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Early Life

Rachel Hannah Weisz was born on March 7th, 1970 in the London borough of Westminster, England. Her father, George Weisz, is a Hungarian-born engineer whose and her mother, Edith Ruth (née Teich), is an Austrian psychotherapist. Both her parents fled to England in the 1930’s to escape Nazi persecution. She has a younger sister, Minnie, who is an artist based in London. Weisz began her education at the North London Collegiate School, an independent day school for girls in Camden Town, North London. She later attended Benenden School, a boarding school in Kent, and St Paul’s Girls School a senior independent school, in Hammersmith, London. She then entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she graduated with a 2:1 in English. Weisz began acting during her university years and while at Cambridge she co-founded a student drama group called Cambridge Talking Tongues. The group won a Guardian Award at the 1991 Edinburgh Festival for a play called Slight Possession, which she wrote and acted in. After leaving university she worked on a number of television productions in the UK most notably The Scarlet and the Black, a BBC period drama with Ewan McGregor. Her first film appearance came in 1995 with a small role in the low-budget English science-fiction horror movie Death Machine.

Career Highlights

In 1996 she made her major role debut alongside Keanu Reeves and Morgan Freeman in Andrew Davis’ action thriller Chain Reaction. Weisz played the role of Dr. Lily Sinclair a physicist working with Reeves at the University of Chicago to create energy from bubble fusion. The movie follows the pair after they are forced to go on the run when they are framed for murder. Despite mostly negative reviews from the critics Chain Reaction was a minor box office success taking over $60 million worldwide. This was followed by a supporting role in Academy Award-winning Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci‘s Stealing Beauty. The film stars Liv Tyler as the female lead, Lucy, with Joseph Fiennes and Jeremy Irons also in supporting roles. Lucy is an American teenager who travels to a lush Italian villa to stay with family friends following the suicide of her mother. There she meets and befriends Weisz’ character Miranda and a group of dope smoking, free spirited young men and woman. The movie will mainly be remembered as Tyler’s first lead role, which earned her widespread critical praise.

Her first role of 1997 was in Mark Pellington’s film adaptation of the 1970 novel coming of age novel, Going All The Way, by Dan Wakefield. The comedy drama follows the return home, after the Korean War, of Jeremy Davies and Ben Affleck and their struggle to adapt to a normal life in the Midwest. Weisz and Jill Clayburgh were both praised for their supporting performances as the pairs love interests upon their return. This was followed by the lead female role in the British film Swept from the Sea. The movie is based on Amy Foster, a 1903 short story by Joseph Conrad. Here Weisz plays Foster a simple farm girl who takes in and cares for a Russian man who is the only survivor of a shipwreck of the coast of the English county of Cornwall. Again she received critical praise but the film failed to make any impact at the box office. Later that year Weisz had a small role as a prostitute in the Sean Mathias directed Bent.

1998 saw Weisz appear in two lower budget English films. The first of these was the wartime romantic drama The Land Girls, based on the 1993 Angela Huth novel of the same name. The movie tells the story of three young English women who volunteer to join a newly formed regiment called the Women’s Land Army during World War Two. Weisz plays the role of Ag, a reserved Cambridge University graduate, who befriends Stella and Prue, played by Catherine McCormack and Anna Friel respectively, while working on a remote Dorset farm. Her second film of the year was the Michael Winterbottom directed I Want You. The crime drama see’s Weisz play Helen, a young woman running a hairdressing salon, who embarks on a passionate affair with her ex lover, who is just released from prison. Her only other appearance of the year came in the British TV comedy movie My Summer with Des. Here she plays Rosie an enigmatic football-fanatic and love interest of Neil Morrissey.

On the back of a string of positive critical reviews, her first release of 1998 would prove to be her first movie to gain wider audience recognition in Hollywood. The Mummy, written and directed by Stephen Sommers, saw Weisz star alongside Brendan Fraser and John Hannah as Evelyn Carnaha, a clumsy Egyptologist who embarks on an expedition to an ancient Egyptian city. The movie is a loose remake of the 1932 horror film of the same name, which starred Boris Karloff, and was originally intended to be part of a low-budget horror series which eventually turned into a surprise blockbuster that went on to gross over $400 million worldwide. For her role Weisz was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actress and Best British Actress at the annual Empire Movie Awards in Britain. Her second appearance of the year came in Tube Tales, a collection of nine short films based on the true-life experiences of London Underground passengers. Weisz appeared in the story Rosebud as a mother who discovers a surreal wonderland while searching for her young daughter. Her final role of the year was part of the supporting cast in the well received historical drama Sunshine. The film follows three generations of a Hungarian Jewish family from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Sunshine was named Best Film at the Canadian Genie Awards where Weisz was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress award.

Her first role of 2000 came in the British thriller, Beautiful Creatures. Here Weisz starred with Susan Lynch as two Glasgow women brought together after both being abused by their violent boyfriends. After accidentally killing one of the men, the pair attempt to pass the killing off as a kidnap and escape from their Glasgow lives. Her only other appearance of the year came in This Is Not an Exit: The Fictional World of Bret Easton Ellis, a documentary film about American novelist Brett Easton Ellis. Here she portrayed Lauren Hynde a character who appears in several of Ellis’ novels.

2001 began with a role in French director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s wartime drama, Enemy at the Gates. The film’s title is taken from William Craig’s 1973 nonfiction book Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad and is loosely based on David L. Robbins novel War of the Rats. The story focuses on a real life duel that took place between a Soviet sniper, played here by Jude Law, and his German rival, played by Ed Harris, as they hunted each other during the infamous WW2 battle. Although the movie was criticized by many historians for overly exaggerating the facts of the battle, it was a moderate box office success grossing just under $100 million. For her role as Tania, a Russian civilian who joins the local militia, Weisz was nominated for the Best Actress Award by The European Film Academy. Next she reprised her role as Egyptologist Evelyn Carnaha in The Mummy Returns. The film is a sequel to the 1999 blockbuster The Mummy and is set ten years after the events of the first film. Despite a mixed critical reception The Mummy Returns proved to be even more successful at the box office than the first instalment. On its opening day the film earned over $24 million and grossed $433 million worldwide, making it her most successful movie to date.

Despite these mainstream successes Weisz took a break from the big screen to return to her first love, the theatre. From the summer of 2001 throughout early 2002 she starred with Paul Rudd in the well received play The Shape of Things, by Neil LaBute at the Almeida Theatre, London. Her only movie appearance of the year came in the Weitz brothers’ comedy drama About A Boy. Based on Nick Hornby’s best-selling novel, About A Boy is the story of a immature thirty eight year old bachelor, played by English actor Hugh Grant, who is taught how to act like a grown-up by the twelve year old son of a friend Weisz plays a supporting role as Rachel, a woman Grant attempts to seduce by pretending the boy is actually his own. The movie was one of the most successful British films of the year and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

2003 saw the release of a film version of The Shape of Things. Following the hugely successful theatre run the previous year the movie adaptation premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Weisz reprised her role of art student Amy alongside the original cast from the play including Paul Rudd, Gretchen Mol and Fred Weller. Weisz then starred in James Foley’s crime thriller Confidence. As part of an impressive cast including Edward Burns, Dustin Hoffman, Andy Garcia and Paul Giamatti, she played a pickpocket femme fatale called Lily. Lily is hired as part of professional grifter Burns’ crew as part of a complex scheme to con an eccentric L.A. crime boss, played by Hoffman. Despite the impressive cast, Confidence was a box office disappointment. Her final release of 2003 saw her again team up with Hoffman for the Gary Fleder directed Runaway Jury. Also starring John Cusack and Gene Hackman, the legal thriller is loosely based on the John Grisham novel of the same name. Here Weisz plays Marlee, a mysterious woman who attempts to sell the jury on a high profile court case between a widow and a weapon’s manufacturer to the highest bidder.

Her only appearance of 2004 came in the Ben Stiller and Jack Black comedy Envy. Directed by Barry Levinson, the “Frat Pack” members play neighbours and co-workers who’s friendship is tested to the limit as Stiller becomes uncontrollable jealous when Black becomes rich following his invention of a spray that vaporizes dog excrement. Weisz had a supporting role as Stiller’s wife Debbie. Despite the high profile of the two leads the movie was a box office disaster recouping less than half of its $40 million budget. However Envy has become something of a cult classic since its release to DVD and later success’s of Stiller and Black.

2005 started with a reunion with her first Hollywood co-star Keanu Reeves in Francis Lawrence’s Constantine, a fantasy horror based on Vertigo Comics’ Hellblazer series. Weisz plays the role of Angela a sceptical cop investigating the suicide of her twin sister Isabel (also played by Weisz) who teams up with supernatural detective John Constantine (Reeves) to battle angels and demons on the streets of Los Angeles. Constantine earned over $230 million worldwide and earned her a Teen Choice Award nomination in the Movie Scream Scene category. Next Weisz starred in Fernando Meirelles’s The Constant Gardener, a film adaptation of the John le Carré thriller of the same name. The movie would prove to be the biggest critical success of her career to date. Filmed on location in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya the film sees Weisz play Tessaa, an outspoken humanitarian who marries a British diplomat, played by Ralph Fiennes. For her performance Weisz won numerous awards most notably the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Supporting Role.

Her only appearance of 2006 was in The Fountain a science fiction/fantasy film written and directed by her future husband Darren Aronofsky. The plot of the movie follows three interwoven narratives that take place over a thousand year period during the age of conquistadors, the modern-day period, and the far future. Throughout all three time periods Weisz and Hugh Jackman play romantically linked characters. The first instalment sees Weisz as Queen Isabella of Spain who sends conquistador Jackman to the new world to seek the Tree of Life. In the present day Jackman is a scientist researching a cure for his brain tumour-stricken wife Izzi (Weisz). Jackman then plays astronaut in the final part of the story which is set in the 26th Century where the film is concluded. The Fountain was nominated for the Best Science Fiction Film at The 33rd Saturn Awards but lost out to the British dystopian film Children of Men. Later that year Weisz voiced Saphira the dragon in the part live-action part CGI fantasy film Eragon.

November 2007 saw the release of her two movies made that year. The first of theses was My Blueberry Nights, a drama film directed by award-winning Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai. The movie follows Norah Jones on a road trip across America where she meets a series of lost souls including a troubled cop (David Strathairn), his estranged wife (Weisz), and a cleaned out poker player (Natalie Portman). This was followed by her first holiday movie, Fred Claus. Here Weisz has a minor role as the love interest of the title character, played by Vince Vaughn, the sarcastic wild-at-heart older brother of Santa Claus played by Paul Giamatti. Overall the movie did not fare well with the critics, but did good business in the run up to Christmas at box office earning just under $100 million worldwide.

Her only role of 2008 came in the Adam Brooks romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe. The movie stars Ryan Reynolds as a 30-something Manhattan dad in the midst of a divorce trying to explain to his young daughter the history of his previous relationships. Weisz plays Summer, a free spirited journalist and one of three beautiful women Reynolds describes to his daughter, along with April (Isla Fisher), and Emily (Elizabeth Banks). The movie was generally very well received by the critics and earned just under $55 million worldwide.

Rachel Weisz Filmography

1996 - Chain Reaction - Dr. Lily Sinclair

1996 - Stealing Beauty - Miranda Fox

1997 - Bent - Prostitute

1997 - Going All the Way - Marty Pilcher

1997 - Swept from the Sea - Amy Foster

1997 - I Want You - Helen

1998 - The Land Girls - Ag (Agapanthus)

1999 - The Mummy - Evelyn Carnahan

1999 - Sunshine - Greta

1999 - Tube Tales - Angela

2000 - Beautiful Creatures - Petula

2000 - This Is Not an Exit: The Fictional World of Bret Easton Ellis - Lauren Hynde

2001 - Enemy at the Gates - Tania Chernova

2001 - The Mummy Returns - Evelyn Carnahan O’Connell/Princess Nefertiri

2002 - About a Boy - Rachel

2003 - Confidence - Lily

2003 - The Shape of Things - Evelyn Ann Thompson

2003 - Runaway Jury - Marlee

2004 - Envy - Debbie Dingman

2005 - Constantine - Angela Dodson/Isabel Dodson

2005 - The Constant Gardener - Tessa Quayle

2006 - The Fountain - Izzi/Isabella I of Castile

2006 - Eragon - Saphira (voice)

2007 - Fred Claus - Wanda

2007 - My Blueberry Nights - Sue Lynn

2008 - Definitely, Maybe - Summer Hartley (Natasha)

Rachel Weisz Trivia

• Shortly after her appearance in The Mummy Playboy offered her the chance to appear as the US centrefold as an “Egyptologist Playmate”. She turned them down.
• Weisz is wheat intolerant.
• Her name is pronounced Vice. She has stated she considered adopting a stage name because she thought Vice would make her sound like a porn star.
• While attending Cambridge University she dated English comedian Ben Miller.
• In 2003 Weisz signed a two-picture deal with Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks company worth a reported $11 million.
• In 2006 she was chosen as the face of Burberry’s ad campaign for their new fragrance “London”.
• Weisz quit a 15 year old smoking habit in 2003.
• She was in the same class as fellow actress Emily Mortimer at St Paul’s Girls School in London.
• In 2008 Weisz turned down $3 million to reprise her role as Evelyn Carnahan in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. She was replaced by Maria Bello.
• She has named Gena Rowlands, Katharine Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine and Ingrid Bergman among her idols.
• After working with them in The Mummy, she dislikes camels.
• She has a home on the same London street as fellow British actor and good friend Jude Law.

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