Dany Verissimo

Dany Verissimo, also known by her former stage name Ally Mac Tyana (born June 27, 1982), is a French actress, model and retired pornographic performer.^[1][2]

Biography

The child of a Malagasy mother and a French father who was a financial director at Air France, Verissimo spent her childhood in France, the United States, and Nigeria.^[3] She began performing in pornography at 18 and a half years old, starring in films by John B. Root, the adult film director who she worked with exclusively through her entire 16-month adult film career.^[4] During this time, she called herself "Ally Mac Tyana", which was a play on the name Ally McBeal, and performed in gangbang and anal sex scenes.^[3] She appeared in such adult videos as Ally, French Beauty and Xperiment, and on Root's website Explicite.com.

In 2002 she had her first non-erotic film roles, as an extra in So Long Mister Monroe and an appearance on an episode of the French police drama Brigade des mineurs. In 2004, she was cast as Lola in the film Banlieue 13, a role specially created for her by producer Luc Besson.

After a succession of minor roles in May 2006 she appeared in ELLE magazine's "Cannes Special Edition", where she was recognized as one of the new upcoming actresses. She was cast as Belkis in C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle ("It's Gradiva who is calling you"; released in the U.S. in 2009), a film directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet, who declared about Verissimo: "She surprises by her generosity and the strength of her presence".^[5] The film was shown out of competition at the Venice Film Festival in September 2006.

Verissimo has been Camelia, a rebellious 19th century prostitute, in the Canal plus series Maison Close (Season 1, 2010; Season 2, 2012; the series is currently being adapted by HBO.^[6] Her 2013 performance on the stage in D.A.F. Marquis de Sade, based on the life of the legendary writer and directed by Nicolas Briançon, won several critical accolades, including "hypnotic",^[7] and "the perfect incarnation of [...] a sublime physique and an undeniable acting talent".^[8]

She starred in the 2009 comedy drama film Shot List, written and directed by Joe LiTrenta, as Chicken, her first English-language role.^[9] She appears as Alien, the lead role of Daryush Shokof's feature Poison Works.

Verissimo speaks completely fluent English, as well as her native French. She is divorced from the actor Rodolphe Verissimo, and lives in Paris.^[10]

Notes

• "Dany Verissimo (Banlieue 13)", interview by Didier Verdurand, EcranLarge.com, May 25, 2005. (in French) - at Wayback Machine
• "Ally Mac Tiana/Dany Verissimo: l'interview MN", interview by Elman, MadaNight.com, June 6, 2005. (in French) - at Wayback Machine

References

External links

• Official website
• Dany Verissimo at the Internet Movie Database
• Dany Verissimo (as Ally Mac Tyana) at the Internet Adult Film Database
• Dany Verissimo at the European Girls Adult Film Database