Acting
Mar 5, 1984
Issy-les-Moulineaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Leïla Bekhti
Acting
Biography
Leïla Bekhti (ليلى بختي) is a French-Algerian actress, born on March 6, 1984, in Issy-les-Moulineaux. She notably received the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2011 for her role in Tout Ce Qui Brille. In 2010, Leïla Bekhti married actor Tahar Rahim, whom she met in 2007 on the set of the film A Prophet. Leïla Bekhti was born into an Algerian family from Sidi Bel Abbès in western Algeria, who settled in the Paris region. Born in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Leïla Bekhti grew up in Bagneux. She is the youngest of three children. While a high school student, she regularly bought Casting magazine, with the sole intention of having fun looking for ads that might be of interest to her, without taking any action each time they did. After obtaining a literary baccalaureate (with a theater option) from the Maurice-Genevoix high school in Montrouge, she reluctantly enrolled in a university and took an art therapy course there.[4] She also attended a theater school in Paris for six months, without much regular attendance. While working various odd jobs—including as a saleswoman in a clothing store owned by her brother in Orléans—to pay for her classes, she then enrolled at the Stéphane-Gildas school in Paris, then Bérengère Basty's class at the Art'aire Studio. In 2005, encouraged by friends, she went to the casting of Sheitan, a film by Kim Chapiron with Vincent Cassel (also the film's producer), and obtained one of the main roles, that of Yasmine, a young woman with no fears. Leïla Bekhti then played in the TV film Harkis with Smaïn and rediscovered the history of Algeria, the country where her family comes from. We find Leïla Bekhti in Paris, Je T’Aime then in Roschdy Zem's first film Mauvaise Foi. Then, her friend Géraldine Nakache offered her the main role alongside her in Tout Ce Qui Brille, a real box-office success, which earned her a César for Most Promising Actress. In 2011, she played in Toi, Moi, Les autres and Itinéraire Bis. After La Source Des Femmes, Leïla Bekhti returned to the screen in A Better Life with Guillaume Canet in January 2012. This was followed by more than fifty films and as many notable roles, in both drama and comedy, for film and television (see filmography). In her private life, Leila Bekhti met actor Tahar Rahim on the set of Jacques Audiard's film A Prophet, released in 2009. They married discreetly in 2010 and went on to have five children.
Feature Films (52)
Parody of the acclaimed Australian series of the 80s, Return to Eden. Wealthy heiress Stephanie Harper marries athlete Craig Danners, without suspecting that he only wants her money and is having an affair with her best friend, Crystal. Craig and Crystal have a plan to get rid of Stephanie and steal her fortune by making her suffer a terrible accident, which leaves her face disfigured. She is saved by the handsome Doctor Danley, who performed a plastic surgery on Stephanie that turned her into a completely different and beautiful woman. Stephanie starts plotting her revenge against Craig and Crystal, who believe that she died in the accident.
Saddle Up For Revenge
Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.
Paris Je T'aime
Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.
A Prophet
This short from the anthology film Paris, je t’aime looks at the meeting between two teenagers, one a catcaller and the other a Muslim girl. Directed by Gurinder Chadha.
Quais de Seine
A group of young people leave a disco and bump into a shepherd who is ready to spend his night worshipping Satan.
Satan
Television & Series (21)
A lost thirty-something shares his struggles, from failed relationships to boring jobs and pointless nights out. Stuck in his routine at first, he slowly evolves, searching for meaning in his life. In short, he's just trying to live.
Bref
Kahina Zadi, 32, a French police officer travels to Kiruna in Sweden to investigate the bestial murder of a French citizen. Together with Anders, a Swedish prosecutor of Sami origin, she begins an investigation. Soon new killings start to happen and the first victim turns out to be the tip of a very dark iceberg. The victims seemingly have nothing in common more than that they are all being killed in a well-planned and vicious manner. In their hunt for the truth, both Kahina and Anders are forced to deal with their own past that they have repressed. A personal journey through a painful past becomes the key to succeed in preventing the violent killings that affects the small mining community of Kiruna.
Midnight Sun
Inspired by the American program Saturday Night Live from NBC, around thirty actors take part in various humorous sketches.
