Julie Delpy

2025

Actress, director, screenwriter and producer

She was six years old when she saw her first Godard film, eight when she became captivated by a Bergman piece, and fourteen when she knew she wanted to be a director. Yet, it is as an actor that audiences most recognise Julie Delpy.

Photo: Getty Images

It was in this capacity that she made her film debut – in a Godard film, no less! At just fourteen years old, she played the role of a "wise young girl" in the French auteur's Detective (1985), acting alongside legends such as Jean-Pierre Léaud. Her iconic status on screen was solidified through Kieślowski's masterful Three Colours trilogy, as Dominique in White (1994) – a character who also appeared in both Blue and Red, all three films permanently etched into the memories of cinephiles of that era. This status was further cemented on a broader scale with the beginning of another trilogy: Richard Linklater’s indie classic Before Sunrise (1995). In it, her Parisian Céline meets Ethan Hawke’s American Jesse on a train between Budapest and Vienna. The pair spend the night wandering Vienna in conversation, building up to their first kiss – a moment later nominated for Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards. The film was followed nine years later by Before Sunset and another nine years later by Before Midnight. Delpy co-wrote and earned Oscar nominations for the scripts of both sequels.

Despite celebrated collaborations with masters like Agnieszka Holland, Bertrand Tavernier, Leos Carax, and Volker Schlöndorff, Delpy’s dream of being behind the camera never faded. Her feature-length directorial debut came in 2002 with Looking for Jimmy, shot in just 24 hours on a budget of $5,000. By then, Delpy had left Paris for the United States – first attending film school in New York and then moving to Los Angeles. Whether working in comedy or drama, Delpy never shies away from the uncomfortable. Her most successful films as a director have been her romantic comedies 2 Days in Paris (2007), opposite Adam Goldberg, and 2 Days in New York, opposite Chris Rock. Both revolve around cultural clashes and communication issues in Franco-American relationships.

Even in the French comedy Lolo (2015), relationship issues arise, though here it's mainly due to the son Lolo – played by an irresistibly sociopathic Vincent Lacoste – who is determined to sabotage his successful Parisian mother’s improbable romance with a tech geek from the countryside. What ties all these works together is Julie Delpy's characteristic ability to explore depth with a light touch, effortlessly balancing warm humour with profound gravity.

Photo: Getty Images

In interviews, Delpy has said she draws her humour from the chaos of real life; that she may be "a little psycho," but better that than boring. This description suits the characters she chooses to portray when directing herself – often possessing a dry, cynically humorous, slightly unhinged side that contrasts with their naive charm. For example, in Lolo, the candid conversations between her Violette and best friend Ariane (played brilliantly by Karin Viard) are a highlight of the film. Similarly, in the Netflix series On the Verge (2021), she joins Elisabeth Shue, Sarah Jones, and Alexia Landeau in portraying a quartet of close friends in LA, navigating life, love, chaos, and the challenges of being women in their mid-40s. A clear female perspective is ever-present in her work. Delpy often speaks out about the lack of gender equality in the industry, airing her frustrations over how the playing field is so much narrower for female auteurs – financially, creatively, and even in terms of personality expectations.

She has also lamented how women over 50 are often cast only as dying characters or as ghosts. Before her own feminist mother, Marie Pillet, passed away, Delpy cast her as her feminist mother in 2 Days in Paris. In her latest film, Meet the Barbarians (in which her father Albert, as usual, appears), Delpy tells the story of a village in Brittany that is unsure how to react when a refugee family from Syria arrives, rather than the expected Ukrainian family. Complications naturally arise for her teacher character Joëlle.

This year’s Honorary Dragon Award recipient is a multidisciplinary artist who refuses to be boxed in. She is a director, actor, screenwriter, producer, editor, and composer, among other things. In 2003, she even released her debut album, Julie Delpy, which, naturally, is a mix of French and American – just like herself.