Career Highlights

• Born in Luxembourg as Fontaine Sibertin-Blanc
• Anne her acting debut playing Esmeralda in a 1980 theatrical production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Made a transition to directing with 1993's Love Affairs Usually End Badly
• Fontaine was fascinated with the story of Coco Chanel. Coco Before Chanel tells the story a self-made girl who rose from the poor French countryside to become a pioneer in fashion

Anne Fontaine, award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter and former actor, lives and works in France. Early in her career, Fontaine trained as a dancer in Paris, landed roles in the theater and acted in comedies, gaining her a reputation and recognition which opened for her an opportunity to be an assistant director in the 1986 stage version of Journey to the End of the Night.

Fontaine’s first project as director came in 1993 with Love Affairs Usually End Badly, which won her the Jean Vigo Prize. In 1997 Fontaine won Best Screenplay at the Venice Film Festival for her work on Dry Cleaning, which solidified her role as an important figure in contemporary French cinema. She continued writing and directing many films which were positively received and in 2009 her opportunity came to create a movie about a woman she had always been fascinated with, Coco Chanel. Written and directed by Fontaine, the film tells the story of Coco Chanel’s rise to the top in fashion. It stars Audrey Tautou as Chanel and Benoit Poelvoorde as Etienne Balsan.

Anne Fontaine joined ThinkTalk host Erika Thomas to discuss her career and her film Coco Before Chanel, a biopic of legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel. This interview originally aired on Septmember 21, 2009.