Lola Bessis

Lola Bessis is a French actress and filmmaker. At age 12, Lola was cast to play the lead in a short film. From that time, she knew she wanted to be on a film set when she grew up. Later, while attending some of the most prestigious international universities (University College London; La Sorbonne, Paris); The New School, NYU), she wrote and directed a dozen short films. At the same time, she trained as an actress, taking classes at Stella Adler (New York), Jack Waltzer (Paris), and Jordan Beswick (Paris). After making the award-winning short film Checkpoint, Lola wrote, directed and starred in her first feature film, Swim Little Fish Swim, at the age of only 21. Shot in New York outside the mainstream circuits, the film was singled out at over 100 festivals including SXSW, Rotterdam, and Sao Paulo, and enjoyed wide theatrical release in several countries. It later played on HBO and Netflix among other international networks. It received critical acclaim while bringing Lola a great deal of media attention. According to The Hollywood Reporter, «Bessis has a natural screen presence that should ensure future work in romantic comedies». In a 2016 interview the magazine featured Lola as one of the 15 Hollywood Most Wanted up and coming actors. She then pursued her acting career both in France and in the US starring in prestigious movies and TV shows such as Mr and Mrs Adelman, Nighthawks and the indie US drama Thirst Street (Tribeca '17; Venice '17) which also starred Anjelica Huston. In 2018 she played a lead in the Amazon mini-series Picnic At Hanging Rock alongside Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer and Orange is the New Black star Yael Stone. On top of this, she has directed a short series for high fashion brand Chloé and is about to direct her second feature film. She lives in Paris and Los Angeles.