A major figure of the New Wave, she became, like Brigitte Bardot and Alain Delon, one of the best-known French artists in the world.

[5][6] In a career spanning nearly 70 years, she has played more than a hundred roles and is recognized in France and internationally for being one of the key faces of the musical film genre with appearances in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Young Girls of Rochefort, Donkey Skin, 8 Women and The Beloved.

Early in her career, she gained acclaim for her portrayals of aloof and mysterious beauties while working for well-known directors such as Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, Jacques Demy, Roman Polanski, and Agnès Varda.

[7] She played in films attracting a total of nearly 99 million spectators in theaters, making her the working actress with the most admissions in France.

[12] Deneuve made her film debut with a small role in André Hunebelle's Les Collégiennes (1957) with her younger sister Sylvie Dorléac who, like their older half-sister Daniele, was an occasional child actress.

Variety praised her performance describing her writing, "Catherine Deneuve, a winsome-looking type that other directors have forced to act, here is allowed to be herself.

In her English-language debut, Deneuve played the cold but erotic persona, for which she would be nicknamed the "ice maiden", in Roman Polanski's psychological horror thriller Repulsion (1965).

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote, "Catherine Deneuve's glassy stare of anxiety dominates the movie" comparing her to Janet Leigh in Psycho (1960).

The following year, she reunited with Demy for another musical The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) acting alongside George Chakiris and Gene Kelly.

Deneuve stars as a young woman who spends her midweek afternoons as a high-class prostitute, while her husband is at work.

Melissa Anderson writing for Criterion declared, "Deneuve's performance in Belle de jour turned out to be one of her most iconic".

[20][21] That same year, she reunited with Jacques Demy for the musical fantasy Donkey Skin (1970) based on the 1965 fairy tale of the same name by Charles Perrault.

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded a full four stars out of four and wrote that "violence takes a back seat to character development and storytelling techniques that are classical.

Deneuve's part in Lars von Trier's musical drama Dancer in the Dark (2000), alongside Icelandic singer Björk was subject to considerable critical scrutiny.

In 2002, she shared the Silver Bear Award for Best Ensemble Cast at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance in 8 Women.

[25] Deneuve's later work includes Potiche (2010) with frequent co-star Depardieu, Beloved (2011), alongside former co-stars Ludivine Sagnier and Chiara Mastroianni, the popular French adventure comedy Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia (2012) with Gérard Depardieu and Valérie Lemercier, screenwriter and director Emmanuelle Bercot's On My Way (2013), Palme d'Or winning writer/director Pierre Salvadori's comedy drama In the Courtyard (2014), and André Téchiné's drama In the Name of My Daughter (2014).

5 in the late 1970s, she caused sales of the perfume to soar in the United States – so much so that the American press, captivated by her charm, nominated her as the world's most elegant woman.

In 2006, Deneuve became the third inspiration for the M•A•C Beauty Icon series and collaborated on the colour collection that became available at M•A•C locations worldwide in February that year.

[36] For the Catherine Deneuve eyewear line, she has had licensing agreements with Viva International (from 1989) and Marcolin (2014–2019) for the design, production and distribution of sunglasses and optical frames.

Her hobbies and passions include gardening, drawing, photography, reading, music, cinema, fashion, antiques and decoration.

[49] She has lived with director Roger Vadim,[50] actor Marcello Mastroianni,[11] cinematographer Hugh Johnson,[51] and Canal+ tycoon Pierre Lescure.

[53] Throughout her 20s and 30s, Deneuve reportedly dated actors Sami Frey,[54] Clint Eastwood,[55] Franco Nero,[56] Burt Reynolds[57] and John Travolta[58] as well as directors Roman Polanski,[59] Jerry Schatzberg,[60] François Truffaut[61] and Milos Forman,[62] talent agent Bertrand de Labbey [fr],[63] singer Serge Gainsbourg,[64] though she denies an intimate relationship with Gainsbourg.

[73] On 6 November 2019, BBC News reported that Deneuve suffered a mild stroke and was recuperating in a Paris hospital.