An icon of the cultural revolution (popularly known as the Swinging Sixties) that took Britain by storm in the 1960s, Tessa Charlotte Rampling, is an Academy Award nominated English actress, singer and model. In the course of an acting career spanning over a staggering five decades, she has appeared in close to a hundred films across European and American cinema. After starting out as a model, Rampling made her feature film debut with an uncredited role in The Knack...and How to Get it (1965), and subsequently rose to prominence courtesy of her performances in movies like Rotten to the Core (1965), The Damned (1969) and The Night Porter (1974).

Rampling continued to essay bold and complex characters in films across all genres throughout the 1980s, with the French noir thriller He Died with His Eyes Open (1985) earning her the first Cesar Award nomination of her career. Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), Sidney Lumet's The Verdict (1982), the comedy Max mon amour (1986) and Paris by Night (1986) were some of her notable movie credits in this period. Following an interlude in the 1990s, the actress made a strong comeback in 2000s, thereby marking the beginning of the most prolific phase in her career. Movies like Under the Sand (2000), Swimming Pool (2003) and Immortal (2004) made Rampling a favourite in the European awards seasons: she won an Honorary Cesar Award in 2001, while the erotic thriller Swimming Pool earned her a European Film Award for Best Actress and a London Critics Circle Film Award nomination.

In 2016, Rampling earned the first Oscar nomination of her career for her portrayal of a beleaguered wife coming to terms with a shattering revelation regarding her husband's past in the acclaimed romantic drama 45 Years (2015). She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance in the film. The maiden Golden Globes nomination of Rampling's career came beckoning in the following year, for her work in the drama tv series London Spy. The dystopian romantic drama Never Let Me Go (2010), Melancholia (2011), The Sense of an Ending (2017), the spy thriller Red Sparrow (2018) and Submergence (2018) are some of Rampling's notable acting credits in recent times.

Besides acting, she has also released a studio album titled Comme une femme, and published an autobiography titled Qui Je Suis (Who I Am). For her contributions to the field of arts, she was made an an OBE in 2000. French government's Legion of Honour and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the European Film Awards are some of the many accolades that the celebrated actress has been honoured with.