Maria

Already a show-business veteran at 20, Parisienne Maria Schneider is finally getting a chance to play with the big kids. Her first major film role, in Tango, is most assuredly not going to be her last. Mlle. Schneider is the daughter of a celebrated French stage-and-screen actor, Daniel Gelin; to avoid trading on his reputation, she chose to use her Romanian mother's maiden name. Born in Paris, Maria left school at 15 to make her stage debut--without benefit of formal training--as a dancer in the 1968 French comedy Superposition. Next she appeared in Madly, a 1970 screen comedy with Alain Delon. Other small movie parts followed--in The Old Maid and Roger Vadim's Helle. As you may have surmised by now, Tango is an ultra-erotic film--and much of its eroticism emanates from Mlle. Schneider. She's already filmed Dear Parents, with Florinda Bolkan, and her future plans include Michelangelo Antonioni's Technically Sweet. You can relax now, Maria; you've made it on your own.

"Acting is a catharsis for me," says Maria. "It's a way of living through which I can reach people."