Julie Dreyfus

Julie Dreyfus (born 24 January 1966) is a French actress who is well known in Japan where she made her television debut on a French language lesson program on NHK's educational channel in the late 1980s. She has appeared on the TV show Ryōri no Tetsujin (Iron Chef) as a guest and judge. She is best known to western audiences for her appearances in the Quentin Tarantino films Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Inglourious Basterds, in which she played Sofie Fatale and Francesca Mondino respectively. Aside from her native French she is fluent in English and Japanese.

This article is about the French actress. For the American actress, see Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Julie Dreyfus
Dreyfus in 2007
Born (1966-01-24) 24 January 1966
Paris, France
OccupationActress
Years active1992–present

Early life

Dreyfus was born and raised in Paris, the only child of French actress Pascale Audret and producer Francis Dreyfus. She is of French, Alsatian Jewish and half Romanian origin through her paternal grandmother. She is a descendant of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. She spent her summers in the UK. As a child she used to watch Woody Allen's early movies together with her mother.[1] She started learning Japanese in 1985 at the Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilization at the University of Paris, after studying interior design and becoming interested in Japanese architecture. She moved to Japan to study at the Osaka University of Foreign Studies for a six-month, intensive Japanese course, thinking that she would eventually land a job in interior design.[2] After finishing the course, she moved to Tokyo working part-time in a design studio while continuing her private Japanese lessons. In 1988, she worked as a French language instructor on the NHK morning-television-educational program. Centering on a mystery drama, chief producer Motoyoshi Sei hired Dreyfus to increase ratings by changing the program into an episode format.[3] Eventually, she was cast by Japanese network executives as the twenty-something beauty in several TV and film roles, leading her to become a gaijin tarento (foreign talent). She was also a judge on the cult-hit cooking show Ryōri no Tetsujin (Iron Chef).

Film career

Dreyfus portrayed the character of Sofie Fatale in Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film, Kill Bill Volume 1. She was a member of the 2007 Gérardmer Film Festival (Festival international du film fantastique de Gérardmer), which honored her Kill Bill co-star David Carradine.[4][5]

Dreyfus appeared in Vinyan in 2008 and in Tarantino's war epic Inglourious Basterds in 2009, as Francesca Mondino, a fictional French interpreter and mistress for Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.[6] She also appeared as a translator in the Leos Carax short film entitled Merde in the feature film Tokyo!

Filmography
Year Film/television Role Notes
1986 Sekai fushigi hakken Herself unknown episodes
1992 Tōki Rakujitsu Mary
1994 Rampo Mademoiselle
1995 Ryôri no tetsujin Herself/Taster/Panel Guest 2 episodes
A Feast at Midnight Mother
1998 Legal Aliens Isabel
The Crow: Stairway to Heaven India Reyes 3 episodes
1999 The Godson Laura
2000 Bathory Lady Katarina
2002 Jean Moulin Lydie Bastien
2003 Kill Bill Volume 1 Sofie Fatale also casting associate
2008 Tokyo! The interpreter
Vinyan Kim
2009 Inglourious Basterds Francesca Mondino Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2011 Interpol Barbara

References
  1. "BBC - Films - Web Access - Julie Dreyfus". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  2. Ehrman, Mark (6 October 2003). "Dressed to 'Kill'". Variety. p. 16.
  3. "Fun factor injected into language programs". The Daily Yomiuri. 26 April 1993. p. 10.
  4. "Ouverture du 14è festival du film fantastique de Gérardmer". Agence France Presse (Vosges) (in French). 31 January 2007.
  5. "La comédie primée à Gérardmer". Le Progrès (in French). 6 February 2007.
  6. H, Sebastian (7 October 2008). "From Fatale to Inglorious". The Quentin Tarantino Archives. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
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