In the last decade French cinema has seen many successful debuts by female directors, who were working in the film industry as actresses before starting their second careers. After Agnès Jaoui's debut as a movie director with her feature film Le gout des autres in 2000, other notable actress/director films were Zabou Breitman's Se souvenir des belles choses (2001), Sophie Marceau's Parlez-moi d'amour (2002), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's Il est plus facile pour un chameau… (2003), Isabelle Nanty's Le bison (et sa voisine Dorine) (2003) and Julie Delpy's Deux jours à Paris (2007). These movie directors do more than just share a similar career development path. More importantly, all of them continue the French tradition of auteur cinema, not only directing but also writing the scripts of their films. In most films, the filmmakers even play the leading character, or appear as a supporting actor, thereby mixing their social function as star actresses and their professional role as movie directors. This paper looks at women's professional identities enacted onscreen and simultaneously behind the camera.