Tonie Marshall, a French-American filmmaker and actress and the only female director to win a César award, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, died on Thursday in Paris. She was 68.

France’s Equalities Ministry, which oversees matters of gender equality, confirmed the death but gave no further details, The Associated Press reported.

Ms. Marshall was not well known outside of France, but at home she was a prominent woman in the male-dominated French film industry. Though she resisted being labeled a feminist, she confronted sexism head-on in her later movies. She became a vocal supporter of the French #MeToo movement and helped open up the industry to more women.

After 30 years as an actress and 10 as a director, Ms. Marshall created a sensation in 1999 with her movie “Venus Beauty Institute,” about three women who work in a beauty salon and their search for love and happiness. It swept the top three César awards — for best film, best director and best original screenplay (by Ms. Marshall) — and one of its protagonists, Audrey Tautou, won the César for most promising new actress.