Actress Hélène Vincent's second name is far from meaningless since it is also her husband's, Jean-Pierre Vincent, renowned stage director. Theater enthusiast Hélène was attracted to Jean-Pierre due to their shared passion for drama.
Hélène Vincent has always privileged her career on the stage over the rest of her activities, whether as an actress for stage directors such as Patrice Chéreau, Bernard Sobel, and Jean-Pierre Vincent, or as a stage director for plays by Strindberg, Ibsen, or Shakespeare.
She has found time for a substantial television career, but a little less for the cinema, where her appearances are erratic. Her big break came in 1987 after a pair of undistinguished roles, when she was chosen by Étienne Chatiliez to interpret her most famous character to date, Marielle Le Quesnois, a preppy, goody-goody, well-to-do catholic mother, in the bitingly hilarious Life Is a Long Quiet River (1988).
Her fine performance gained her a César Award the next year and gave a boost to her movie career. Although debatable choices and the priority given to theater have not made her the star she could have become, she got another César nomination for her role as Evelyne in André Téchiné's dark I Don't Kiss (1991),and was noticeable as Albert Dupontel's unworthy mother in his trash comedy Bernie (1996).
One of her best roles lately is that of the manipulative mother in Chris Vander Stappen's little seen but brilliant bittersweet comedy Que faisaient les femmes pendant que l'homme marchait sur la lune? (2000).
