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.
Overview
Mathilda May (born Karin Haïm; 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.
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
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- television actor / film actor / singer / director
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 1988 César Award for Best Female Revelation
- 1989 Prix Romy Schneider
- 2023 Officer of Arts and Letters
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
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
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.