Nolwenn Leroy grew up in Finistère, Brittany, and won the second edition of Star Academy in 2002. Her first album, Nolwenn, produced by Pascal Obispo, was a great success.
In 2004, she was awarded the title of Révélation Féminine Francophone at the NRJ Music Awards. As a songwriter, she co-wrote her second album Histoires Naturelles with Laurent Voulzy, which went platinum. She then collaborated with the Faroese artist Teitur to write the album Le Cheshire Cat et moi, a more confidential project which was certified Gold Record. Nostalgic for her Breton childhood, she then decided to pay tribute to the Celtic lands with the album Bretonne, which sold over one and a half million copies in France and around the world, and quickly became a double Diamond Record. The same year, she was nominated at the Victoires de la Musique awards in the Best Female Artist category. She then released Ô filles de l’eau, also certified platinum. This was followed by Gemme, an album of love and motherhood, with a precious stone heart as its symbol. Then came Folk, an album of cover versions paying tribute to this musical genre she loves so much. Nolwenn toured extensively and also voiced two animated films, Les 5 Légendes, with Gaspard Ulliel, and Tom Moore’s Oscar-nominated Le Chant de la Mer, for which she wrote and sang the theme songs. Her latest album, La Cavale, was written and composed by Benjamin Biolay.
She then appeared in an episode of the successful series Capitaine Marleau by Josée Dayan, on France 2. In 2024, she will star in the mini-series Brocéliande on TF1.