"" ~ Rachel Weisz
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Real Name: Rachel Weisz
D.O.B: March 7, 1971
Place of Birth: London, England
Height: 5' 7"
Family: older sister
Boyfriend:
She admires:Katherine Hepburn, Bette Midler, Elizabeth Taylor
Fan Mail:
c/o Film Four International
124 Horseferry Road
London SW1P 2TX UK
or
c/o ICM, Oxford Street, Oxford House
London W1N 0AX UK
Tid Bits
� Last name is pronounced "Vice"
� Her mother, Edith, is a Viennese-born psychotherapist (wanted to act herself, encouraged Rachel to try theatre). Her father, George, is a Hungarian-born inventor.
� She a die hard Elvis Presley fan!
Biography
Rachel Weisz (pronounced "Vice"), a British actress whose name and dark looks effortlessly conjure up associations with Eastern European exoticism, was born in London, England, March 7, 1971, to Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe; her Viennese mother is a psychoanalyst while her Hungarian father is an inventor credited with inventing life-saving respiratory medical equipment.
Rachel was a model when she was 14 and began acting during her studies at Cambridge. While there, she formed a theatre company called Talking Tongues, which won the Guardian Award, at the Edinburgh Festival, for its take on Neville Shouthall's Washbag. Rachel went on to star on stage in the lauded Sean Mathias revival of Coward's Design For Living. It was a role that won Rachel a vote for Most Promising Newcomer by the London Critic Circle.
Weisz's performance in the play won her the Critics' Circle Best Newcomer award She then moved to television, where she starred in the 1993 made-for-TV movie Dirty Something a starring role in the BBC's TV adaptation of Scarlet and Black (1993); appeared in the series Inspector Morse in 1993; and appeared in the made-for-TV movies White Goods and Seventeen in 1994. With nothing more than television roles to her name, Rachel was cast as a junior executive in the science-fiction film Death Machine in 1995.
Rachel Weisz first earned the attention of an international audience with her role as the spoiled daughter of a sculptor in Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty (1996). Although most attention was paid to Liv Tyler in her role as the film's protagonist, Weisz managed to garner notice of her own, and this recognition was furthered by her top billing opposite Keanu Reeves in Chain Reaction that same year. Unfortunately, the big-budget thriller was an unmitigated turkey; Weisz followed it with leads in smaller films such as The Land Girls (1997), a WWII drama that cast her as a young socialite sent to work on a farm; and Going All the Way (1997), a post-war coming-of-age drama starring Ben Affleck and Jeremy Davies that saw Weisz play Wasp Affleck's Jewish girlfriend.
After returning to Britain to star as a hairdresser in the noirish drama I Want You (1998), Weisz reappeared on the Hollywood radar as Brendan Fraser's damsel in distress in the 1999 summer blockbuster The Mummy. That same year, she played yet another love interest in Sunshine, Istv�n Szab�'s epic drama about three generations of a family of Hungarian Jews. After starring in Beautiful Creatures in 2000, Rachel rang in the New Year in the period drama Enemy at the Gates (2001).
Although the latter didn't blow up at the box office, the sequel to The Mummy opened with record highs, breaking box-office records. Rachel returned with Brendan Fraser as Evelyn Carnahan/Princess Nefretiri, making audiences scramble to see beautiful Rachel as well as The Rock and Patricia Velasquez.
Despite Rachel's success in film, she still takes to the stage; she starred in an adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer, for which she earned the 1999 Barclays Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as the London production of The Shape of Things, in which she stars as an American sculptress.
Rachel has also graced the cover of several magazines such as Tatler and Bikini, and despite her flair for posing, she declined Hugh Hefner's offer to appear in his renowned magazine. So the whole male population didn't get to see dear Rachel, but some lucky males have been allegedly romantically linked to her, including her My Summer With Des co-star Neil Morrissey, her I Want You co-star, Alessandro Nivola, and her Chain Reaction co-star Keanu Reeves.
Weisz, 30, was just in a relationship with director Sam Mendes (American Beauty), but will not talk about her personal life. "I'm very private and always have been," she explains. "That applies to my life in general. I'm an actress, and don't particularly want to be a celebrity. I'm not going to go into my theories on celebrity, but, basically, if you don't go to the Hollywood parties in the Hollywood frocks, then people will leave you alone. Although, obviously, there are occasions when it's necessary to go down that road."
As for her working with Academy Award-winning American Beauty director Sam Mendes, her beau until recently, she said coyly: "We've been talking about it vaguely but we haven't any immediate plans. He's doing a film right now."
The Elvis-loving, Los Angeles-hating actress is slated to appear in Marlowe. Rachel was last seen in About A Boy, with Hugh Grant. In addition to The Shape of Things and Confidence, the actress will turn up onscreen in the low-budget Marlowe, a biopic on the life of the English playwright Christopher Marlowe, costarring Jude Law as William Shakespeare.
The actress also lets slip that there has been some talk about another installment of The Mummy franchise, which she would likely opt to do, and that she is interested in a romantic comedy script but in search of a funny American man with whom to match wits.
And as if her proverbial plate weren't already full, Weisz has yet another gig in the works. The actress, who says she substituted cigarette smoking for yoga this year, claims to be extremely low-maintenance when it comes to self-primping, but her natural glamour has not escaped the notice of Revlon: The company has hired her to be their new "face" in television and print ads. "It's pretty exciting," she admits. "Halle Berry and Julianne Moore have done it, so I'm in good company."
Filmography
� Marlowe (announced).....(2003)
� The Runaway Jury (post-production)..... Marlee/Claire Clement/Gabrielle Brant (2003)
� Envy (completed).....Tim's Wife (2003)
� Confidence.....Lily (2003)
� About a Boy.....Rachel (2002)
� The Shape of Things.....Evelyn (2003)
� The Mummy Returns.....Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell/Princess Nefertiri (2001)
� Enemy at the Gates.....Tania Chernova (2001)
� Beautiful Creatures .....Petula (2000)
� Tube Tales (TV) .....(segment Rosebud) (1999)
� Sunshine .....Greta (1999)
� The Mummy .....Evelyn 'Evie' Carnahan (1999)
� My Summer with Des (TV) .....Rosie (1998)
� I Want You.....Helen (1998/I)
� The Land Girls .....Ag (Agapanthus) (1998)
� Swept from the Sea.....Amy Foster (1997)
� Bent .....Prostitute (1997)
� Going All the Way.....Marty Pilcher (1997)
� Chain Reaction.....Dr. Lily Sinclair (1996)
� Stealing Beauty.....Miranda (1996)
� Death Machine.....Junior Executive (1995)
� Seventeen (TV) .....(1994)
� White Goods (TV).....Elaine (1994)
� Dirtysomething (TV).....Becca (1993)
� "Scarlet & Black" (mini TV).....Mathilde de la Mole (1993)
