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Main Characters
Emily Cooper
Emily Cooper
Portrayed by: Lily Collins
A young woman from Chicago who gets transferred to Paris to liaise with a French firm, Savoir, bought by the marketing conglomerate she works for after her boss gets pregnant and cannot go. Emily speaks virtually no French and has never traveled internationally before her move to Paris, but is determined to show her new colleagues at Savoir that an American perspective is just what is needed to reinvigorate the firm.
- Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Camille's Betty and Gabriel's Archie.
- Blithe Spirit: Emily tries to be this for Savoir, usually successfully.
- Brainy Brunette: Emily has a master's degree and is said to be very skilled in marketing.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being a perky and clueless newcomer with a quirky fashion sense, she is also very competent at her work, and knows well the industry.
- Conspicuous Consumption: Among other brands, Emily wears tens of thousands of dollars worth of Chanel, even though her salary realistically shouldn't afford her these pricey purchases.
- Cultural Posturing: Emily often tries to impose American values on the French people she meets and looks down on the French language.
- Determinator: Emily does not give up when she believes she is right or can make something right, even if she is outright told by her superiors not to pursue an idea further.
- Ditzy Genius: She may be a competent overachiever, but has trouble learning the French language. Even the other foreign characters in Paris can speak French better than her.
- Dude Magnet: Emily is very attractive, and several men are interested in her.
- The Fashionista: Emily wears lots of designer labels and is very excited to be working at Paris Fashion Week.
- Fish out of Water: Emily doesn't speak the language and seems to have done very little, if any, research on the cultural differences between the US and France. Instead of trying to learn and adapt, her reaction is to call the French backwards and ridiculous.
- Genki Girl: Emily is bright, chipper and vivacious.
- Go-Getter Girl: Emily is very ambitious and always dresses to the nines.
- The Idealist: Emily rarely gets pessimistic about anything and has a rather romantic view of the world.
- Informed Attribute:
- Emily is supposed to be professional and competent, but some of her actions are very questionable. She doesn't bother to learn French and continues to speak English until the end of the season, doesn't ask what time her colleagues start work (and then shows up too early) and generally has a very arrogant, I-know-best attitude towards her French colleagues, even though she has absolutely no experience with luxury brands.
- There's also her supposed amazing social media skills - the main reason why she gets sent to France after her boss finds out she's pregnant. However Emily starts off the show with only 40 followers on her existing Instagram account, breaks the simplest of hashtag rules (including inserting an apostrophe), and curates a feed of the most basic duck-faced selfies and ordinary captions (such as 'chiseled abs' on a photo of a statue), which seems more the behavior of someone who has only just started out on social media.
- Magnetic Hero: While she occasionally gets in trouble, Emily can easily befriend and charm many people she meets in Paris, and is also an influencer with many followers.
- Motor Mouth: Emily tends to talk a lot, much to the annoyance of Sylvie.
- Mrs. Robinson: She sleeps with Camille's teenage brother, mistaking the French school system of collège for its American meaning, and because Camille announced they'll meet her adult brother but never clarified having two brothers. Fortunately he's 17, so no statutory rape under French law (which has a normal age of consent of 15 years of age, except for adults with authority over the teenager).
- My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: By season 2, she's still nowhere near mastering the French language, and her attempt to apologize to Camille by letter doesn't go well partly because of it.Emily: [writes in French to Camille] I'm very sorry you hurt. You welcome me to Paris, I'm happy for your friend. Do you believe I miss me? I like you most, daughter. I am sad that I am naughty. I forgive your lost heart. I very need you to talk and hear, please. Love forever, Emily.
Camille: [responding to Emily's letter in French with another one] I don't understand why you did what you did, just like I don't understand a fucking word in your letter. Leave me alone, you illiterate sociopath. - Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: A given when the character is played by Lily Collins.
- Really Gets Around: For all her comical prudishness, Emily has a particularly active sex life, sleeping on average every other episode with another man.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Sylvie's blue in the office.
- Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Emily cannot stand that someone might possibly dislike her.
- "Ugly American" Stereotype: Downplayed. Emily is portrayed sympathetically by the narrative; she is a decent person and a Blithe Spirit. However, she arrives in Paris without speaking a lick of French and has little understanding of the country besides what she knows from American films. Despite this, she already has big ideas and behaviors of which her French colleagues initially disapprove. In one scene she makes a scene in a restaurant about how her steak is undercooked and in America the customer is always right (even though she is begrudgingly proved wrong soon after). Her French colleagues have reasons to see her as an Ugly American, with her boss Sylvie later calling her out on it.Sylvie: You come to Paris, you walk into my office, you don't even bother to learn the language. You treat the city like your amusement park and after a year of food, sex, wine, and maybe some culture, you'll go back from where you came.
- Workaholic: Emily is teased by her French colleagues for her nonstop talk about work.
Gabriel
Gabriel
Portrayed by: Lucas Bravo
Emily's downstairs neighbor. A talented chef from Normandy, Gabriel dreams of one day owning his own restaurant.
- Betty and Veronica: The Archie to Camille's Betty and Emily's Veronica.
- Chick Magnet: He catches the attention of many women in the show.
- The Generic Guy: He doesn't have many defining traits aside from his good looks and his passion for cooking.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Gabriel is pretty visibly jealous when any other man expresses interest in Emily, despite him already being in a relationship.
- Hunk: He's portrayed by the handsome Lucas Bravo.
- Love Interest: The main one for Emily.
- Self-Made Man: Gabriel desires to be this, and tends to look down on anyone who comes from money.
- Supreme Chef: Everyone loves Gabriel's food. When Emily has to turn to him as a backup plan after misunderstanding the dates when trying to book a table in a high-end restaurant (in Europe 8/11 is November 8, not August 11), the diners, including Sylvie and the potential client they were trying to convince, compliment him on the meal. In the season 1 finale, Antoine helps him buy the restaurant as an investor.
Mindy Chen
Mindy Chen
Portrayed by: Ashley Park
Emily's first friend in Paris who is also an expatriate. Hailing from Shanghai, Mindy has come to Paris to escape her controlling father. She works as a nanny to make ends meet.
- Ascended Extra: Initially a Satellite Character who only serves as Emily's friend. In later episodes, she starts to get subplots about her singing career and love life.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: A given when portrayed by Broadway actress Ashley Park.
- Boomerang Bigot: Judging by her comments, she doesn’t have a high opinion of other Chinese people.
- Disinherited Child: Her father, a zipper mogul in China, revoked her inheritance after he found out Mindy dropped out of business school and had no intention of returning to Shanghai.
- Life of the Party: Mindy hosts a big bash for Emily to introduce her to more Parisian peers, and appears to have been a party girl with her friends back in Shanghai.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Mindy is supposed to be from Shanghai but retains actress Ashley Park's American accent, even when the majority of her friends from Shanghai have either Shanghai or British accents.
- Performance Anxiety: Mindy abandoned her singing career after a fumbled performance on Chinese Idol caused her to develop stage fright.
- Rebellious Princess: In her backstory, she decided to rebel against her wealthy family and pursue her dreams by herself in another country.
- Token Black Friend: Mindy is Chinese-Korean and is one of two racial minorities in the main cast (the other is the black Julien). Her primary role is to be the white heroine Emily's sassy friend and confidant.
Sylvie Grateau
Sylvie Grateau
Portrayed by: Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu
Emily's glamorous boss at Savoir. Sylvie is quite unimpressed by Emily's lack of knowledge of French language and culture. She is having an affair with Antoine, the owner of Savoir client Maison Lavaux.
- Brutal Honesty: Very critical of Emily, and has no problem telling her what she thinks about her.
- The Cynic: She often holds a pessimistic view compared to eternal optimist Emily.
- Deadpan Snarker: Sylvie has a rather sarcastic sense of humor.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She strongly dislikes Emily at first, but learns to respect her and understand her more in later episodes.
- French Jerk: Sylvie often has biting commentary for the very American Emily.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She often has a point in her criticism of Emily.Sylvie: You come to Paris, you walk into my office, you don't even bother to learn the language. You treat the city like your amusement park and after a year of food, sex, wine, and maybe some culture, you'll go back from where you came.
- Mean Boss: To Emily, as she constantly puts her down. Sometimes she has a point but not always. Even Sylvie can be unprofessional at times.
- The Mistress: To Antoine.
- Mrs. Robinson: In Season 2, Sylvie has an affair with a young Dutch photographer, who is at one point mistaken for her son by a waitress.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Emily's red in the office.
- Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!: Sylvie is completely cynical about the idea of marriage and romance in general, which is why she's comfortable being Antoine's mistress and nothing more.
- Silver Fox: Emily's French manager Sylvie is a gorgeous, effortlessly chic woman played by the 57 year old Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu.
Camille
Camille
Portrayed by: Camille Razat
Gabriel's girlfriend and Emily's friend. An art gallery owner who comes from a French family of winemakers.
- Ambiguously Bi: Gabriel's girlfriend Camille seems to like Emily a lot. She kisses her on the mouth and holds her hand during a night out. Season 3 drops the ambiguity when she has an affair with Sofia.
- Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Gabriel's Archie and Emily's Veronica.
- French Jerk: Averted. Camille is very nice to Emily from the moment they meet despite knowing Emily is obviously American and not versed in French customs.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Camille is blonde and one of the nicest people in the series.
- My Beloved Smother: Camille's mother is rather overbearing.
- Nice Girl: Her family lives on a rather large chateau, but Camille never brags about her wealth and tries to use it to help others.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In season 2, after finding out that Gabriel and Emily had sex, she publicly humiliates Emily at her birthday party and becomes needlessly petty and vindicative, even rejecting her apologies. She later pretends to forgive her on the condition that neither of them end up with Gabriel, only for her to get back together with him anyway. This is likely done to make the audience easier to root for Emily.
- Uptown Girl: To Gabriel. She is from a very rich family, unlike him.
Julien
Julien
Portrayed by: Samuel Arnold
One of Emily's coworkers, trendy and loves drama.
- Those Two Guys: With Luc.
- Twofer Token Minority: He's both black and gay.
Luc
Luc
Portrayed by: Bruno Gouery
One of Emily's coworkers, eccentric and fond of dirty jokes.- Cloudcuckoolander: The most eccentric of Emily's co-workers, also prone to random statements.
- Dirty Old Man: An old man who occasionally makes sexual or inappropriate remarks.
- Jerkass Has a Point: In the very first episode, Luc (who had been complicit in mocking Emily) gently but firmly calls Emily out on her arrogance of coming to work for a French firm without speaking a word of French, imposing her ideas on them even though she has zero experience working with luxury brands and expecting people to just go with it.
- Those Two Guys: With Julien.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Apologizes to Emily personally after teasing her by calling her "la plouc" in the office.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He makes fun of Emily initially, but later becomes more supportive of her.
Antoine Lambert
Antoine Lambert
Portrayed by: William Abadie
The owner of perfumery Maison Lavaux, a client of Savoir. Is having an affair with Sylvie at the start of the series, though his wife knows about it. He trys to court Emily after meeting her as well.- The Casanova: He has affairs with and sexually propositions many women.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: A recurring character in season 1, promoted to the main cast in season 2.
Alfie
Alfie
Portrayed by: Lucien Laviscount
A British banker who becomes CFO at Maison Lavaux and another love interest for Emily.- Deadpan Snarker: In his early appearances, he likes to tease Emily in a snarky way. Less so after he Took a Level in Kindness.
- Hidden Depths: His Character Development makes him more warm and easygoing.
- Love Interest: He is Emily's second important love interest in Paris, after Gabriel.
- Opposites Attract: With Emily in season 2. He dislikes Paris while Emily loves it. He doesn't take his job seriously, while she is a workaholic.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: He's a recurring character in season 2, and promoted to the main cast in season 3.
- Token Minority: One of the two black characters in the main cast, along with Julien.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Rude and cynical at first, but becomes nicer after he and Emily start dating.
Recurring Characters
Mathieu Cadault
Mathieu Cadault
Portrayed by: Charles Martins
The nephew of famous French fashion designer Pierre Cadault who handles the business end of the label. He eventually tries to romantically pursue Emily.- The Charmer: He's dated many notable models and other celebrities.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He's the pragmatic voice to his uncle's dramatic artistic whims.
- Parental Abandonment: Though not elaborated on, Mathieu at one point had to live with his uncle as a child.
Pierre Cadault
Pierre Cadault
Portrayed by: Jean-Christophe Bouvet
A famous French fashion designer working with Savoir to market his new collection.- Cloud Cuckoolander: He's very eccentric to say the least.
- Defrosting Ice King: Initially he's cold and dismissive of Emily because he sees her as basic, but after she calls him out on his hypocrisy, he immediately warms up to her and insists on working with her personally to promote his line.
- Fanboy: He's one of Gossip Girl, and is very opinionated about it.
- Fashionista: Naturally, as a fashion designer.
- Large Ham: He tends to be very dramatic.
Madeline Wheeler
Madeline Wheeler
Portrayed by: Kate Walsh
Emily's boss in Chicago. She was supposed to be the one to go to Paris but ended up accidentally pregnant, so she sent Emily in her stead.- Absurdly Elderly Mother: She got pregnant when everyone thought she was too old.
- But I Can't Be Pregnant!: Madeline thought she couldn't get pregnant anymore due to her age.
- Mean Boss: Bordering on Pointy-Haired Boss. When she arrives to Paris in season 2, she makes it clear to everyone that they can either make things her way, or take the highway, completely disregarding the fact she's no longer in the States nor dealing with Americans. This bites her back to comedic proportions: her clients resent her or end up offended and quit (but not before chewing her out) and then all her employees leave, too, taking said clients with them.
- Morning Sickness: When sampling a perfume, the first sign that she is pregnant.
Doug
Doug
Portrayed by: Roe Hartrampf
Emily's Chicago boyfriend.
- Disposable Fiancé: Doug barely makes it a couple of episodes before breaking up with Emily.
- False Soulmate: Emily says that they are likely to think about marriage soon, but Emily has no qualms about dumping him when he says her Paris lifestyle isn't realistic.
- Hate Sink: He represents everything about Emily's old life she wants to leave behind.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He has a good point about Emily's lack of knowledge on the French language and culture.
Brooklyn Clark
Brooklyn Clark
Portrayed by: Carlson Young
An American movie star set to model a watch for Savoir client Fourtier.- Fake Ultimate Hero: Her films brand her as a Girl Next Door, but her real life personality is anything but.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Even in professional settings.
- The Nicknamer: She calls Emily "Bucket Hat" to Emily's annoyance.
Thomas
Thomas
Portrayed by: Julien Floreancig
A Parisian professor of signs Emily dates.
- Bookworm: He won't date someone who isn't one or doesn't share his taste.
- Break the Haughty: Emily flips him off and dumps him on the spot when he calls her simple at the ballet.
- Comically Missing the Point: Included in the Insufferable Genius package, as evidenced by his reaction to Emily breaking up with him:
Emily: Thomas, since you're a professor of signs, I'm sure you won't have any trouble recognizing this one.
[flips the bird at him, starts walking away]
Thomas: That's more of a gesture.
[flips the bird at him, starts walking away]
Thomas: That's more of a gesture.
- Hipster: He's obsessed with being the most intellectual person in the room and is snide about mainstream cultural stays like Swan Lake.
- Insufferable Genius
- Jerkass: He's snobby and condescending towards Emily.
- Romantic False Lead: He seemingly exists to make Gabriel jealous and make him have his Green-Eyed Epiphany.
Benoît
Benoît
Portrayed by: Kevin Dias
A member of Mindy's band and her love interest in season 2 and 3.
- Doing It for the Art: In-Universe, he balks at Mindy's suggestion of using their band's song in a sunscreen commercial.
