She’s prim, proper and has appeared nude in nearly every film that she’s ever starred in. Did we mention that she’s also an amazing actress, so what’s not to like? In fact, Rachel Weisz has had an impressive movie career so far, but she really caught our attention in 2002 in her role opposite Hugh Grant in “About a Boy,” one of the best films of the year. Rachel’s incredible beauty and charm was on full display as Grant’s character, a confirmed bachelor, finally meets his match.
Born in London in 1971, Rachel began modeling when she was fourteen until eventually left home to study theater at Cambridge. So she’s beautiful, talented AND smart. Last year Rachel signed a two-year deal with Revlon cosmetics and rumor has it that she has a new American boyfriend and has moved to New York. She reportedly said, “it’s hard to talk to Americans, but there are plenty, especially in New York, who are different.” I guess “different” is one way of describing native New Yorkers. Showing off her acting chops in a variety of different genres over the past decade, Rachel has certainly made it known how talented she really is, but we’re still waiting for the English beauty to nail a performance worthy of a golden statue and we’re betting that she is too.
Rachel Weisz on the Screen
Rachel was acting in Britain through the 1990s before she burst onto the American scene in 1999 with her role as Evelyn in “The Mummy” opposite Brendan Frasier. With her new notoriety, she was reportedly approached by Playboy but turned them down (bummer). She went back to the theatre and small films until she starred as Tania Chernova in “Enemy at the Gates,” an excellent war epic set against the battle of Stalingrad. Rachel teamed up with Frasier again in “The Mummy Returns,” but she reportedly turned down $3 million to do “Mummy 3” in favor of a role in a smaller film. She wowed us in “About a Boy” in 2002, she was fantastic as part of the ensemble cast in “Confidence,” and she took home an Oscar for her work in “The Constant Gardener.” More recently, Rachel has done smaller films like “My Blueberry Nights,” “The Brothers Bloom” and “The Whistleblower,” although her appearance in “The Bourne Legacy” suggests she’s not done with the Hollywood blockbuster, especially when she’s married to James Bond himself, Daniel Craig.
“The Bourne Legacy” (2007)
Rachel stars opposite Jeremy Renner in this fourth installment of the Bourne franchise, this time without Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. Edward Norton also joins the cast as as Colonel Eric Byer. The movie isn’t bad, but it doesn’t get audiences too excited. So we didn’t see Rachel and Jeremy return for another film.
Rachel Says
On filming “The Mummy”:
“Camels — ugh, they’re horrible, really horrible. They smell, they really hate people, they’re foul, they have terrible breath and they scream really loudly when you make them go.”
On fame:
“It’s hard to stay grounded. It’s so fucked up with all these stick thin people!”