Alexandra Lamy

Lamy was born in Villecresnes, near Paris, but spent most of her childhood in the south of France, primarily in La Grande-Motte and Alès. She developed an interest in acting and took classes at the Nîmes Conservatory. After completing her baccalaureate, she moved to Paris to pursue her career, studying at the prestigious Cours Florent. During this time, she deliberately worked on eliminating her Southern French accent for professional reasons. Her younger sister, Audrey Lamy, is also a well-known actress in France.

Lamy's career began in the mid-1990s with various theatre roles. Her breakthrough came in 1999 when she was cast as Alex, opposite Jean Dujardin's character, in the French adaptation of the Canadian comedy sketch show, Un gars, une fille. The series, which chronicled the daily life and relationship challenges of a couple, became a huge cultural success in France, running for 439 episodes until 2003.

The latter half of the 2010s saw Lamy taking on a series of highly successful leading roles. Her performance in the comedy Back to Mom's (Retour chez ma mère, 2016) was a major box-office hit. She cemented her critical success in 2018 with Rolling to You (Tout le monde debout), directed by Franck Dubosc, for which she received a nomination for the César Award for Best Actress in 2019. For the same role, she won the Globe de Cristal Award for Best Comedy Actress. In 2022, Lamy made her directorial debut with the television film Touchées (Touched), which focuses on the lives of women victims of domestic violence. Lamy was appointed a Knight (Chevalier) of the Ordre national du Mérite in November 2017. She was also inducted into the Musée Grévin in 2018.

Lamy was in a relationship with actor Thomas Jouannet from 1995 to 2003. They have one daughter, Chloé Jouannet, born in 1997, who has also pursued an acting career. She began dating her Un gars, une fille co-star Jean Dujardin in 2003. They married in 2009 and were officially divorced in December 2014.