Laura Weissbecker
Laura Weissbecker is an international multilingual French actress who won the Chinese Huading award for ''best new actress'' in 2013 for her role in Jackie Chan's ''CZ12''. She has worked in France, Germany, USA and China, with directors such as Jackie Chan, Cedric Klapisch, Elie Chouraqui, Mark Romanek and Tonie Marshall. Weissbecker was handpicked by Jackie Chan for one of the leading roles in the film ''Chinese Zodiac 12'', starring and directed by Jackie Chan. The film was a huge commercial success in Asia, in particular in mainland China where it is listed as amongst the top 5 biggest box-office hits for a Chinese movie in the country's history.
Laura Weissbecker began her film career in 2002, when director Tonie Marshall (winner of the 2000 Cesar French Academy Award for best film, best director and best screenwriter) offered her a small role opposite Francois Cluzet in her feature film ''France Boutique''. In France, Weissbecker is best known for her role in ''Versailles, the Dream of a King'' directed by Thierry Binisti, a high profile TV movie which aired on France 2, Japan (NHK) and UK (BBC), and her role in ''Russian Dolls" directed by Cedric Klapisch (also starring Audrey Tautou, Romain Duris, Cecile de France) . A multilingual actress, Weissbecker was featured in a German TV movie ''Achtung Arzt'' directed by German TV director Rolf Silber, which was shot in Berlin. She shows her comedic talent starring opposite Jackie Chan in ''Chinese Zodiac 12,'' an international feature film directed by Chan. Laura Weissbecker was awarded ''Best New Global Actress'' at the Chinese Huading awards in Macao in October 2013 for her performance. In the US, she was featured in 2016 in a guest recurring role in American TV series ''Mad Dogs'' produced by Amazon and Sony, shot in Puerto Rico. In 2018, she is working on a chinese movie by director Fan Haolun whose previous movie was in official selection at the Venice Film Festival.
Laura Weissbecker's first novel ''Comment je suis devenue chinoise'' (''How I became chinese'') was published in France and in China. In France, it got great critical success and was awarded with the prestigious literary prize prix du Lys (2017).
Laura grew up in the east of France, in the city of Strasbourg, surrounded by a very heteroclite and European environment. She has a brother and a sister, who is a solo aerial artist with Cirque du Soleil. Laura has a master degree from one of the top engineering schools in France. She was trained in Paris, and in Los Angeles with leading acting coaches Howard Fine, Jack Waltzer and comedy master Gary Austin, founder of the Groundlings, the legendary improvisation troupe. Laura is fluent in French, English, Chinese and German.