Léa Seydoux

In another reality, Léa Seydoux could have been a contestant on American Idol. The 24-year-old Parisian actress admits that she loves to sing in her downtime, and even provides a spot-onBeyoncé imitation on demand: “Fulfill my fantasies / I think about you all the time / I see you in my dreams,” she croons (from Beyoncé’s “Baby Boy”). Singing, though, is a skill that’s proved advantageous in Seydoux’s film career. Christophe Honoré had her perform a duet in his 2008 high school drama La Belle Personne, for which she waltzed off with a Most Promising Actress nomination at France’s César Awards. And at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, Seydoux won plaudits for her turn as the nurse of a wheelchair-bound miracle seeker in Jessica Hausner’s religious drama Lourdes, in which she sings in Italian. “I couldn’t even understand what I was singing,” she confesses. “I learned the song phonetically.” Seydoux actually grew up wanting to be an opera singer—her childhood dream was to sing the lead in Carmen—but when she finished school she chose acting over music. Next up for Seydoux is Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe. “My character is a French princess who becomes the queen of England,” she says. Thankfully, Scott didn’t make her perform for the Merry Men.

Photo: Léa Seydoux in Paris, July 2009. Jumpsuit: Chloé. Necklace: Lydia Courteille. Cosmetics: L’oréal Paris, including HiP concentrated shadow duos. Hair Products: Bumble And Bumble, including Surf Spray. Fragrance: Chloe eau de parfum by Chloe. Styling: Hannes Hetta. Hair: Tomohiro Ohashi/Management Artists. Makeup: Maria Olsson/Jed Root.