Maïwenn Le Besco

Click here to see a personal autographed picture of Maïwenn!

Name: Maïwenn Le Besco (common misspellings: Maiwenn, Maiwen, Lebesco)
About the Name: The name "Maïwenn" is a Celtic name derived from two names: Mary and Gwen. The pronunciation is, using English, "My-wenn".
Pseudonyms: Ouin-Ouin, ...?
Nationality: France
Hair: Black(?)
Eyes: Slate Blue
Age: mid 20's (23-26??)

Overall Appearance: Maïwenn has pale skin (European -- how about that?), her lips are very full, and she has a mole under the right side of her nose. She looks to be in her mid 20's, but I don't really know because I don't know her birthdate. She had a 9 page photo shoot in the May '94 issue of Mirabella magazine.

What I Know: Ms. Le Besco is a French actress who apparently lives in or around Paris, since she's been seen going to certain movie/theatre premieres there with her friends...plus, it just kinda makes sense. If I'm guessing her age correctly, she started her movie acting career right around age 18-20 or so. If she's anything like a lot of other actresses in the US, she probably started out by modeling some before she started into the movie/television industry. Maïwenn has had one child, a girl that is named Shana, born in 1993. The father is Luc Besson. She is not married so far as I have heard. Most people outside of France will find her easiest to remember in her role in The Fifth Element as the Diva Plavalaguna, but her most substantial role is supposedly in the French film L'Elegant Criminel, or as it is known to us English speakers The Elegant Criminal. Maïwenn is not the main character, but a supporting character named Hermine. She's on the English-subtitled video cover so I imagine she had a pretty big role in the movie. I wouldn't know...I have yet to see the movie. Maïwenn has starred in four movies that I know of, and one TV series. The first thing I noticed when I began to take an interest in Maïwenn was the lack of information...this has kept growth of this page slow. If anybody knows anything about Maïwenn that I do not have up here, please take the time to let me know about it in an email!

Images

I said talented and beautiful.

Maïwenn Le Besco with Luc Besson
Above picture is scanned from an article in the May '97 issue of Chilean magazine called Cosas. Chile is in South America, in case you're stupid and didn't know.

The following images are partial scans from the May '94 issue of Mirabella magazine...they're the best quality I could get.

Movie Roles

Listed chronologically, earliest first.
Just learned that Maïwenn apparently did *not* appear in La Femme Nikita, thanks for the help!

1. -- L'Elegant Criminel/The Elegant Criminal/Lacenaire, '90

Playing the role of Hermine...click here to see what I know about the film.

2. -- La Gamine, '91

A comedy that features Ms. Le Besco as a runaway who gets mixed up with an ex-cop, who is played by actor-singer superstar (eh, in France) Johnny Hallyday I think. Title means "the kid" in French.

3. -- Léon/The Professional, '94

Maïwenn played a hooker right at the beginning of the film. She's the blonde in bed, asking for money, in the scene where Léon is assaulting the big dude and his uh...dudes. She goes by a nickname of hers in the credits (Ouin-Ouin) rather than by her actual name.

4. -- The Fifth Element, '97

Playing the role of the Diva Plavalaguna, of course!

The Elegant Criminal

Movie based on the memoirs of Pierre Lacenaire, a criminal you love to hate. He really was a terribly strange individual. He wrote his memoirs while he was waiting to be executed. I do not know Maïwenn's role in this film...just the name of her character, Hermine. Directed by Francis Girod.

La Famille Ramdam, early 90's

Maïwenn played the older daughter in a north African immigrant family living in France in this comic TV sitcom that ran during the early 90's.

Commercial Spots, NOW

Currently, Maïwenn is involved in some advertising with the Nestle chocolate company. That's about as much I know about it, except that she has definitely appeared in a commercial in France.

Boy that's short, eh? I'm always working on it. I'm dying to know more about the actress, even if *you're* not. :-P

Many thanks to Laurent, of France Cinema Multimedia, for providing much of the information you'll find on this page.