Jeanne Even

Biography

She was born in the 1870s as Jeanne Marie Courtois, daughter of Valentine Marie Louise Desquibes, married to Marie Charles Courtois. Following the family tradition, her biological father was Jean-Pierre Even (1828-1886), deputy-mayor of Beaufort (Luxembourg), from whom she assumed her given name. She attended the Ecole classique, rue Charras in Paris, and received a diploma as comedy actress in 1893. Since 1900 she appeared as actress in Paris, at the Odéon Theater and Antoine Theater, and from 1911 to 1927 at the Comédie-Française. Between 1917 and 1923, she took part in six silent movies: Le dédale, Par la vérité, La route du devoir, Le penseur, La ferme du choquart, and Violettes Impériales. As a movie actress, she adapted partly the name of Jane Even. The marriage with the playwrighter and member of the Académie française Eugène Brieux, in 1927, was the ending of her career.