Émilie Dequenne, the acclaimed Belgian actress whose screen debut in Rosetta (1999) marked one of the most unforgettable moments in contemporary European cinema, has died at 43. She passed away on March 16 at a hospital near Paris after battling adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer of the adrenal gland. Her family and agent confirmed the news, sparking an outpouring of tributes across the film industry.
Born on Aug 29, 1981, in Beloeil, Wallonia, Dequenne was drawn to the performing arts from a young age. She studied acting and public speaking throughout her teens, eventually joining the La Relève theatre troupe. At just 17, she was cast in the Dardenne brothers' Rosetta, a harrowing portrait of working-class life in Belgium. Her portrayal of a fiercely determined teenager trying to escape the grip of poverty and care for her alcoholic mother was a revelation. The performance earned her the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival that year, awarded by a jury led by filmmaker David Cronenberg. The film also won the Palme d'Or, catapulting Dequenne to international prominence.
Over the next two decades, Dequenne became a mainstay of Belgian and French cinema, earning more than 60 screen credits and widespread critical acclaim. She starred in The Brotherhood Of The Wolf (2001), Christophe Gans' genre-blending action-horror hit, and won further accolades for her devastating turn in Joachim Lafosse's Our Children (2012), which earned her the Un Certain Regard Best Actress award at Cannes. In This Is Our Land (2017), she played a small-town nurse swept into the orbit of a far-right political party, a performance that won her a Magritte Award for Best Actress. She also appeared in the César-winning romantic drama The Things We Say, The Things We Do (2020), and played a supporting role in Lukas Dhont's Oscar-nominated film Close (2022).
Dequenne also made appearances in English-language films, including The Bridge Of San Luis Rey (2004), opposite Robert De Niro and Gabriel Byrne, and more recently in Frédéric Jardin's survival thriller Survive (2024). Her final performance came in TKT (2024), a Belgian drama exploring the impact of school bullying, in which she played the mother of a boy left in a coma.
She is survived by her husband, director and producer Michel Ferracci, whom she married in 2014, and her daughter, Milla Savarese. In her final public statement in late 2023, Dequenne spoke candidly about her illness and expressed hope and strength, saying she was "ready to fight". She leaves behind a legacy defined by honesty, empathy and cinematic courage.
