Léa Hélène Seydoux-Fornier de Clausonne (born 1 July 1985) is a French actress. She began her acting career in French cinema, appearing in films such as The Last Mistress (2007) and On War (2008). She first came to attention after she won theTrophée Chopard Award for Female Revelation of the Year at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress for her performance in The Beautiful Person (2008).
Since then, she has appeared in major Hollywood films including Inglourious Basterds (2009), Robin Hood (2010), Midnight in Paris (2011) and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011). In French cinema, she was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress for a second time for her role in Belle Épine (2010) and was nominated for the César Award for Best Actress for the film Farewell, My Queen (2012).
In 2013 she came to widespread attention and was awarded the Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in the filmBlue Is the Warmest Colour. She also received the Lumières Award for Best Actress for the film Grand Central (2013). In 2014, she was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award and starred in the films Beauty and the Beast, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Saint Laurent.
She will appear in The Lobster and in Diary of a Chambermaid, with both films projected for release in 2015. In October 2014, it was announced she has been cast as the next Bond girl, Madeleine Swann, in Spectre, the 24th James Bond film, scheduled for release in October 2015.