Francis Benhamou is an American actress. She received

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres ...

and

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play was an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre across collective Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. ...

for her performance in the 2022 off-Broadway play ''

Prayer for the French Republic ''Prayer for the French Republic'' is a 2022 dramatic stage play by American playwright Joshua Harmon. It centers on a Jewish family living in France as they struggle with their identity due to rising tensions from anti-Semitic attacks. The pla ...

''.

Life and career

Benhamou was born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, and grew up in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. From her mother's side, she is

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n, and from her father's side is North African Sephardi. She graduated from the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. She began her career starring in short films and had minor role in the 2004 drama film, ''

Imaginary Heroes ''Imaginary Heroes'' is a 2004 American drama film written and directed by Dan Harris. The film focuses on the traumatic effect the suicide of the elder son has on a suburban family. For her performance in the film, Weaver was nominated for a S ...

''. In 2007, Benhamou played the leading role alongside

Zoe Lister-Jones Zoe Lister-Jones (born September 1, 1982) is an American actress and filmmaker who co-starred as Jen Collins Short in the CBS sitcom ''Life in Pieces'' from 2015 to 2019. She is also known for her roles in the television shows '' Delocated'' (20 ...

in the independent drama film, ''

Arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...

''. She later appeared in films ''

Neal Cassady Neal Leon Cassady (February 8, 1926 – February 4, 1968) was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s. Cassady published only two short fragments of prose in his lif ...

'' (2007), ''

Breaking Upwards ''Breaking Upwards'' is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Daryl Wein, starring Zoe Lister-Jones, Wein, Julie White, Peter Friedman, Andrea Martin, and Pablo Schreiber. It explores a 20-something, real-life New York couple batt ...

'' (2009), ''

My Last Day Without You ''My Last Day Without You'' is an independent feature film starring Nicole Beharie and Ken Duken, and directed by Stefan Schaefer. It was written by Schaefer and Christoph Silber, and produced by Diane Crespo, Silber and Schaefer and their com ...

'' (2011), ''Big Words'' (2013), ''

Listen Up Philip ''Listen Up Philip'' is a 2014 comedy-drama film written and directed by Alex Ross Perry. The film had its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014, and won the Special Jury Prize at the 2014 Locarno International Film Fe ...

'' (2014), '' Women Who Kill'' (2016), and '' The Rainbow Experiment'' (2018). On television, Benhamou made guest starring appearances on ''

Inside Amy Schumer ''Inside Amy Schumer'' is an American sketch comedy television series created and hosted by Amy Schumer. The series aired on Comedy Central from April 30, 2013, to June 16, 2016, and was revived in 2022 for a fifth season on Paramount+. Schumer ...

'', '' Daredevil'' and ''

Life & Beth ''Life & Beth'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Schumer, who also stars alongside Violet Young, Michael Cera, Yamaneika Saunders, Michael Rapaport, and Susannah Flood. The show premiered on Hulu on March 18, 2022. I ...

''. Benhamou has appeared in a number of stage productions, including notable off-Broadway productions '' Selling Kabul'', ''The Profane'', ''Invasion!; I Call My Brothers'', and ''Motel Cherry''. She starred in the 2022 off-Broadway production of ''

'', for which she received

and

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town news ...

nomination. She reprised her role in the 2024 Broadway production. She later was cast in the Netflix comedy film ''

Kinda Pregnant ''Kinda Pregnant'' is a 2025 American comedy film directed by Tyler Spindel, written by Julie Paiva and Amy Schumer, and starring Schumer alongside Jillian Bell, Brianne Howey, and Will Forte. It tells the story of 40-something school teacher La ...

'' and the drama series '' Black Rabbit''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benhamou, Francis Actresses from New York City 21st-century American actresses American film actresses American stage actresses Jewish American actresses Living people New York University alumni Drama Desk Award winners Year of birth missing (living people)