Who is Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu? Emily in Paris comeback queen turned sex-symbol

Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu will reprise her role as Sylvie Grateau on the hit Netflix show Emily in Paris as the third season drops. Leroy-Beaulieu has fast become one of the most famous French faces of the past few years with the show catapulting her to global star levels.

The 59 year-old actress has appeared in three hits on the series including ‘Call My Agent’, ‘The Crown’ and ‘Emily in Paris’, which returns for a third season on Wednesday (December 21).

Before this success, she began her career as an actress on the stage, and made her screen début in Roger Vadim's 1983 film Surprise Party. She landed her first major screen role in 1985, which she earned a nomination for the César Award for Most Promising Actress.

She played the distraught mother in Trois hommes et un couffin (Three Men and a Cradle).

In Emily in Paris, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu’s character Sylvie became a fast favourite among fans with her chic style, sharp wit and to die for lifestyle in Paris. While the show is named ‘Emily in Paris’ Sylvie quickly became one of the biggest, and most talked about stars of the show. This pushed writers to give her more of a background and storyline in season two.

Leroy-Beaulieu has said we can expect to see even more of the character in the latest season, and teased a more ‘vulnerable’ side of the usually stoic character.

The actress has become known for breaking the boundaries applied to older women, and defied stereotypes in an iconic fashion, in season two of Emily in Paris the actress had her own Bond girl moment when she rocked a bikini on the beach in St Tropez.

However, while the star’s career is flying now, she has spoken about how it stalled while she was in her forties and Cedric Klapisch, a director on ‘Call My Agent’, pulled her "out of the coffin". She has used her new found spotlight to encourage and empower women on embracing ageing.

Leroy-Beaulieu was asked about the advice she would give to women, and told Page Six: “Don’t do too much stuff to your face. Just be very gentle with that, just accept it. Little things can be OK, but as soon as you try to do too much and don’t accept it, it looks kind of … hmm.”

Leroy-Beaulieu went on to explain: “Just be happy about being wiser. I love it. I think it gives me a peace that I didn’t have before. That’s something we should really enjoy instead of trying to be what we were 30 years ago, 20 years ago. I mean, it doesn’t make sense. It’s great to just enjoy what we have and I think it gets better and better.”