Maryse “Cat” Conde was born to a single mother in the Bronx in the 1970s and moved to New York when she was a child.
When she was 12, she was kidnapped by a gang of hoodlums and held for two years in a filthy basement.
She was raped and starved for five months before she was rescued and given an identity as Maryse.
At 14, she fled to France, where she became a model and actor, and later began her acting career.
In 2003, she appeared in The Exorcist, starring as the devil-worshiping demon Marnie.
Her breakthrough film role came in 2005 in The Sixth Sense, which she co-wrote and starred in.
She then played the role of Claire, the title character of the 2011 thriller The Lady in the Water, which received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The film was also nominated for three Emmys.
In 2012, Conde also starred as the titular Cat in the TV series The Sixth Element, and the show won four Emmy Awards, including best drama series.
Her breakout role was as Claire in the 2012 movie The Girl on the Train, which earned her a Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
In 2017, she played Maria in the Netflix series Stranger Things, which won four Emmys and received three Golden Globes.
In 2018, Condé starred as Marie in the film The Hunt for Red October.
She is repped by ICM Partners, Principato-Young Entertainment and attorney Michael H. Shiner.
