Caron was discovered by Gene Kelly in a French ballet company in 1948. He remembered her performance when he was trying to convince MGM's executives to cast a real French girl as his leading lady in An American in Paris. He flew to Paris to test her, and two weeks later the studio offered the 19-year-old dancer the role. An American in Paris was a huge hit, turning Caron into an overnight star. She followed her success with an Oscar®-nominated performance in Lili (1953); Daddy Long Legs (1955), in which she teamed with Fred Astaire; and Gigi.
By that time, Caron had given up dancing and was ready to switch to dramatic roles. She scored a major hit in a re-make of Fanny (1961), which co-starred Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier, then won a second Oscar® nomination for a strong dramatic turn as an unwed mother in The L-Shaped Room (1963).
By this time, however, Caron had returned to Europe and played only occasional roles in American films. She co-starred as Anthony Hopkins's wife in the pioneering miniseries QB VII (1974) and played legendary actress Alla Nazimova in Valentino (1977), Rudolph Nureyev in the title role. Since then, she has worked for such great directors as Francois Truffaut (The Man Who Loved Women,1977), Kristoff Zanussi (Contract,1980, Imperativ,1982 and The Unapproachable,1982) and Louis Malle (Damage,1992). Her American appearances have included a 1981 guest stint on the series Falcon Crest and the 1996 miniseries The Ring, adapted from Danielle Steele's bestseller.
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