Award-winning Belgian actress Émilie Dequenne dies aged 43

Belgian actor Émilie Dequenne has died of a rare cancer in a hospital just outside Paris, her family and her agent confirmed on Sunday.

Tributes have been pouring in from the film and cultural world following the death of the 43 year-old who was born in Beloeil in the province of Hainaut.

It was in 2023 that Dequenne revealed she  was suffering from adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal gland.

Her career spanned almost 50 films after she shot to fame at the age of 18 for her performance in the social drama Rosetta by the Dardenne brothers. The leading role won Dequenne best actress at the Cannes film festival, while the film was awarded the Palme d’Or.

She continued to win awards for her appearances in films, including the 2009 La Fille du RER and the 2012 drama A Perdre la raison. On TV, the actress performed in the British thriller series The Missing.

Dequenne returned to the Cannes film festival in 2024 for the 25th anniversary of her triumph with Rosetta, while also promoting the English-language disaster movie Survive. This was to be her last film before illness forced her to stop working.

The actress “has left a profound mark on cinema, in Belgium and far beyond our borders,” said Wallonia-Brussels Federation and culture minister Elisabeth Degryse.

“It is with sadness that I learned of Émilie Dequenne's passing, after her courageous battle with illness. Through the significant roles she played throughout her career, she moved us, made us laugh, and made us think,” Degryse added.

Photo: Émilie Dequenne at the Magritte du Cinema film awards in Belgium in 2023 ©Belga/Laurie Dieffembacq