A dark-haired gamine who was something of a throwback to actresses like Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron, Audrey Tautou made an auspicious film debut as the sweetly innocent beauty salon worker who engages in a flirtation with an older gentleman in "Venus Beaute Institut" (1999), for which she earned the Cesar as most promising female newcomer. Born in Beaumont, France and raised in rural Montlucon, she began her performing career in a series of made for French television movies and shorts that displayed her beauty and talent. Selected as the winner of a competition sponsored by Canal+, she