Mathilda May

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Mathilda May
May in 2010
Born	Karin Haïm (1965-02-08) 8 February 1965 (age 60) Paris, France
Education	Conservatoire de Paris
Years active	1984-present
Spouses	Paul Powell ​ (m. 1991⁠–⁠1993)​ Gérard Darmon ​ (m. 1994⁠–⁠1999)​ Philippe Kelly ​ (m. 2000⁠–⁠2006)​ Sly Johnson[1]
Children	2
Father	Victor Haïm

Mathilda May (born Karin Haïm;^[2] 8 February 1965) is a French film actress and director. Her most well-known turns include the roles of Space Girl in Lifeforce (1985) and Jeanne Gardella in Toutes peines confondues (1992).

May's film work is primarily in French and made for the European market. She was the recipient of the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 1988^[3] for her role in Le Cri du Hibou (The Cry of the Owl) and the Romy Schneider Prize for best up and coming actress in 1989. In 1992, she also recorded an album called Joy of Love.^[4][5] May was the writer and director for the theater show Open Space, which ran from 2013 to 2015.^[6][7][8]

May was born in Paris, France. Her father, the playwright,^[9] screenwriter, and actor Victor Haïm, is of Sephardic Jewish (Greek and Turkish) descent. Her mother is the Swedish ballet teacher and choreographer Margareta Hanson.^[10] May studied under Christiane Vaussard at the Conservatoire de Paris, graduating at age 16.^[11]

May's film work is primarily in French and made for the European market. She was the recipient of the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 1988^[3] and the Prix Romy Schneider in 1989. Non-French films she has appeared in include Naked Tango (1990), Becoming Colette (1991), and The Tit and the Moon (1994). In the United States, she is best-known for her role as an alien vampire in the Tobe Hooper science fiction/horror-film Lifeforce (1985), in which she is naked for most of her performance. She also appeared in the 1996 space adventure game Privateer 2: The Darkening. She played Isabella in The Jackal, a 1997 action film.

May recorded an album in 1992 called Joy of Love.^[4][5]

May was the writer and director for the theater show Open Space, which was performed in the Théâtre Jean-Vilar in the commune of Suresnes, the Théâtre du Rond-Point, and the Théâtre de Paris from 2013 to 2015.^[6][7][8] Open Space was a show without words; the story was presented by movement, music, and sound. May said of the show "[i]t will be choreographed without it being dance, and musical without an instrument".^[12]

May has been married four times. Her first husband was Paul Powell. Her second husband was Gérard Darmon, with whom she has two children, a daughter and a son. Her third husband was Philippe Kelly. Her fourth husband was Sly Johnson.

• The César Award (the national film award of France): 1988 Best Young Female Newcomer for The Cry of the Owl
• The 1989 Romy Schneider Award
• The 2019 Molliere for Best Director of a Public Theatre Show for The Wedding Banquet^[13]
• The 2020 Molliere for Best Solo Performance for her production of Monsieur X starring Pierre Richard at the Théâtre de l’Atelier.^[14]
• The 2020 SACD (Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) for Best Director^[15]
  

• May, Mathilda (2007). Personne ne le saura (in French). Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 978-2-08-068459-2.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mathilda May.

• Mathilda May at Yahoo! Movies
• Mathilda May at IMDb