Arielle Laure Maxime Sonnery de Fromental, better known as Arielle Dombasle, is an actress, singer, director, and model. She was born into the family of industrialist Jean-Louis Sonnery. On her mother's side, she is the granddaughter of the former French ambassador to Mexico, Maurice Garreau-Dombasle. She lost her mother early. She spent her childhood and youth in her grandfather's family in Mexico. For a long time, she studied classical dance. In 1976, she moved to Paris to study music and singing.

There she also took her first steps in cinema and on stage. In her career, she collaborated with Roman Polanski, John Malkovich, Raúl Ruiz, Alain Robbe-Grillet, and others. In 1982, she tried her hand at directing and made the film "Love Fever". In 1988, she made her second film, "Blue Pyramids", and in 2013, "Opium". In 1999, Arielle Dombasle starred in the comedy "Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar". In 1993, Arielle married the French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy.