Edith Piaf might be a French cultural icon but Marion Cotillard knew little about her before landing her Oscar-winning role as the tragic chanteuse in “La Vie En Rose.” Cotillard, 32, became only the second Frenchwoman in history to win the Oscars best actress here on Sunday 48 years after Simone Signoret’s triumph at the 32nd Academy Awards in 1960.

“I didn’t know the story of Piaf’s life very well so I started by immersing myself in her,” Cotillard said of her preparation for the part.

“I watched old films, I listened to her an enormous amount. Eventually I was living with two people — her and me.” Cotillard’s extraordinary performance, which charts every stage of Piaf’s adult life, from her rise to stardom before the descent into drink, drugs and death from cancer aged 47, may well come to be seen as the benchmark against which all future musical biopics are judged.

Ironically, Cotillard was nearly overlooked for the part.

Financiers were reportedly keen on a more established name, such as “Amelie” and “The Da Vinci Code” star Audrey Tautou, and only agreed to Cotillard after director Olivier Dahan said he would not make the film without her.

Dahan’s faith in his leading lady has been repaid handsomely, with the film faring well internationally and delighting audiences worldwide.

And Cotillard on yesterday paid tribute to his vision.

“Oh -- thank you so much. Olivier, what you did to me, you rocked my life.

You have truly rocked my life,” she told the Academy Awards ceremony as she accepted her golden statuette.

“I’m speechless now .. I thank you life, thank you love and — it is true, there is some angels in this city. Thank you so, so much.” Cotillard has been showered with critical garlands, earning a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and now an Oscar.

Born in Paris in 1975, Cotillard grew up in a creative household, the daughter of an actor-director father and an actress mother.

As a youngster she starred in several plays before she got her big movie break, a role in Luc Besson’s 1998 film “Taxi”, which she followed with appearances in two later sequels.

Cotillard received rave reviews for her performance in 2001’s “Pretty Things,” in which she played twins and two years later she introduced herself to English-speaking audiences in Tim Burton’s “Big Fish.” An award-winning performance in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “A Very Long Engagement”, for which she earned a Cesar the French equivalent of an Oscar -- firmly established Cotillard as a rising talent.

Since then Cotillard has appeared in numerous films, including Ridley Scott’s “A Good Year” opposite Russell Crowe in 2006.

But it is Cotillard’s performance in “La Vie En Rose” that signalled stardom was beckoning.

She has landed a starring role in legendary Hollywood director Michael Mann’s latest film “Public Enemies” with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, and is also reportedly set to star in a film version of the award-winning musical “Nine.” —AFP