Who Is the Fashionable Dog on the Cannes Red Carpet? Meet Felicity the Samoyed

The Samoyed belongs to French animal activist Julia De Cadenet, who founded NoToDogMeat and rescued the pup from a slaughterhouse

Although the Cannes Film Festival has had plenty of actors, activists and more step out for red carpet appearances, one special guest has grabbed the festival’s attention — a dog named Felicity.

Since the 2025 festival began, French animal activist Julia De Cadenet and her Samoyed Felicity have hit the red carpet in style, with the furry white pup rocking her frilly blue dress as photographers snap pictures of her and her owner.

But who is De Cadenet, and how did Felicity end up on a film festival red carpet?

Felicity has become somewhat of a well-known figure on the Cannes red carpet, as she and De Cadenet have made appearances for movie premieres including Spike Lee and Denzel Washington’s new film Highest 2 Lowest, Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning and more.

Speaking with Express.co.uk in August 2024, De Cadenet shared that Felicity’s origins were much more humble. She shared that the Samoyed was rescued from China in 2018, in a slaughterhouse that she alleged was killing cats and dogs to be sold for meat.

Working alongside other activists from the U.K.-based charity she founded in 2009 — called World Protection for Dogs and Cats in the Meat Trade, or NoToDogMeat — De Cadenet told the British outlet that Felicity’s tail had been cut off in the slaughterhouse, but she and other rescuers were able to take 17 pets from the facility and safely transport them to a shelter in northern China.

“I brought her to France. Initially, she did have a home, but sadly when the person found out that she was missing her tail, she didn’t want her anymore,” De Cadenet said, sharing that she believed the Samoyed would only be living with her temporarily.

“She ended up with me and I used to say to her, because she’s very bossy, ‘You are not going to stay here, I’m going to find you a home,'” the activist added.

Now, more than six years later, Felicity is living the luxurious festival life, making appearances at the star-studded event in part due to De Cadenet’s background as a movie producer.

The pup is also serving an important role as a “campaign dog,” as De Cadenet has called her, as she helps to raise awareness about the pet meat trade and NoToDogMeat — as well as to help familiarize potential adopters with pets who have survived hardships like Felicity.

“This is what I have often found with adoptions of rescues, there are two types of people: There are the kind of people who say, ‘I’ll have any dog, I just want to give them a home and love,’ and they do,” she told Express.

“Then there are other people who really want a breed dog and they want a perfect dog,” she added. “Our dogs are not perfect, they are often missing limbs, eyes, tails, you know, they may not be perfect, and so they get rejected.”

According to De Cadenet, Felicity’s Cannes appearances also simply serve as “a bit of light-heartedness and great publicity for what we are doing, whereas normally we are walking among hell and suffering.”

“She loves to meet people, she’s meeting and greeting everyone,” she added of her pup.