# Leïla Bekhti
**Leïla Bekhti** is a French actress known for the César for Most Promising Actress she won in 2011 for *Tout ce qui brille* and for roles in films including *Un prophète*, *La Source des femmes*, and *Le Grand Bain*. Born in 1984 in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Hauts-de-Seine, she came to film almost by accident, attending a casting call for Kim Chapiron's *Sheitan* in 2005 at the urging of friends, and has since worked across comedy, drama, thriller, and television.[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/biographie/) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1984, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/biographie/) |
| Breakthrough | Yasmine in *Sheitan* (Kim Chapiron, 2005), her first film role[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/biographie/) |
| Public recognition | *Un prophète* (Jacques Audiard, 2009), Grand Prix at Cannes, in which she played the only female role in the cast[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/biographie/) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/) |
| Major award | César for Most Promising Actress, 2011, for *Tout ce qui brille* (Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran, 2010)[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/) |
| César record | 1 win, 6 nominations, most recently Best Actress 2026 for *Ma mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan*[3](https://www.academie-cinema.org/personnes/leila-bekhti-193005/) |
| Cannes jury | Member of the Un Certain Regard jury in 2012; president of the Un Certain Regard jury in 2026[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/) |
| Television | *The Eddy* (Netflix, 2020), *La Flamme* (Canal+, 2020), *Le Flambeau, les aventuriers de Chupacabra* (2022)[4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/filmographie/) |
| Upcoming | *Changer l'eau des fleurs*, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's adaptation of Valérie Perrin's novel[5](https://agence-contact.com/talents/leila-bekhti/) |
## Early life and training
Bekhti was born into an Algerian family from Sidi Bel Abbès in western Algeria that had settled in the Paris region; she grew up in Bagneux and is the youngest of three children.[6](https://watch.plex.tv/fr/person/leila-bekhti) As a high school student she read *Casting* magazine regularly, looking through the ads for fun without ever answering them.[6](https://watch.plex.tv/fr/person/leila-bekhti)
**Training.** After a literary baccalaureate with a theater option, she tried several drama schools: a first one she found too military, then the École Stéphane Gildas in Tolbiac, whose evening classes she paid for with odd jobs, and finally Art'aire Studio, which suited her.[7](https://citoyenneteactivelorraine.fr/Dossier%20a%20telecharger%209%20b/Entre%20gens__recueil_2006-2016.pdf) AlloCiné's biography describes the same sequence in outline: theater study at high school, then a stretch of small jobs while she looked for a way into acting.[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/biographie/)
## Career
**Debut, 2005–2008.** In 2005, encouraged by friends, she went to the casting of *Sheitan*, Kim Chapiron's horror film with [Vincent Cassel](https://www.edgepedia.org/vincent-cassel), and obtained one of the main roles, Yasmine, a young Arab woman unafraid of anything.[6](https://watch.plex.tv/fr/person/leila-bekhti) • [8](https://www.cinemapourtous.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Brochure-La-source-des-femmes-cinemapourtous.pdf) The film, the first feature of the Kourtrajmé collective, marked French urban culture, and her performance was noticed; roles followed in the collective film *Paris, je t'aime* (2005) and in Roschdy Zem's directing debut *Mauvaise foi* (2006).[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/biographie/) • [9](https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2021/08/27/films-series-reseaux-sociaux-leila-bekhti-une-star-d-aujourd-hui_6092464_4500055.html) In 2008 she appeared in two major French crime films, *Mesrine : L'Instinct de mort* by Jean-François Richet, where she worked again with Cassel, and [Jacques Audiard](https://www.edgepedia.org/jacques-audiard)'s *Un prophète*.[10](https://www.forumdesimages.fr/sites/default/files/2024-06/SM_48p_2016%20bdef.pdf)
**Breakthrough.** *Un prophète*, [Grand Prix](https://www.edgepedia.org/grand-prix-cannes-film-festival) at the 2009 Cannes Festival, made her known to the general public: she played the only female role in the cast and met [Tahar Rahim](https://www.edgepedia.org/tahar-rahim), who became her partner.[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/biographie/) • [2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/) The comedy *Tout ce qui brille* (2010), directed by Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran, brought her the César for Most Promising Actress in 2011, along with an Étoile d'or and a Swann d'or for a promising actress and a Globes de Cristal nomination.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/) • [11](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2023/03/124341.pdf) *La Source des femmes* by Radu Mihaileanu followed in 2011, in competition at Cannes, and earned her a César nomination for Best Actress.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/) • [3](https://www.academie-cinema.org/personnes/leila-bekhti-193005/)
**Range across genres.** Her filmography since runs from the family drama *Nous trois ou rien* (Kheiron, 2015) to the ensemble comedy *Le Grand Bain* (Gilles Lellouche, 2018), presented out of competition at Cannes, and the drama *Les Intranquilles* (Joachim Lafosse, 2021), in competition there.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/) • [12](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/90/13/200026/presse/le-grand-bain-dossier-de-presse-anglais.pdf) She has also done voice work, dubbing Ishani in *Planes* (2013) and Kaa in the French version of *The Jungle Book* (2016).[4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/filmographie/) In 2023 she appeared in Jeanne Herry's *Je verrai toujours vos visages*, about restorative justice in France, and in 2024 in Léa Todorov's *La Nouvelle femme*, a film about [Maria Montessori](https://www.edgepedia.org/maria-montessori) in which she played Lili d'Alengy, a Parisian courtesan whose daughter is placed in Montessori's care.[4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/filmographie/) • [13](https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2024/03/13/le-film-sur-maria-montessori-la-nouvelle-femme-donne-le-beau-role-au-handicap_6221714_4500055.html)
**Television.** In 2020 she was unusually present on the small screen: the musical mini-series *The Eddy*, produced for Netflix by [Damien Chazelle](https://www.edgepedia.org/damien-chazelle), and *La Flamme* on Canal+, a parody of *The Bachelor* in which she played a contestant competing for the heart of Marc, a single airline pilot played by Jonathan Cohen.[1](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/biographie/) She reprised the role of [Alexandra](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexandra) in the follow-up *Le Flambeau, les aventuriers de Chupacabra* (2022).[4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/filmographie/)
## Awards and Cannes
The Académie des César lists one win and six nominations: Most Promising Actress for *Tout ce qui brille* (won, 2011); Best Actress for *La Source des femmes* (2012) and *Les Intranquilles* (2022); Best Supporting Actress for *Le Grand Bain* (2019) and *Je verrai toujours vos visages* (2024); and Best Actress for *Ma mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan* (Ken Scott, 2025), nominated for the 2026 ceremony.[3](https://www.academie-cinema.org/personnes/leila-bekhti-193005/) She was also named a Révélation by the academy for *Mauvaise foi* (2007) and *Des poupées et des anges* (2009), and served as mistress of ceremonies at the 48th César ceremony in 2023.[3](https://www.academie-cinema.org/personnes/leila-bekhti-193005/)
At Cannes, where she has accompanied films for nearly twenty years, she sat on the Un Certain Regard jury in 2012 and will preside over that jury in 2026.[2](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/) • [14](https://seybousetimes.dz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/N%C2%B04374-.pdf)
## Public profile
A *Le Monde* profile in 2021 described her as a star of the social-media era whose Instagram account shows her husband, the actor Tahar Rahim, only in the context of their profession, never her private life; the two married in 2010 after meeting on the set of *A Prophet*.[9](https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2021/08/27/films-series-reseaux-sociaux-leila-bekhti-une-star-d-aujourd-hui_6092464_4500055.html) • [6](https://watch.plex.tv/fr/person/leila-bekhti) She has also worked as an ambassador for L'Oréal.[15](https://www.public.fr/public-story-leila-bekhti-brillante) Her next release is *Changer l'eau des fleurs*, [Jean-Pierre Jeunet](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-pierre-jeunet)'s adaptation of Valérie Perrin's novel, scheduled for 9 December 2026, in which she plays Violette Toussaint.[5](https://agence-contact.com/talents/leila-bekhti/) • [4](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/filmographie/)
## References
1. [Leïla Bekhti : Sa biographie, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/biographie/)
2. [Leïla BEKHTI, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/p/leila-bekhti/)
3. [Leïla Bekhti, Académie des César](https://www.academie-cinema.org/personnes/leila-bekhti-193005/)
4. [Leïla Bekhti : Filmographie, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne-102403/filmographie/)
5. [Agence Contact : Leïla Bekhti](https://agence-contact.com/talents/leila-bekhti/)
6. [Leïla Bekhti, Plex](https://watch.plex.tv/fr/person/leila-bekhti)
7. [Entre gens, recueil Citoyenneté Active Lorraine (2007)](https://citoyenneteactivelorraine.fr/Dossier%20a%20telecharger%209%20b/Entre%20gens__recueil_2006-2016.pdf)
8. [Brochure La source des femmes, Cinéma pour tous](https://www.cinemapourtous.fr/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Brochure-La-source-des-femmes-cinemapourtous.pdf)
9. [Glamour, humour, films et réseaux sociaux… Leïla Bekhti, une star d'aujourd'hui, Le Monde M (2021)](https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2021/08/27/films-series-reseaux-sociaux-leila-bekhti-une-star-d-aujourd-hui_6092464_4500055.html)
10. [Jour polaire / Mid, Forum des Images (2016)](https://www.forumdesimages.fr/sites/default/files/2024-06/SM_48p_2016%20bdef.pdf)
11. [Leïla Bekhti, Festival de Cannes press kit (PDF)](https://cdn.festival-cannes.com/media/uploads/2023/03/124341.pdf)
12. [Leila Bekhti, Sink or Swim press kit, UniFrance](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/90/13/200026/presse/le-grand-bain-dossier-de-presse-anglais.pdf)
13. [Le film sur Maria Montessori, « La Nouvelle Femme », donne le beau rôle au handicap, Le Monde M (2024)](https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2024/03/13/le-film-sur-maria-montessori-la-nouvelle-femme-donne-le-beau-role-au-handicap_6221714_4500055.html)
14. [Le Maghreb, 16 November 2025 (PDF)](https://seybousetimes.dz/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/N%C2%B04374-.pdf)
15. [Public Story : Leïla Bekhti, Brillante !, Public](https://www.public.fr/public-story-leila-bekhti-brillante)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › French actors › Surnames A to D*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license