Feature: Ten Facts about The Tree Star Charlotte Gainsbourg

Charlotte Gainsbourg’s new film The Tree opens in UK cinemas from August 5th. In The Tree, Gainsbourg stars as Dawn who, after the untimely death of her husband, is left alone to raise her four children in rural Australia.
To celebrate the release of The Tree, we take a look at ten interesting facts about this award winning actress and singer.

1. Charlotte comes from a superstar family – daughter of legendary singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg and actress Jane Birkin - and although raised in Paris, she was actually born in London.
2. Gainsbourg made her musical debut in 1984 with father Serge on ‘Lemon Incest’. 20 years passed between her debut and second albums; ‘Charlotte For Ever’ (1986) and ‘5.55’ (2006).
3. Gainsbourg made her big-screen debut at the tender age of 12 playing Catherine Denevue’s daughter in Paroles et Musique in 1984.
4. Three years later, Gainsbourg won a César award for Most Promising Actress at 15 for her role in L’effronté.
5. It is reported that Charlotte got a role in 21 Grams due to director Alejandro González Iñárritu being a fan of her father, yet Iñárritu later claimed to have ‘fallen in love’ with her.
6. In 2009 she won the Best Actress Award at Cannes for her role in the controversial Antichrist, alongside Willem Dafoe.
7. Gainsbourg worked again with Antichrist director Lars Von Trier in the upcoming apocalyptic drama Melancholia which, despite Von Trier’s Nazi comments almost diverting all attention from the film itself, went down a storm in Cannes.
8. On her most recent album ‘IRM’, Gainsbourg collaborated with Beck, Jarvis Cocker and The Divine Comedy, amongst others.
9. Her breakthrough role in The Cement Garden was directed by Andrew Birkin, who happens to be her uncle.
10. In 2007, Gainsbourg had an operation to remove a life threatening cerebral brain haemorrhage after reporting repeated headaches to her doctor. It was discovered that they were linked to a minor skiing accident they took months earlier.


The Tree is released across UK cinemas from August 5th 2011.