Bonnaire is one of the best French actresses of her generation. She was born to a large family as the seventh of eleven children. She began her acting career at the age of sixteen starring in Maurice Pialat’s À nos amours (1983). In 1984, she won the César for the Most Promising Actress for that role. Afterwards she played in less successful films Tir à vue (1984), Blanche et Marie (1985), Le meilleur de la vie (1985) and Police (1985). Thanks to her role as Mona in Agnès Varda’s drama Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi, 1985), Sandrine won over international critics and audiences alike. The film won the Golden Lion and the FIPRESCI award in Venice in 1985. She won another César, this time as Best Actress, in 1986. Her next important roles include those in films Under the Sun of Satan (Sous le soleil de Satan, 1987) by Maurice Pialat starring opposite Gérard Depardieu and the crime drama Monsieur Hire (1989) by Patrice Leconte. She starred opposite Marcello Mastroianni in the drama Towards Evening (Verso sera, 1991), and in 1992, opposite William Hurt in Albert Camus’ film adaptation of his novel The Plague (La peste) directed by Luis Puenza. Hurt and her fell in love and got married soon after the film was finished. They starred together in Secrets Shared with a Stranger (1995) by Georges Bardawil. Sandrine starred as Jeanne D’Arc in the historical films by Jacques Rivette Jeanne la Pucelle I - Les batailles (1994) and Jeanne la Pucelle II - Les prisons (1994). She starred opposite Isabelle Huppert in the acclaimed La cérémonie (1995) by Claude Chabrol, and they both won the Volpi Cup award at the Venice Film Festival in 1995. She worked again with Jacques Rivette on the crime drama Secret défense (1998), afterwards played opposite Emmanuelle Béart in the drama Stolen Life (Voleur de vie, 1998). She worked again with Claude Chabrol on the crime drama The Color of Lies (Au coeur du mensonge, 1999), then starred in the international co-production, historical drama Est – Ouest (1999) by Régis Wargnier, romantic drama Mademoiselle (2001), The Light (L'équipier, 2004) by Philippea Lioreta and Intimate Strangers (Confidences trop intimes 2004) on which she again worked with the director Patrice Leconte. Some of her latest films are the romantic drama Could This Be Love? (Je crois que je l'aime, 2007) by Pierre Jolivet, A Simple Heart (Un coeur simple, 2008) by the director Marion Laine based on Gustave Flaubert’s short story and drama Joueuse (2009) by Caroline Bottaro. Besides acting, she successfully directed a documentary Her Name Is Sabine (Elle s'appelle Sabine, 2007) about her autistic sister. In 2012, she plans to direct a feature film starring her ex-husband William Hurt (in 2003 she remarried to the screenwriter Guillaume Laurant).