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Vanessa Chantal Paradis (born 22
December 1972) is a French singer and actress. She became a child star at
14 with the huge worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi". Since
then, she has accomplished a career in music, movies and modelling.
Vanessa Paradis was born on December 22, 1972 at Saint-Maur-des-Fossés,
near Paris. She has a younger sister, Alysson, born May 29th, 1982.
Alysson Paradis is now an actress and theater comedian.
Vanessa Paradis spent her childhood in Villiers-sur-Marne with her
parents, André and Corinne Paradis.
Vanessa Paradis was attracted to cinema early on. Her admiration for
Marilyn Monroe lead her to take dance and piano lessons.
She spent a lot of time with her uncle, Didier Pain, and his musician
friends.
Her first TV appearance was on the show L'École des fans in 1981. She
recorded her first single, "La Magie des surprises-parties", in 1983 and
performed it in an Italian festival in 1985 but lost the first prize.
Although "La Magie des surprises-parties" was not a hit, it paved the way
for the song with which she would become internationally famous, "Joe le
taxi", in 1987, while she was still only 14 years old. It was #1 in France
for 11 weeks and, unusually for a song sung in French, was released in the
United Kingdom the following year (25 January), where it reached #3. It
was taken from her first album M&J (it stands for Marilyn & John) which,
although it gained a number 13 placing in France, drew little attention in
the UK and did not chart. In March 1989, aged 16, she decided to drop out
of high school in order to pursue her career.
She then released Variations sur le même t'aime in 1990, containing a
remake of the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side". The album was written
by acclaimed French composer Serge Gainsbourg, whom she met when she
received the best singer award at Les Victoires de la musique, on
February, 4th 1990.
In 1990, Paradis won the 1990 César Award for Most Promising Actress for
her role in Noce Blanche.
In 1991, Paradis promoted a fragrance for Chanel, titled Coco. In the
advertisement, she was dressed in all black and feathers, portraying a
bird swinging in a cage. The advert was shot by Jean-Paul Goude.
In 1992, she moved to the United States, to work with rock musician Lenny
Kravitz. Paradis started working on a new album in English, a language in
which she was now fluent. Written and produced by Kravitz, the album,
titled Vanessa Paradis, topped the French chart and briefly made the UK
listings (number 45). One of the singles from it was "Be My Baby", which
made number 5 in France and gave her another Top 10 UK hit (number 6).
In March 1993, Paradis started her first international tour, the "Natural
High Tour"; she performed in France, England and Canada. The tour was
canceled before she could perform in Japan and in the U.S, for health
reasons.
In February 1994, Vanessa Paradis live was released in France.
In April 1994, Paradis filmed Élisa, under the direction of Jean
Becker."Elisa" was a big success in France, and was released
internationally.
In 1996, Paradis played in Un amour de sorciere with Jeanne Moreau and
Jean Reno, before filming 1 chance sur 2, with Alain Delon and Jean-Paul
Belmondo.
In March 1999, La fille sur le Pont, by Patrice Leconte was released. This
movie was shot and released in black and white.
In 2004 she promoted Chanel's new handbags called Ligne Cambon. In 2005
she modeled for Chanel again for The New Mademoiselle handbag. In 2008 she
modeled for Miu Miu.
On the musical side, she is included in the French children's album and
concert Le Soldat Rose in 2006. Paradis released a new album (Divinidylle)
in 2007 which was released in the UK in december, 11th (September in
France). There are three versions (regular, limited edition, and the
Christmas edition). She started the Divinidylle tour in October. Some
concerts were filmed and a DVD/CD of the tour was released. Her latest
film DVD release is La Clef. Also, Vanessa won two Les Victoires de la
Musique awards for this album in February 2008. Some of her later projects
include a greatest hits cd (Best of Vanessa Paradis) which includes the
commercial jingle "I love Paris in the Springtime"; there were also the
films The Midwife Crisis and Un monstre à Paris April, due to be released
in 2010.
Vanessa Paradis has been in a relationship with American actor Johnny Depp
since 1998. They have a daughter, Lily-Rose Melody Depp (born 27 May
1999), and a son, John Christopher "Jack" Depp III (born 9 April 2002).
They divide their time among houses in the Hollywood Hills and their farm
in Plan-de-la-Tour, South of France, a house in the village of Timsbury,
Somerset, and also own apartments in Paris, Manhattan and an island in the
Bahamas. Paradis' 2000 album Bliss, another French chart topper, was
dedicated to Depp and their daughter.
Paradis has a sister, actress Alysson Paradis, who is younger by 10 years
and has starred in many French horror films. The actor and film producer,
Didier Pain, is their uncle. |
