Joana Preiss

Graceful model-turned-actress Joana Preiss was born in Marseille, but she spent the majority of her youth in Paris. After studying classical music at the Sorbonne, Preiss entered into the world of acting, only to be courted by the fashion industry after a chance meeting with Karl Lagerfeld at a Chanel show. At the time, Preiss was 29 and thought herself too old to become a model, yet despite her age Lagerfeld eventually coaxed her in front of the camera for a photo shoot with Linda Evangelista. Subsequent roles in such films as Clean, My Mother, and Pia Marais's award-winning directorial debut, The Unpolished, served well to expose the rising starlet to an international audience, and in 2006 the unconventional beauty could be seen in director Olivier Assayas's segment of the anthology film Paris, Je T'Aime. - Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide