and Denise Coustet, two painters. At 14, she joined a school of dance in Monaco. Three years later she went to the United States. On returning to France, she continued with dance but also registered for the Simon Course and was admitted to the Conservatoire, from where she graduated in 1972 with a second prize in comedy, dramatic comedy, and foreign theatre.
Her second cinema appearance was in Two People (1973), directed by Robert Wise. She became better known as the script girl in Day for Night (La Nuit américaine, 1973) by François Truffaut. Throughout the 1970s, she played the good girlfriend or nice provincial girl in film and television.
She won her first César, as best supporting artist, for Every Man for Himself (Sauve qui peut (la vie), 1980) directed by Jean-Luc Godard. There then followed The Return of Martin Guerre (Le Retour de Martin Guerre, 1982) and La Balance (also 1982).
Baye won two more César Awards, Best Supporting Actress, for Strange Affair (Une étrange affaire, 1981), and Best Actress for La Balance, 1982). Her four-year relationship with Johnny Hallyday made them a celebrity couple and their daughter is Laura Smet, now an actress.
After changing her image by playing a streetwalker in La Balance, she widened her scope with more obscure characters in J'ai épousé une ombre (1983) and En toute innocence (1988). In 1986, she returned to the theatre with an interpretation of Adriana Monti.
In 1999, she was voted Best Supporting Actress at Venice Film Festival for Une liaison pornographique and starred in Vénus Beauté (Institut) (2000) by Tonie Marshall which won multiple César Awards including Best Film.
She has worked with Claude Chabrol and Steven Spielberg.
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