Yolande Moreau

Yolande Moreau's portrayal of the French painter Séraphine de Senlis straddled the line between art and madness, much like the way she brilliantly made a career as a performer who was not afraid to push boundaries. The classically trained actress-comic-film director began her career with a bang, staging a very successful one-woman show titled "A Dirty Business of Sex and Crime" (1982) all across the globe. Moreau gained critical acclaim for the poignant romance "Quand la mer monte" ("When the Sea Rises") (2004) as a middle-aged stage actress whose world falls apart after falling in love with a younger man. But it was Moreau's turn as the eccentric, manic and brilliant artist in the biopic "Séraphine" (2008) that made her an international phenomenon. Moreau's Séraphine was a large, ungainly cleaning lady who secretly painted still life portraits of flowers, fruits and fields with a creative urge that was, at times, spiritual as well as sensual. Because the artist barely spoke, Moreau conveyed her emotions through her soulful eyes, in the pained way her body hunched over as she scrubbed floors, and with her plain face registering unbridled happiness as she pressed pigments onto canvas. Many deemed her enigmatic performance in "Séraphine" as a true work of art and a real testament to Moreau's inexplicable talent and passion for acting.