This week's Film Actress Friday is Anna Karina. Some of you may not be familiar with her, but perhaps after reading this you will be inclined to view some of the films she has been in.
Anna Karina was a face of French New Wave, and a triple threat; writer, director, and actress.
-Anna Karina was born Hanne Karin Blarke Bayer in Denmark in 1940
-At age 14 she appeared in a Danish short film by Ib Schedes who won an award at Cannes
-At this time she lived in Denmark studying dance and painting, making a living off of selling her paintings
-In 1958 she hitch-hiked to Paris, she had no money and was living off the streets when a woman approached her about modeling
-She became a successful model meeting Pierre Cardin, and Coco Chanel. Coco Chanel helped her develop her professional name
-Her first film appearance was in 1959 in a soap advertisement
-This is where Jean-Luc Godard first saw her and offered her a small part in his film 'Cahiers du cinema' but she refused because of a nude scene
-He offered her a role again in Le Petit Soldat in 1960, Anna was under 21 and had to convince her mother to sign a contract allowing her to be in the film
-She worked with him again in the film 'Une femme est une femme' (1961) which she won Best Actress for at the Berlin Film Festival
-After shooting this film, she and Godard married, they divorced in 1967
-Other collaborations born of their partnership were films such as 'Vivre se vie' (1962), 'Bande a part' (1964), 'Pierrot le fou' (1965), 'Alphaville' (1965), 'Made in USA' (1966),
-Other than Godard, some directors Anna worked with were, Jacques Rivette in 1967's 'la Religieuse de Diderot', Luchino Viconti in 1967's 'L 'Etranger', George Cukor in 1969's 'Justine' among others
-In 1972 she opened a production company named Raska for her film directing debut 'Vivre Ensemble' in which she also acted in, she also wrote and acted in 'Last Song' in 1987
-Anna Karina has also had a singing career, in the late 60s' she had a hits, 'Sous le soleil exactement' and 'roller girl'
-She recorded an album 'Une historie d'amour'
-She has also written 3 novels
-After Godard she married 3 more times
-In 2007 she wrote, directed, and starred in 'Victoria' which premiered at the Pusan Film Festival in Korea in 2008
