NEW YORK — Charlotte Le Bon has been appointed Guerlain’s bee ambassador.

The Canadian artist, director and actress steps into the role dedicated to the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned house’s commitment to the conservation of bees, an endangered species, which began in 2010.

Le Bon has acted in films directed by Laurent Tirard, Jalil Lespert, Lars Hallström, Robert Zemeckis and Sean Ellis. She directed her first feature film, “Falcon Lake,” in 2022, which was chosen for the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival that year and won the Louis-Delluc Prize for Best Film.

Last year, Le Bon played the artist Niki de Saint Phalle in the biopic directed by Céline Sallette. And this year, Le Bon appeared as Chloe in season three of the TV series “The White Lotus.”

Both Guerlain and Le Bon are passionate for nature and art.

“It’s the coolest opportunity to start a relationship with a brand,” said Le Bon, who was raised in the Laurentides region of Quebec, Canada, which has untouched lakes and forests. The living world is in focus in her work in film, painting, drawing and photography. 

For instance, she lent her voice to the documentary “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch,” directed by Edward Burtynsky, Nicholas de Pencier and Jennifer Baichwal, in 2018.

“Even though Guerlain is such an established house that specializes in perfume and cosmetics, they approached me to be ambassador for the bees, which is just absolutely fascinating and so exciting,” she said.

This marks the first time Le Bon is an ambassador for anything. “And it’s not even for a cream or makeup,” she said. “It’s actually for the bees, and I think it’s just the classiest thing ever.”

Le Bon has always been an insect-lover. “I have a lot of spiders in my house,” she said. “I never kill them. I love them. When they’re there, I feel protected. I talk to them.

“Bees are also really, really cute,” continued Le Bon, who finds them entertaining, as well. “Nature has been part of my life since I’m a teenager.”

At first, when she moved from a city to Laurentides at age 11, nature scared her. “Slowly it became this refuge that I needed,” said Le Bon, who bought a house on a lake there six years ago. “Now, it’s completely essential in my live to have a balance. It’s a great place to create, write and paint. It truly is a paradise.”

Le Bon is currently focusing on writing her second feature as a director. “It’s going to be autobiographic,” she teased.

Gabrielle Saint-Genis, chief executive officer of Guerlain, said the appointment of Le Bon was a natural. “Guerlain is 200 years old, it’s the story of exceptional encounters [with] a lot of artists,” she said. “We’ve been really very interested in the fact that Charlotte is a complete and multidisciplinary artist, and this is not so common.

“The first time I was really amazed by her was in the Jalil Lespert movie about Yves Saint Laurent,” said Saint-Genis, adding Le Bon is naturally sensitive to nature as a source of inspiration. 

Her ethos chimes with Guerlain’s commitment to protect nature since its start. Bee iconography has been inherent to the brand since it appeared on the house’s first iconic bottle from 1853. Honey is the key ingredient in the brand’s Abeille Royale, the largest skin care franchise at LVMH.

“The brand accelerated its commitment toward the plant 15 years ago,” Saint-Genis said.

The house has been focused on bees, of which there are more than 20,000 species worldwide and are pollinators, making them vital to plant reproduction and food security.

Guerlain backs bees with three programs: the Guerlain for Bees Conservation Program; Women for Bees, in partnership with UNESCO and links biodiversity protection with women’s empowerment, and the Bee School that educates upcoming generations.

The latter was launched in 2018 and this year, via Guerlain’s collaboration with the Espace pour la Vie (or Space for Life) foundation, the Montreal Insectarium is developing new educational content including wild bees and other pollinators.

Le Bon will be active in the new partnership with Space for Life as well as in other bee-related initiatives for Guerlain. Those will include immersive experiences, artistic events and messaging.

Angelina Jolie was Guerlain’s first bee ambassador.