Meet the gorgeous French actress voicing Ennui in Inside Out 2: Adèle Exarchopoulos got her break in Blue is the Warmest Colour at age 19, and has worked with Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem
- Exarchopoulos became the youngest winner of Cannes’ prestigious Palme d’Or award in 2013 for controversial film Blue is the Warmest Colour; she’s since spoken out about her negative experience on set
- In the decade since, the French film ingénue and fashion lover has had a son Ismaël with French rapper Doums, and is now setting her sights on Hollywood
Enter Adèle Exarchopoulos, who had already accumulated an impressive resume by age 19 with appearances in eight films. However, it was her role in the 2013 film adaptation of La Vie d’Adèle (Blue Is the Warmest Colour) that catapulted her to fame and earned her a shelf-load of awards.
Fast forward a decade and Exarchopoulos is ready to take Hollywood by storm. In Pixar’s Inside Out 2, she lent her voice to the character of Ennui. Designed to create distance between main character Riley and her parents, Ennui is the embodiment of boredom and lethargy who’s constantly on the couch, scrolling her phone.
But just who is this ingénue actress who conquered the French film world and has her eyes set on the US?
Adèle Exarchopoulos made her breakthrough in a controversial film
Adèle Exarchopoulos, born in 1993 to a Greek father and a French mother in Paris, found her passion for acting early in life. At just nine years old, she began attending acting classes to overcome her shyness, according to her IMDB. Her career took off when she was scouted by an agent in 2006.
Despite the film’s critical success, controversy surrounded its production. Per The Guardian, both Exarchopoulos and her co-star Léa Seydoux have since criticised the film’s director, Abdellatif Kechiche, citing a fight scene that caused Exarchopoulos to bleed and a sex scene that was filmed over 10 days. Seydoux later said she “felt like a prostitute” at times while on the set.
Additionally, Exarchopoulos faced criticism from the LGBTQ+ community, who argued that, as a straight woman, she and her co-star did not have the right to depict a lesbian relationship. Exarchopoulos defended her role in the film in response, dismissing the argument as “really stupid” during an interview with the Los Angeles Times.