Adèle Exarchopoulos: A Deep Dive
A look into the life of Adèle Exarchopoulos
Partner: Doums (2016–2021)
Children: 1
Born: 1993 14th arrondissement, Paris, France
Siblings: Émile Exarchopoulos, Baptiste Exarchopoulos
Parents: Didier Exarchopoulos, Marina Niquet
She had her career breakthrough starring as Adèle in the romance Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013); at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, she became the youngest person in the history of the festival to be awarded the Palme d’Or. She won it with her co-star Léa Seydoux.
Exarchopoulos won two César Awards for Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013) and All Your Faces (2023). She was also nominated for Cesars for her roles in Mandibles (2020) and Zero Fucks Given (2023). Her other notables roles feature her in such films as Racer and the Jailbird (2017), The White Crow (2018), Sibyl (2019), The Five Devils (2022), and Passages (2023). She voiced Ennui in the Pixar animated film Inside Out 2 (2024)
In 2006, Exarchopoulos was spotted by an agent and made her first television appearance in an episode of the French police series R.I.S, police scientifique. At thirteen, she had a debuting film role in the 2007 film Boxes. She also appeared in the films Les Enfants de Timpelbach (2008), The Round Up (2010), Turk’s Head (2010), Chez Gino (2011), Carré blanc (2011), Pieces of Me (2012), and I Used to Be Darker (2013).
Exarchopoulos grew up in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, near the Place des Fêtes. Her mother is a French nurse. Her father is a French restaurant manager at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy, film producer, and president of the company 1660 Productions. She is of Greek ancestry through her paternal great-grandfather, who was born there.
In March 2014, she was in consideration to play Tiger Lily in the Joe Wright directed fantasy film Pan but lost to Rooney Mara. She portrayed Judith, an aspiring teacher in the period drama film Les Anarchistes. The film premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where Guy Lodge of Variety praised her chemistry with Tahar Rahim while also describing her performance as “attentive quietly expressive.”
She attracted international attention and critical acclaim for her performance in Blue Is the Warmest Colour, a 2013 film based on the 2010 French graphic novel of the same name. The film won the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Exarchopoulos and co-star Léa Seydoux were awarded the Palme d’Or alongside director Abdellatif Kechiche, becoming the only women apart from director Jane Campion to have won the award at the time; Exarchopoulos is the youngest person to ever receive the award.[12] For her performance in Blue Is the Warmest Colour, she won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress, the César Award for Most Promising Actress, and the Trophée Chopard for Female Revelation of the Year, among dozens of other accolades.
She then appeared in The Last Face alongside Javier Bardem and Charlize Theron, directed by Sean Penn, which premiered in competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. That same year she acted in the Arnaud des Pallières directed French drama Orphan opposite Adèle Haenel. The film premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.