She was born in Genoa, the daughter of Charles-Antoine Lange (or L'Ange) and Marie-Rose Pitrot, itinerant musicians and actors putting on shows right across Europe.

[1] In 1791, the production of the anti-religious and anti-monarchical play Charles IX by Marie-Joseph Chénier divided the company of the Théâtre-Français, with Mlle Lange joining the "patriots" group under Talma, which set itself up at rue de Richelieu (the present home of the Comédie-Française).

She had a triumph in the eponymous role in Paméla ou la Vertu récompensée (Pamela or Virtue Rewarded) by Nicolas-Louis François de Neufchâteau,[2] setting a fashion for straw hats known as "à la Paméla", but the play's royalist overtones led to this theatre being shut down and the author and actors arrested by the Committee of Public Safety.

[1] Mlle Lange was at first imprisoned in the prison de Sainte-Pélagie until, after a few months in captivity, she managed to arrange her transfer to the pension Belhomme (along with her cook, her valet and her lady's maid).

She continued to live the high life under the Directory, having a liaison with the rascally arriviste N. Lieuthraud, the self-proclaimed "marquis de Beauregard", who had made a fortune as supplier to the armies of the republic, but eventually disappeared, pursued by creditors.

[4] She was also the mistress of a rich banker from Hamburg, Hoppé, bearing him a daughter, Anne-Élisabeth Palmyre, who was recognized by her father in 1795.

It is improbable, however, that she had an affair with Paul Barras as is claimed in the libretto of the famous operetta by Charles Lecocq, La Fille de madame Angot, in which Mlle Lange appears in a secondary role.