A French actress, raised in Paris and living partly in London. The daughter of actress Marlène Jobert, she performed in theatre before making her film debut in The Dreamers (2003), which generated controversy over her numerous nude scenes. She achieved greater fame for her parts in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), and in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, for which she won a BAFTA. She has also modelled for numerous brands.

Director Bernardo Bertolucci discovered her in 2002, and she accepted his invitation to star in The Dreamers (2003), despite her parents' initial objections because of Maria Schneider's accounts of being traumatised while filming Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. Her performance convinced Ridley Scott to cast her in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), a film about the Crusades where she played Sibylla of Jerusalem. As a result of this, she was approached by Martin Campbell for the character of Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale.