Emmanuelle Riva facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Emmanuelle Riva
Riva in 1962
Born	Paulette Germaine Riva (1927-02-24)24 February 1927 Cheniménil, Vosges, France
Died	27 January 2017(2017-01-27) (aged 89) Paris, France
Resting place	Cimetière de Charonne, Paris
Nationality	French
Occupation	Actress poet photographer artist chanteuse
Years active	1956–2017

Emmanuelle Riva (born Paulette Germaine Riva; 24 February 1927 – 27 January 2017) was a talented French actress. She was famous for her main roles in two important films: Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and Amour (2012).

Emmanuelle Riva received many awards and nominations for her acting. She was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Hiroshima mon amour. She won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her role in Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962). For Amour, she won a BAFTA Award and the César Award. She was also nominated for an Academy Award.

Becoming an Actress: Early Life

Emmanuelle Riva was born Paulette Germaine Riva on 24 February 1927 in Cheniménil, France. Her mother, Jeanne Fernande, was a seamstress, and her father, René Alfred Riva, was a sign painter from Italy.

Growing up in Remiremont, Emmanuelle loved acting from a young age. She performed in plays at her local theater. For several years, she worked as a seamstress. After seeing an advertisement in a newspaper, she applied to an acting school in Paris.

At 26, she moved to Paris to follow her dream of becoming an actress, even though her family did not agree. In 1954, she performed on stage for the first time in a Paris play called Arms and the Man. In 1957, Riva started her onscreen acting career in a TV series called Énigmes de l'histoire.

Her Acting Career

Emmanuelle Riva at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

Film Roles and Awards

Emmanuelle Riva's performance in Hiroshima mon amour earned her a nomination for a BAFTA Award in 1960. She then appeared in other notable films like Kapò (1960) and Léon Morin, Priest (1961).

In 1962, she starred in Thérèse Desqueyroux. For this role, she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 23rd Venice International Film Festival. Riva also appeared in Three Colors: Blue (1993) and Venus Beauty Institute (1999). Later films included Skylab (2011) and Lost in Paris (2016).

Riva played the main role in Michael Haneke's film Amour (2012). She acted alongside Jean-Louis Trintignant. In the film, she played an elderly music teacher who is cared for by her husband after she has several strokes.

For her powerful performance in Amour, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 2013. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Riva traveled to the 85th Academy Awards ceremony, which happened on her 86th birthday. However, Jennifer Lawrence won the award that year. At 85, Emmanuelle Riva was the oldest person ever nominated for Best Actress. She was the second-oldest acting nominee after Gloria Stuart, who was 87 when she was nominated for Titanic (1997).

Other Artistic Works

Besides films, Emmanuelle Riva had a long and successful career in theater in Paris. In 2001, she performed in the play Medea at the Festival d'Avignon. She also appeared on French television sometimes. In February 2014, Riva returned to the Paris stage. She co-starred in the play Savannah Bay at the Théâtre de l'Atelier.

While filming Hiroshima mon amour, Riva took many photographs of Hiroshima. Fifty years later, these photos were shown in an exhibition at the Nikon Salon. They were also published as a book in France and Japan. Emmanuelle Riva was also a published poet, meaning she wrote and shared her own poems.

Her Private Life

Riva's final resting place in Paris

Emmanuelle Riva preferred to keep her personal life private. She never married and did not have children. She had a partner who passed away in 1999. Riva lived in a fourth-floor apartment in the Latin Quarter of Paris for over 50 years.

Her Passing

Emmanuelle Riva passed away from cancer on 27 January 2017 in Paris. This was just four weeks before her 90th birthday. A memorial service was held for her on 4 February 2017 at Saint-Germain de Charonne church. She was then buried in Charonne cemetery.

Selected Filmography

See also

• List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees