Walt Disney Pictures has announced that French actress Astrid Bergès-Frisbey has been personally picked by producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Rob Marshall to star in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides as Syrena, a beautiful and alluring young mermaid encountered by Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow.

A star of stage and screen in her native Paris, the 23-year-old actress born in Barcelona to French-American and Catalan parents has appeared in films such as Bruc and La Première Étoile as well as work on television and in a French production of Peter Shaffer's "Equus." To date, none of those films have made their way to the U.S. shores so that "On Stranger Tide" will more than likely be the actresses introduction not only to moviegoers in the United States, but much of the rest of the world as well.

Scheduled to start filming in Hawaii, Great Britain and Los Angeles in June for a May 20, 2011 release, the fourth installment is looking to build on the $2.7 billion made globally by the original trilogy.