Emilie Dequenne, Belgian Cannes Best Actress winner, passes away at 43-OxBig News Network

FILE: Belgian actress and member of the Un Certain Regard jury Emilie Dequenne arrives for the screening of the film “The Old Oak” during the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 26, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA

Belgian actor Emilie Dequenne, who won the Best Actress award at Cannes 1999 for her performance in debut film Rosetta, passed away at the age of 43.

The actor, who revealed she was battling a rare adrenal gland cancer in October 2023, died in a hospital on the outskirts of Paris on Sunday evening, her agent Danielle Gain announced to AFP, as quoted by the outlet.

Born on August 29, 1981, Dequenne studied at Belgium’s Music & Spoken Word Academy in Baudour from an early age, taking up drama there at the age of 12, alongside joining the La Releve Theater troupe.

She landed her first cinema role at age 17 in Rosetta. In the same year, she clinched Best Actress at Cannes for her performance as the titular teenager living in a caravan with an alcoholic mother. The film also won the Dardenne brothers their first Palme d’Or, according to Deadline.

Emilie was one of the most sought-after actresses throughout the 2000s by the producers and directors. She appeared in Christophe Gans’ historic thriller The Brotherhood of the Wolf and Claude Berri’s The Housekeeper.

She also paved her way into English-language movies with Mary McGuckian’s costume drama The Bridge of San Luis Rey, starring Gabriel Byrne, Robert de Niro and Cathy Bates.

Emilie’s acting credits also include her more recent Best Supporting Actress Cesar-winning performance in Emmanuel Mouret’s couple drama The Things We Say, The Things We Do.

Emilie was last seen on the big screen last fall in the Belgian high school bullying drama TKT in the role of the mother of a young victim who lands in a coma.