Camille Cottin had been known to French audiences for several years, but during the pandemic she became widely known around the world. The French series Call My Agent! found its international audience through Netflix and became a huge hit. Camille Cottin became everyone's favorite in the role of Andrea Martel, a dynamic and super sexy lesbian talent manager who dresses in men's clothes and is described as a “female Don Juan.” Andrea's client list includes the cream of the crop of artists, such as Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, and Sigourney Weaver, who even make guest appearances in the series.
Camille Cottin became everyone's favorite with her performance. Her face liberated the female image—in the series, she becomes pregnant and raises the child with another woman, while remaining a career woman— while her dynamism and outwardly unbreakable character, combined with a touching inner fragility, are the elements that magnetize us to her.
The surprise of the straight element
Most people are surprised to learn that Cotin is neither lesbian nor bisexual. She has an architect husband and two children, and they all live happily together in Paris. And this is where the question arises as to whether gay roles should be played by gay actors. In an interview with The Guardian, she states that «having played two gay characters, Andrea in Call My Agent! and Helene in Killing Eve, I had this discussion this morning with a gay friend and actor, and we laughed a lot about it. I know that everyone thinks I'm gay, that I definitely belong to that community, only I don't know it! Of course, the truth is that I don't know which part of myself comes to the surface when I play gay characters. Which part of myself are these women? The truth is that I don't know, and I won't know until I find out...»
Genuine Parisian with British culture
Cottin is a true Parisian. She was born in Montmartre, and when she was 12, her family moved to London, where she attended a French school. She returned to Paris when she was 17, but by then she had already adopted a more British culture, especially in her music. ”Freddie Mercury is my idol," she admits. She admires British style in clothing and likes exaggeration and eccentricity in her outfits. She always loved acting, but as a teenager she was too shy to take theater classes in London. The reason? She was afraid her English wasn't good enough.
While she was in London, her mother started a theater group at her school and they staged a French play about the Trojan War. Cottin was going to play Helen of Troy and was excited because Paris was going to be played by a very cute and handsome classmate of hers. with the casting of Paris, the Trojan prince with whom Helen elopes. Two weeks before the premiere, this charming guy left. «So guess who played Paris?» she says in an interview with The Guardian. “My mom. I was on stage with my mom, dressed as a sailor. And she was speaking softly and holding my hands like my beautiful lover. I wanted to die. What would Freud say about that?»
Nevertheless, acting won Cotin over. She even did a master's degree at the Sorbonne, where she studied English and American literature and history, and from the age of 20 to 35 she studied theater in Paris. «I did everything. I did a lot of comedies, in 30-seat theaters, where you walk into the theater and you're right there on stage,» she says in the same interview. She did bigger plays, smaller plays, some films and television in France. Did she think that would be her life? «I did some casting, but it never really worked out. So, after a while, I thought, «Okay, well, this is never going to happen. But there are some exciting areas I still need to explore, even if I never work in film and television. And then it happened.».
She was the star of the French version of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's mini-series Fleabag (Mouche). She became famous through the satirical series Connasse, which brought her back to London. It was then that she was arrested for attempting to illegally enter the palace while filming for the series and Prince Harry, long before Meghan Markle appeared in his life.
And then came Call My Agent!, which catapulted her to fame. Today, she shares the same agent as Sigourney Weaver, who also starred in an episode of the series.
The charming actress made a brief Hollywood appearance in 2016 in the spy film “Allied,” starring her friend Marion Cotillard and Brad Pitt. Last year, she co-starred with Matt Damon in the thoughtful drama Stillwater, and she was also alongside Adam Driver and Lady Gaga in House of Gucci. Now she is preparing to return to Killing Eve, where she appeared in the 2020 season, playing Hélène, a killer trainer who mocks and flirts with Villanelle (Jodie Comer).
Is success suitable for a forty-year-old?;
How did she accept this success at a more mature age? «Better, because I'm more grounded.» Her husband is an architect, and she likes the metaphor. «I understand how someone can lose their balance. There is a certain fragility that can come with success, so having a strong family and friends, I think, helps.».
There were times when she worried that being older might mean she had less time left in her career. «But I don't think that's true. Being an actress over 40 now is interesting.» She mentions the Oscar nominations. Apart from Kristen Stewart, the nominees for best actress are all over 40. «I think there's a huge demand to see women of this age who were once invisible. There's a desire for that.».
After Killing Eve, Cottin will appear in the biopic Golda (about the life of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir). Meir will be played by Helen Mirren, and Cottin will play her secretary and assistant.
