Photo: Georges Biard / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Mathilda May is one of those performers who burned herself into your memory with a single role and then kept surprising you for decades after. Her turn as the Space Girl in Lifeforce (1985) is practically legendary — she commands the screen with an otherworldly presence that no one who's seen the film ever really forgets. What I find genuinely impressive, though, is that she refused to be defined by it: she picked up a César Award for Best Female Revelation in 1988, won the Prix Romy Schneider in 1989, moved fluidly between film and television, and eventually stepped behind the camera as a director. That's a real career, not a one-hit curiosity. The French film world clearly agrees — she was named an Officer of Arts and Letters in 2023, which feels like a well-earned acknowledgment of someone who's been quietly excellent for forty years.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Mathilda May
- Name (Japanese)
- マチルダ・メイ
- Reading
- まちるだ・めい
- Born
- February 8, 1965 (age 61)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Aquarius / Snake
- Origin
- Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, Seine, France
- Occupation
- television actor / film actor / singer / director
2. Background
Awards & achievements
- 1988 César Award for Best Female Revelation
- 1989 Prix Romy Schneider
- 2023 Officer of Arts and Letters
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Lifeforce | — | |
| Notable work | The Cry of the Owl | — | |
| Notable work | The Tit and the Moon | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Mathilda May born?
Born February 8, 1965 (age 61).
Where is Mathilda May from?
Mathilda May is from Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, Seine, France.
What does Mathilda May do?
Mathilda May works as television actor, film actor, singer, director.
What is Mathilda May known for?
Notable works include Lifeforce, The Cry of the Owl, The Tit and the Moon.
Television actor — see all → · Film actor — see all → · More people from France →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.