The comeback queen of ‘Emily in Paris’

To Netflix viewers, she is among the most famous French faces of the moment, appearing in three hits: “Call My Agent”, “The Crown” and “Emily in Paris”, which returns for a third season on Wednesday.

It is quite a turnaround for Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, 59, who never expected this level of international fame.

She credits Cedric Klapisch, a director on “Call My Agent”, with pulling her “out of the coffin” after her career stalled in her forties.

But it is her role as Sylvie Grateau, boss of a luxury marketing agency who reluctantly takes on the young naive American, Emily, that has turned Leroy-Beaulieu into a global star.

She relishes the caustic part.

“There is a type of American, like Emily, who wants to conquer the world and thinks they know how to do everything better than the rest, but then comes up against someone like me who says: ‘I am Asterix and I will not let you pass!’” said Leroy-Beaulieu with a grin, invoking the beloved French comic-book star who fights the Roman Empire.

- ‘Vulnerability’ -Leroy-Beaulieu’s career started strong in the 1980s, with an award-nominated turn in “Trois Hommes et un Couffin” (remade by Hollywood as “Three Men and a Baby”).

But she never expected to become the embodiment of Parisian style for foreign audiences, having struggled to fit into the city after arriving from Italy as a child.

Her character in “Emily in Paris” is a joyous collection of cliches about French women: chic, thin, disdainful, perched on towering heels, cigarette permanently lodged in her mouth.

Yet Leroy-Beaulieu says the show challenges stereotypes while having fun with them.