ELIANE CHAPPUIS BIOGRAPHY
Eliane Chappuis is an actress, singer, film producer and model. She
can speak English, French, Vietnamese, German and Swiss german. She
was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Switzerland. Her Swiss father
fell in love with her Vietnamese mother whilst studying in London.
Her father taught at the university of Berne and died when she was a
young girl. Her mother is a Vietnamese aristocrat, worked as a
social worker, and amongst other positions has worked for the Red
Cross. She is a very wise lady and is Elianes mentor. As a child,
Eliane spent the summers in the South of France in Plumvillage, which is a Zen Village belonging to famous Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. He
is a very well known teacher and author of many books and has become
a family friend. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by
Martin Luther King. On Elianes CD-album «Plumvillage Kid», she
sings a selections of his poems. From the 1st to the 9th grade she
went to the Steiner School in Berne, and then she spent the 10th
school year at the New Girls School, also in Berne. When she was 17,
she went to live in Zurich, so she could attend the Zurich Academy
of Acting. She also continued modelling to help support herself,
which she had actually started at the age of 14, when she was on the
books of the top swiss modelling agency Option. She has modelled for
lots of well known companies including Swatch, Chopard, Vivienne
Westwood, Christian Lacroix, Fabric Frontline and Jill Sander etc.
Then she started acting professionally. She had already become used
to the stage in many main roles at school, e.g. when she was 14 at
the biggest theatre in Berne in «Oliver Twist, «The Wizard of Oz» or
«Zobeide». She also sang at the same theatre in «Cavalleria
Rusticana» and «Lulu». Then in 1996 she went to America where her
lucky star was very evident, when she got accepted to attend Robert
Redfords «Sundance Workshop» as a intern where she could learn many
aspects of film making. She made many friends there, including Kathy
Bates, who gave her lots of moral and practical support. Then her
acting took off in Los Angeles, where she starred in many different
roles. She had the leading role in «On the Roof» with Angus
MacFayden (Braveheart) and Diane Baker from Hitchcocks «Milena».
Another leading role she had was in the movie «Soundman» with Nick
Stahl (Terminator 3) and Danny Trejo (ConAir). She also had the
leading role in the episode called «Die Manadarine von Marzahn» from
the German series «Die Strassen von Berlin». She worked with Henry
Thomas (Legends of the Fall) on «Gangs of New York» with Leonardo
DiCaprio (Titanic). Furthermore she organised the finances and did
the executive producing work for two movies. A few years ago she
graduated successfully from the «Swiss Musical Academy». There she
has further developed her singing voice. Already before she returned
to Europe, she recorded the song «Le silence nocturne» at the sound
studio of drummer Matt Sorum (Guns n' Roses, The Cult). Then in
Switzerland her very own composition of the single «Christmas Time»
was aired on BBC Radio 2 in December 2009, and an article appeared
in the «Daily Mirror» featuring her career. In 2010, Eliane produced
two albums «Plumvillage Kid» and «Christmas Time - the album». This
year and last year, Eliane acted in Swiss movies with Switzerlands
top stars like Stephanie Glaser, Beat Schlatter, Gilles Tschudi and
Andrea Zogg.
August 4th, 2011
