**Catherine Deneuve** (b. 1943) is a French actress, an international cinema icon. Her career took off in the 1960s with the success of Jacques Demy's *Les Parapluies de Cherbourg* (1964), a groundbreaking musical. Becoming Luis Buñuel's muse, she starred in surrealist masterpieces such as *Belle de Jour* (1967) and *Tristana* (1970), where she portrayed bourgeois women with unsettling secrets and complex psychologies.

She also collaborated with other great directors, including François Truffaut (*The Last Metro*, 1980), Agnès Varda, and André Téchiné. Her style is characterized by sophisticated elegance, a cool beauty, and an enigmatic presence. She often portrays complex, reserved women or those with a double life, concealing fragility or determination behind an impeccable appearance. Her long and prolific career has made her one of the most recognizable and respected figures in world cinema.