The French actress and singer known as the girl with the golden eyes has lived in Geneva since 1978. Born Maïtena Doumenach to a family of Armenian immigrants in 1939, she spent her childhood in Soulac, in the Gironde. At the age of 16, she replaced her sister at the last minute and won the Naissance d'une Etoile (A Star is Born) contest, which launched her career as an actress.

She was an immediate success with the 1960 cult film Plein Soleil (Purple Noon), where she worked alongside Alain Delon. The following year, she acted in another successful film, La Fille aux yeux d'or (The Girl with the Golden Eyes), hence her nickname. Marie Laforêt also led a music career. She released the album Ecoute dans le Vent (Blowing in the Wind) and performed several other well-known songs in Marie Laforêt volume 5.

She had 16 films and numerous albums to her name before settling in Switzerland in 1978 to raise her children: Geneva is the greatest love of my life. She spends time with fellow Frenchmen, Charles Aznavour and Alain Delon, and, like Delon, she acquired Swiss citizenship.

Marie Laforêt lives in a luxurious apartment in the Old City, where she ran an art gallery until 1981. In 1994, she dedicated her new album, Reconnaissances, to the people of Geneva in which she described the city throughout the changing seasons. Now divorced, the singer lives near her son who also resides in Geneva.

She also devotes much of her time to her love of writing, and she can often be seen doing research at the University of GenevaLibrary. Laforêt takes her daily stroll through the Parc des Bastions in the city center, where she collects leaves used to make beauty products.