Karen Lancaume (born Karine Bach 19 January 1973 – 28 January 2005) was a French pornographic film actress. She appeared in over 40 pornographic films between 1996 and 2002, all but one being on video.^[1] She starred as Nadine in the 2000 film, Baise-moi, a mainstream film in which she performed unsimulated penetration and fellatio.

She was a nominee for the Best French Actress Hot d'Or in March 2000.^[3][4]

Karine Bach was born in the suburbs of Lyon, France, into a wealthy family. Her father was French and her mother was of Moroccan origin. She spent her childhood in the Lyon countryside and completed her studies in communications.

She stated that she had her first sexual experience at the age of 17, just before embarking on her university course, and that she worked weekends at a nightclub to pay for her studies. At the nightclub, she met Franck Ceronne, a disc jockey, whom she married. The couple divorced in 1997.

In 1996, to escape their crippling debts, at Franck's suggestion, the couple began working as a couple in pornographic films.^[5] In the film *L'Indécente aux enfer ^[14] * (1997) she for the first time performed unsimulated sex scenes with other partners. The couple divorced shortly after. Following their divorce, Franck quit the pornographic film industry but Karen continued to appear in pornographic films both in Europe and the United States. Lancaume's debut in the United States was in Private Gold 25 - When the Night Falls.

She later worked with European porn film directors, including Mario Salieri, Alain Payet and Luca Damiano, whose films highlighted oral and anal sex, double penetrations, lesbianism and orgies.

Her appearances alternated between the two continents, working with producers Elegant Angel, Wicked Pictures and Sin City, and directors Marc Dorcel, Mario Salieri, Andrew Blake, Alain Payet, Alessandro Del Mar, and Luca Damiano.

She appeared in Exhibitions 1999 (John B. Root, 1998), a pornographic film shot as a documentary on the porn scene, which combined interviews with the protagonists. Lancaume came to feel distaste for her work, saying in an interview: "I was covered in spunk, wet, freezing to death and no one even offered me a towel. When the scene ends, you are worthless."

In 1999, she exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival, and met Virginie Despentes, who was seeking actresses to perform explicit unsimulated sex in her first film Baise-moi (Fuck Me, Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi, 2000). In addition to Lancaume, Raffaëla Anderson, another French porn actress, was also chosen. The film is based on the novel by Virginie, which narrates the encounter between Nadine (Karen) and Manu (Raffaëla) and her subsequent flight, transformed into an vengeance against society and the male gender.

Despentes described her début as a feminist argument in the style of Thelma and Louise but with real sex scenes, rape and murder. Following the film, Anderson decided to pursue a career in mainstream film, while Lancaume started easing her workload compared to previous years. She eventually abandoned the pornographic industry in 2002, after six years in the business.

Lancaume committed suicide on 28 January 2005, by taking an overdose of temazepam and alcohol, in her ex-boyfriend's apartment in Paris, France. She was 32.^[5]