- Is one of six performers to win an Oscar playing a character that mostly spoke in a foreign language. The others are Sophia Loren, Robert De Niro, Roberto Benigni, Benicio Del Toro and Christoph Waltz.
- Is a "injection-phobic" and stated that she won't have Botox, plastic surgery or anything else that you put inside yourself to look younger.
- Learned to speak her Polish dialogue (20 pages) in The Immigrant (2013) in only two months.
- Is the owner of two restaurants in France: Jaja and Glou.
- She plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboard and tambourine. She learned how to play the piano at home when she was a kid and learned to play the cello for her role as a soloist in the film Toi et moi (2006).
- Filmed The Dark Knight Rises (2012) in USA and De rouille et d'os (2012) in France at the same time and few months after she gave birth to her son, Marcel. She was flying back and forth between USA and France to shoot both movies.
- First and so far the only artist to win a Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for a performance in the French language and is also the first leading lady to receive the Best Actress Oscar for a non-English speaking role since Sophia Loren in 1962 for La ciociara (1960).
- Was considered for the role of Hanna Schmitz in The Reader (2008) after Nicole Kidman dropped out due to pregnancy. However the part eventually went to Kate Winslet. In 2009, Cotillard presented and gave the Academy Award for Best Actress to Kate Winslet for her performance in The Reader (2008).
- She and Adrien Brody are the only actors to win both a César and an Oscar for the same performance. Cotillard won both awards in 2008 for La Môme (2007) and Brody won in 2003 for The Pianist (2002).
- On November 15, 2013, she caged herself near Paris's Louvre museum to demand the freeing of 30 Greenpeace activists jailed in Russia over an Arctic protest. She entered the cage and held a banner proclaiming: "I am a climate defender." A few days later, the activists were released.
- Started taking Danish lessons after having seen Festen (1998), planned on meeting Thomas Vinterberg during the Cannes Film Festival in 1999 and also started learning Spanish after having seen Los amantes del Círculo Polar (1998) by Julio Medem.
- Director James Gray who directed her in The Immigrant (2013), stated that Cotillard is the best actor he ever worked with. Gray wrote the character Ewa Cybulska especially for her.
- Is a fan of David Bowie, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Otis Redding, Radiohead and Elvis Presley.
- Her name is pronounced "mah-ree-ohn ko-tee-ar".
- Is a fan of Greta Garbo, Romy Schneider, Juliette Binoche, Toni Collette, Peter Sellers, Charles Chaplin and Sir Laurence Olivier.
- Was six months pregnant with her son Marcel when she completed filming on Contagion (2011).
- Turned down a role in Bel Ami (2012). When Robert Pattinson met Cotillard in Cannes and told her he was doing a film of Guy de Maupassant's classic French novel, she expressed bemusement: "But why make it in English?".
- Sings under the pseudonym Simone in Maxim Nucci's band Yodelice. "Simone" is her grandmother's name. In 2010, Cotillard went on tour with the band in different cities in France and Belgium and sang few songs on the album "Cardioid". She also recorded the song "The Eyes of Mars" alongside Franz Ferdinand especially for Dior's "Lady Rouge" campaign.
- Was in consideration for the role of Ryan in Gravity (2013) but Sandra Bullock was cast instead.
- Was on the longlist for a BAFTA nomination as Best Supporting Actress for Inception (2010) in 2011 and for Midnight in Paris (2011) in 2012, but didn't make into the nominees.
- Three of her films, Chloé (1996), Jeux d'enfants (2003) and Inception (2010) have featured a song by Édith Piaf. "La Vie en Rose" was used in "Chloé" and "Love Me If You Dare", and "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" plays in "Inception" - Marion won the Academy Award for Best Actress portraying Piaf in La Môme (2007).
- She hates filming sex scenes, but stated that the first and only time that she liked filming sex scenes was in De rouille et d'os (2012), with Matthias Schoenaerts, because it was a special moment for her character, who was having sex for the first time after she lost her legs.
- Is the fifth actress to win the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for portraying a female singer in a biography; the first being Luise Rainer as Anna Held in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), followed by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968), Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line (2005).
- Is a fan of Game of Thrones (2011) and of the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992).
- Received several honors, career tributes and "Actress of the Year" awards in 2012 at Hollywood Film Festival, Gotham Independent Film Awards, Telluride Film Festival, AFI Fest, Sant Jordi Awards, Irish Film and Television Awards, Hawaii International Film Festival and Harper's Bazaar Awards.
- Her favorite films are: The Great Dictator (1940), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Soy Cuba (1964), The Party (1968), The Elephant Man (1980), Le roi et l'oiseau (1980) and Tandem (1987).
- Starred in David Bowie's music video David Bowie: The Next Day (2013) alongside Gary Oldman, her co-star in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
- Cotillard, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Daniel Brühl, Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams and Lady Gaga are the only actors to receive a Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Critics' Choice Award nomination for the same performance and then fail to be Oscar-nominated for it: for their performances in De rouille et d'os (2012), The Departed (2006), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Captain Phillips (2013), Rush (2013), Nightcrawler (2014), Arrival (2016), and House of Gucci (2021), respectively.
- As a big fan of Tim Burton, Cotillard slept with the script of Big Fish (2003) under her pillow for a month to hopefully help her chances to work with him.
- Grew up in Orléans and moved to Paris at the age of 16.
- She was originally set for a role in L'instinct de mort (2008).
- Returned to work one month after giving birth to her son Marcel, to begin filming The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Most of her scenes were pushed back a month and director Christopher Nolan made room on the set for Cotillard's family. During an interview for Vogue in August 2012, Nolan marveled at Cotillard's ability to do her job so soon after giving birth, calling it "amazing to see" and describing her as "Superwoman".
- Gave birth to her son Marcel, with partner Guillaume Canet, in Paris (19 May 2011). Unlike many people assume, her son's name is not an homage to Édith Piaf's lover, Marcel Cerdan. Cotillard later revealed that his name is actually an homage to a member of her family, Marcel Theillaud.
- Is one of 13 French actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination. The others in chronological order are: Claudette Colbert, Colette Marchand, Leslie Caron, Simone Signoret, Anouk Aimée, Isabelle Adjani, Marie-Christine Barrault, Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Bérénice Bejo, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert.
- If she had not been an actress, she would have liked to become a singer.
- Ranked as having one of the most "Beautiful Famous Faces" by TC Candler's "The Annual Independent Critics List of the 100 Most Beautiful Famous Faces From Around the World" for 16 consecutive years. She was ranked #47 in 2017, #36 in 2016, #18 in 2015, #14 in 2014, #1 in 2013, #2 in 2012, #7 in 2011, #12 in 2010, #15 in 2009, #4 in 2008, #3 in 2007, #8 in 2006, #17 in 2005, #35 in 2004, #20 in 2003, and #31 in 2002.
- Her onscreen debut was in 1993 at the age of 17, in the Canadian TV Series Highlander (1992). She had an uncredited cameo as the girl who gives birth in the episode 17 of Season 1: "Saving Grace". She then returned in the episode 21: "Nowhere to Run", as Lori Bellian. It was also her first English-speaking role.
- In 2011 and 2012 respectively, she appeared on the top of Le Figaro's list of the highest paid actors in France, it was the first time in nine years that a female has topped the list. She was also the highest paid foreign actress in Hollywood.
- Is a fan of Kate Winslet, Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill. During an interview at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) in 2012, Cotillard told that she would love to work with them in a comedy. In 2013, she had a cameo in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013), a comedy film starring Will Ferrell. Cotillard also wrote an open-ed for Variety praising Kate Winslet's performance in Labor Day (2013).
- Re-enacted the iconic shower scene of Psycho (1960) in a photoshoot for Vanity Fair in 2008. In the film, the scene was made by Janet Leigh, and Cotillard shares the same first name of Leigh's character in "Psycho", who was called Marion Crane.
- She's an ecologist. Member and Spokesperson for Greenpeace since 2002. She is also one of several actors, singers and designers involved in "Dessins pour le Climat" ("Drawings for the Climate"), a book of drawings originated by Greenpeace and Glénat, available for sale beginning April 2005 (all proceeds to go to Greenpeace).
- When she won the César Award for her performance in La Môme (2007), Alain Delon presented the award and announced the winner as "La Môme Marion" (The Kid Marion), he also praised her on stage by saying: "Marion, I give you this César. I think this César is for a great, great actress, and I know what I'm talking about".
- Has dubbed in French all of her English-language roles since Big Fish (2003).
- During the press conference of Macbeth (2015) at the Cannes Film Festival, her co-star Michael Fassbender stated that Cotillard is the best actress in the business. (May 23, 2015)
- The mermaid-like dress she wore to the Academy Awards (where she won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role) was especially designed for her by Jean-Paul Gaultier. (2008)
- Starred in three movies about physical disability: Du bleu jusqu'en Amérique (1999), Cavalcade (2005) and De rouille et d'os (2012).
- Has worked with Guillaume Canet in five movies. Two as co-stars: Jeux d'enfants (2003) and Le dernier vol (2009) and starred in two movies directed by him: Les petits mouchoirs (2010) and Blood Ties (2013). Later, Canet directed her in [Rock n'Roll (2017)] where they were also co-stars.
- She is the first non-Czech actress to win the Czech Lion for Best Actress for her performance in La Môme (2007).
- In 2012, she was featured on Kate Winslet's book "The Golden Hat: Talking Back To Autism", with celebrity self-portraits to raise awareness and support for autism.
- Travelled to Philippines with France's President François Hollande and actors Mélanie Laurent and Jeremy Irons to highlight the fight against climate change and convene a forum intended to encourage faster and more determined action on the global challenge of climate change. (February 26, 2015)
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