Rachel Weisz

Rachel Hannah Weisz (pronounced /ˈvaɪs/, like the word "vice"; born 7 March 1970) is an English screen and theatre actress. She gained wide public recognition after her portrayal of Evelyn "Evy" Carnahan-O'Connell in the films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. In 2001, she starred opposite Hugh Grant in the hit About a Boy and continued to garner leading roles in Hollywood productions. Her performance in The Constant Gardener (2005) won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, along with other major motion picture awards.

Early life and background

Weisz was born in Westminster, London, England, and grew up in the Hampstead Garden Suburb.[ Her mother, Edith Ruth (née Teich), is a teacher turned psychotherapist who was born in Vienna, Austria. Her father, George Weisz, is a Hungarian-born inventor and engineer. Weisz's parents fled to England during World War II. Her father is Jewish and her mother has been described as either Catholic or Jewish (as well as "half-Italian"). Weisz was raised in a "cerebral Jewish household" and has referred to herself as Jewish. She has a sister, Minnie, who is an artist.

Weisz was educated privately at independent schools for girls: North London Collegiate School, Benenden School, and St Paul's Girls' School. She then entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she graduated with a 2:1 in English. During her university years, she appeared in various student productions, co-founding a student drama group called Cambridge Talking Tongues, which went on to win a Guardian Student Drama Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for an improvised piece called Slight Possession.

Career

Screen

Weisz signing an autograph during the press conference for The Brothers Bloom on 2008.

Having already worked for television productions, such as Inspector Morse (1993), Weisz started her cinema career in 1995 with Chain Reaction and then appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty. She followed this work with more English films including My Summer with Des, Swept from the Sea, The Land Girls, and Michael Winterbottom's I Want You. Although she received favourable critical recognition for her work to this point,[citation needed] her breakout into wide audience recognition came from a popular serio-comic horror movie The Mummy, in which she played the lead female role alongside Brendan Fraser. She followed this up with two hits, The Mummy Returns (2001), which grossed $433m, even higher than the original, and About a Boy (2002) with Hugh Grant. She then appeared in Enemy at the Gates (2001), Runaway Jury (2003) and Constantine (2005).

In 2005, Weisz starred in Fernando Meirelles's The Constant Gardener, a film adaptation of a John le Carré thriller of the same title set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya.

The same year, she starred in The Fountain and also provided the voice for Saphira in the fantasy film Eragon. Her subsequent films include the Wong Kar-wai-directed drama My Blueberry Nights (in which she played an "anti-Southern belle") and director Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, in which she plays a wealthy American woman targeted by two con man brothers (Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo). She plays the lead role of Hypatia of Alexandria in the historical drama film Agora, released in October 2009.

Her film "The Whistleblower" debuted at the Toronto Film Festival in 2010. The film made a woman in the crowd faint.

Stage

Her breakthrough role was that of Gilda in Welsh director Sean Mathias's 1995 West End revival of Noel Coward's 1933 play Design for Living at the Gielgud Theatre.[citation needed] Her other stage work includes the role of Catherine in the Donmar's production of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer and Evelyn in Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things at the Almeida Theatre (also film) at its, then, temporary location in London's Kings Cross. In 2009, she played Blanche DuBois in Rob Ashford's Donmar revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Other

On 7 July 2007, Weisz presented at the American leg of Live Earth. She is represented by Independent Models in London.

Personal life

Weisz began dating American filmmaker and producer Darren Aronofsky in 2001; they became engaged in 2005. Their son, Henry Chance, was born on 31 May 2006 in New York City. The couple resided in the East Village in Manhattan. On 9 November 2010, Weisz and Aronofsky announced that they had been "separated for some months", but "remain close friends and are committed to raising their son together in NYC".

Weisz has been linked to James Bond star Daniel Craig since working together on the movie Dream House.

Weisz serves as a muse to fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes

1995 Death Machine Junior Executive

1996 Chain Reaction Dr. Lily Sinclair

Stealing Beauty Miranda Fox

1997 Bent Prostitute

Going All the Way Marty Pilcher

1997 Swept from the Sea Amy Foster

I Want You Helen

1998 The Land Girls Ag (Agapanthus)

1999 The Mummy Evelyn "Evy" Carnahan Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actress

Nominated — Empire Award for Best British Actress

Sunshine Greta Nominated — Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

Tube Tales Angela

2000 Beautiful Creatures Petula

This Is Not an Exit: The Fictional World of Bret Easton Ellis Lauren Hynde

2001 Enemy at the Gates Tania Chernova Nominated — European Film Award for Best Actress

The Mummy Returns Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell/Princess Nefertiri

2002 About a Boy Rachel

2003 Confidence Lily

The Shape of Things Evelyn Ann Thompson

Runaway Jury Marlee

2004 Envy Debbie Dingman

2005 Constantine Angela Dodson/Isabel Dodson Nominated — Teen Choice: Movie Scream Scene

The Constant Gardener Tessa Quayle Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture

Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture

London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year

British Independent Film Award for Best Actress

San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress

St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress

Utah Film Critics Association Award for Supporting Actress

Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

Nominated — Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress

Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress

Nominated — Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress

2006 The Fountain Izzi/Isabella I of Castile

Eragon Saphira (voice)

2007 Fred Claus Wanda

My Blueberry Nights Sue Lynn

2008 Definitely, Maybe Summer Hartley (Natasha)

2009 The Brothers Bloom Penelope

The Lovely Bones Abigail Salmon

Agora Hypatia

2010 The Whistleblower Kathryn Bolkovac completed

2011 Dream House post-production

Unbound Captives May pre-production

2012 Untitled Terrence Malick Project in production

[edit]Awards and honours

Weisz gained honours for her work in The Constant Gardener, which included: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture, Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture. She was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Furthermore, the critical acclaim she received for her performance also garnered her the London Critics Circle Film Award for British Actress of the Year, the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress and the San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress. Additionally, she was nominated for the Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2006, Weisz was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[21] Weisz also received the BAFTA LA British Artist of the Year award in 2006.

In January 2010, at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards in London, she was named Best Actress 2009 for her performance as Blanche Dubois in the Donmar revival of A Streetcar Named Desire; she won the coveted 2010 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the same role.

(source:wikipedia)