Lola Bessis is a French actress and filmmaker. At age 12, Lola is street cast to play the lead in a short film. Ever since that rich experience, she has known that she wants to be on a film set when she grows up. A few years later, while attending some of the most prestigious international universities (University College London; La Sorbonne (Paris); The New School; NYU), she writes and directs a dozen short films. Concurrently, she trains as an actress taking classes at Stella Adler (New York), Jack Waltzer (Paris), Jordan Beswick (Paris). After making the award-winning short film Checkpoint, Lola writes, directs and stars in her first feature film, Swim Little Fish Swim, at only age 21. Shot in New York outside the mainstream circuits, the film is singled out at over 100 festivals (SXSW; Rotterdam; Sao Paulo), enjoys wide theatrical release in several countries and later plays on HBO and Netflix among other international networks. It receives eulogistic critical acclaim simultaneously bringing Lola a great deal of media attention. According to The Hollywood Reporter, «Bessis has a natural screen presence that should ensure future work in romantic comedies». And in 2016 Interview Magazine features Lola as one of the 15 Hollywood Most Wanted up and rising actors. She then pursues her acting career both in France and in the US starring in prestigious movies and TV shows such as Mr and Mrs Adelman; Nighthawks and the indie US drama Thirst Street (Tribeca’17; Venice’17) also starring Anjelica Huston. In 2018 she will lead the Amazon mini-series reboot of iconic Peter Weir’s movie Picnic At Hanging Rock alongside Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer and Orange is the New Black star Yael Stone. On top of this, she has just directed a short series for high fashion brand Chloé and she is about to direct her second feature film. She lives between Paris and Los Angeles.