Karina, Anna

(1940- )

   Actress and director. Born in Denmark as Hanne Karina Blarke Bayer, Anna Karina started her career as a model and then appeared in a Danish short by Ib Schmedes, titled Pigen og Skoene. She left for Paris in 1958 and was offered the role of Patricia in Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de souffle (1960). She declined the role, however, and it was ultimately played by Jean Seberg. Karina and Godard married in 1961 and remained married until 1967. During that time, she starred in several of his films, including Vivre sa vie (1962), Le Petit soldat (1963), Bande à part (1964), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le fou (1965), and Made in USA (1966). She won the Silver Berlin Bear for her performance in Godard's Une femme est une femme (1961). Through her work with Godard, she became an icon of the Nouvelle Vague or New Wave, and worked on other films by New Wave directors, including Éric Rohmerl's Charlotte et son steak (1961) and Jacques Rivette's La religieuse (1966) and Haut bas fragile (1995). She also played a small part in Agnès Varda's Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962).

   Karina has appeared in over seventy films, with leading roles in Michel Deville's Ce soir ou jamais (1961) and Zàrtliche Haie (1967), René Clair's Les Quatre Vérités (1962), Pierre Gaspard-Huit's Shéhérazade (1963), Carl Theodor Dreyer's Joergen Roos (1964), Valerio Zurlini's Des filles pour l'armée (1965), Jean Aurel's Lamiel (1967), Luchino Visconti's Lo straniero (1967), André Farwagi's Le temps de mourir (1969), André Delvaux's Rendez-vous à Bray (1971), Franco Brusati's Pane e cioccolata (1972), Benoît Jacquot's L'Assassin musicien (1974), and Jacques Richard's Ave Maria (1984). She was nominated for a César for Best Supporting Actress in Richard Berry's Cayenne Palace (1987). More recently, she plays herself in Thierry Jousse's Nom de code: Sacha (2001). She also sings in Jonathan Demme's The Truth About Charlie and appears in Berry's Moi César, 10 ans Vi, 1,39 m (2002). She directed one film, Vivre ensemble (1973).

   Historical Dictionary of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz & Mary Ellen Higgins