Maïwenn Le Besco was born on April 17, 1976, in Les Lilas, Seine-Saint-Denis, France, a suburban area east of Paris. She is of mixed Breton, Vietnamese, French, and Algerian descent, with her Algerian ancestry coming from her maternal grandfather.
Maïwenn's mother, Catherine Belkhodja, introduced her to the entertainment industry at a young age, which she later chronicled in her one-woman shows Le Pois Chiche and I'm an Actress. Maïwenn began her acting career as a child, starring in several films, including One Deadly Summer in 1983, where she played the child version of the lead role played by Isabelle Adjani.
After marrying director Luc Besson and giving birth to their daughter Shanna in 1993, Maïwenn interrupted her career for several years. During this period, she only appeared in a supporting part in Besson's Léon: The Professional in 1994, and also directed the film's making-of. She also appeared as the alien Diva Bazina in Besson's The Fifth Element in 1997.
After her breakup with Besson, Maïwenn returned to France, where she performed as a standup comedian in an autobiographical one-woman-show. She reentered the movie business after several filmmakers saw her comedy routine in Paris, and appeared in several notable movies, including the horror film High Tension in 2003.
Maïwenn decided to try directing and directed her first feature film, the semi-autobiographical Pardonnez-moi in 2006. Her second film was All About Actresses in 2009, in which she appears as herself making a documentary. Her third film, the social drama Polisse, won the Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Maïwenn met film director Luc Besson when she was 12 and began dating him when she was 15. They had a daughter, Shanna, in January 1993, when Maïwenn was 16. Maïwenn said the film Léon: The Professional is based on her relationship with Besson. She was 20 at the beginning of filming for The Fifth Element, during which Besson left her for the film's star, Milla Jovovich.
In 2004, Maïwenn had a son, Diego, with Jean-Yves Le Fur, her second ex-husband who is a real estate developer.
