Mathilda May

Mathilda May
May in 2010
Born	Karin Haïm (1965-02-08) 8 February 1965 (age 59) 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 roles include portraying Space Girl in Lifeforce (1985) and Jeanne Gardella in Toutes peines confondues (1992).

Her father is Victor Haïm (born Victor Lévy) the French playwright, actor, screenwriter, director and drama teacher, of whom his works have been translated and performed in several countries.

May was born in Paris, France. Her father, playwright,^[3] screenwriter, and actor Victor Haïm, is of Sephardic Jewish (Greek and Turkish) descent. Her mother is the Swedish ballet teacher and choreographer Margareta Hanson.^[4] She studied under Christiane Vaussard at the Conservatoire de Paris, graduating at age 16.^[5]

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^[6] 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 science fiction-horror film Lifeforce (1985), directed by Tobe Hooper. 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.^[7][8]

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.^[9][10][11] Open Space was a show without words and the story was presented by movement, music, and sound. May described the show as:

It 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, daughter Sarah (born 17 August 1994) and son Jules (born 4 March 1997). 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 Schnieder 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 AllMovie
• Mathilda May at Yahoo! Movies
• Mathilda May at IMDb