Born in İzmir to French parents in the diplomatic service, she left Turkey for France in 1951, and her acting career began soon thereafter. She acted in multilingual cinema chiefly from 1951 to 1980, appearing in several Italian films directed by Federico Fellini, for whom she was a favourite performer. She acted in films directed by Costa Gavras, Jean Renoir and Jules Dassin. Her career extended to television movies from roughly 1980 to 2002.

Her recording career began in France in 1956, and her most famous song was "Fais-moi mal, Johnny" ("Hurt me Johnny"), written by Boris Vian. This song was one of the first rock 'n' roll songs with French lyrics. It was censored from the radio due to its risqué lyrics.[citation needed]
She died on 23 June 2015, four days before her 84th birthday.