Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne, who was suffering from a very rare form of cancer, has died on Sunday at the age of 43, her family and agent announced.
She died at the Gustave Roussy hospital in Villejuif, on the outskirts of Paris.
Her first role at the age of 17 in the film Rosetta by the Dardenne brothers launched her career and won her the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2021, the actress also won the César for Best Supporting Actress for Les Choses qu'on dit, les Choses qu'on fait by Emmanuel Mouret.
She revealed in October 2023 that she had adrenocortical carcinoma, a cancer of the adrenal gland. According to scientists, the annual incidence of this disease is 1 to 2 per million inhabitants.
"We were all marked by her deeply moving performances in powerful roles. French cinema has lost, too soon, a talented actress who still had so much to offer", Culture Minister Rachida Dati wrote on X, expressing her condolences to Émilie Dequenne's family.
France's firefighting community also paid tribute on X to the memory of the actress, who"*perfectly donned the firefighter's uniform alongside Roschdy Zem in 2017's Men of Fire".
Many fans paid tribute to her on social networks.
