Sylvia Kristel

Sylvia Maria Kristel (1952 – 2012) was a Dutch actress who performed in over 50 films, and was best known for playing the lead character in four of the seven Emmanuelle films.

Kristel began modeling when she was 17. She entered the Miss TV Europe contest in 1973 and won (and apart from the title, won a Mercedes Benz 350SL). Multilingual, she spoke Dutch, English, French, German and Italian. Kristel gained international attention in 1974 for playing the title character in the softcore film Emmanuelle, which remains one of the most successful French films ever produced.