Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne has died at the age of 43, her agent confirmed.
She revealed in an Instagram post in October 2023 that she had a “rare cancer” and, according to reports, had been suffering from adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), an aggressive cancer of the adrenal gland.
Dequenne was co-winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s best actress award in 1999 for her role in Palme d’Or winning film, Rosetta, which tells the story of a young girl’s efforts to keep her job in the face of her own schizophrenia.
The actress, who was 18 at the time, cried after receiving the award for what was her first role in film.
On TV she was known for playing Laurence Relaud in British anthology drama The Missing, which starred James Nesbitt as the father of a boy who disappears during a family holiday.
Her second movie was horror/action film Brotherhood Of The Wolf (2001) where she starred alongside Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci and Samuel Le Bihan.
Her other roles included 2009’s The Girl On The Train, where her character Jeanne makes up a shocking story about a racially motivated attack on a train, and 2012 crime drama Our Children.
She also played a sound recordist called Charlotte, who learns that her mother has been murdered, in noughties film Ecoute Le Temps, and Sophie in 2022 coming-of-age film Close.
Dequenne was married to actor Michel Ferracci.
