Lola Bessis (born 30 November 1992^[1][2]) is a French actress, screenwriter and director. She is known for the movie Swim Little Fish Swim, in which she acted and wrote the script.^[3]

She started her career at the age of 12.^[4]

In 2013, she played the lead in Swim Little Fish Swim, an English-speaking comedy-drama shot in New York and that Bessis co-directed with Ruben Amar.^[5] Critics praised Bessis' performance for her screen presence and charm.^[6][7][8]

In 2014, she was a jury member at the Deauville American Film Festival along with Clemence Poesy, Christine and The Queens and Freddie Highmore.^[9]

In 2015, she played a recurring character in the comic French TV series France Kbek.^[10] That same year she played the lead in the music video Pas là by French singer Vianney directed by Nicolas Bary. The video counts nearly 18 million views on YouTube.^[11]

In 2016 she starred in Nicolas Bedos' feature film Monsieur et Madame Adelman.^[12] That same year, Bessis starred in Mathias Malzieu's last film, Le distributeur d'aurores boréales, that has been shown at Cannes film festival 2016.^[13] In July 2016, Bessis was featured in Interview Magazine’s portfolio "Hollywood’s most wanted" among the top 15 up and coming Hollywood actors.^[14] In 2016, she was a jury member at the Les Arcs Film Festival.^[15]

She starred in Thirst Street by Nathan Silver^[16] alongside Anjelica Huston, Lindsay Burdge, Damien Bonnard, Esther Garrel, Jacques Nolot and Françoise Lebrun.^[17] Thirst Street premiered in US Narrative competition at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.^[17]

In February 2017, Bessis was cast in the Picnic at Hanging Rock reboot alongside Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer and Orange is the New Black star Yael Stone.^[18]