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Famke Janssen Profile |
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Birth Date: November 5, 1965
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Birth Place: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
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Birth Name: Famke Beumer
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Height: 5'11"
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Biography |
Famke Janssen was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on November
5, 1965, Famke (which means "little girl" in Frisian) was a
model before making it to the big leagues as a Hollywood
actress.
She lived in Amsterdam with her parents and her two sisters
until 1984, when she decided to move to New York City.
Although she signed on with the Elite modeling agency, she
continued her studies at Columbia University, where she
majored in writing and literature.
While a student, she decided to try her hand at acting, and
took acting classes with Harold Guskin.
Wanting to pursue a full-time acting career, Famke picked up
and moved to Los Angeles. There she continued to take acting
lessons and finally landed her first onscreen film role in
the 1992 movie, Fathers & Sons.
More roles didn't start pouring in immediately, probably due
to the film's poor performance, but Famke was offered a part
on an episode of the television series Star Trek: The Next
Generation. Almost foreshadowing her role as a superhero in
X-Men, the Dutch beauty played the role of Kamala, the
threatening "metamorph."
With an appearance on Melrose Place in 1994 as a hooker and
a role in the made-for-TV movie Model by Day that same year,
Famke had yet to see the success that was soon to come her
way.
After a female leading role in the film Lord of Illusions
(1995), Famke received the coveted role of Bond Girl Xenia
Onatopp, a Soviet mafia assassin who crushes her victims to
death with her thighs.
Her role in the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye opposite Pierce
Brosnan was a box-office success, and can be considered the
breakthrough role that made audiences and the film industry
more aware of Famke's talents. It also won her an MTV Movie
Award nomination for Best Fight in a movie.
Because of the film's success, and the fame that soon-to-be
Bond Girls Michelle Yeoh and Denise Richards were yet to
see, Famke was afraid that she would be pigeonholed into the
role of femme fatale.
It was for this reason that Famke decided to work on more
independent films, rather than mainstream movies. In the
years that followed, Famke had roles in many films,
including Dead Girl (1996), City of Industry (1997), RPM
(1998), and Snitch (1998). In 1998, she also appeared in
Woody Allen's Celebrity, Rounders (opposite Matt Damon and
Edward Norton), and the teen thriller The Faculty.
In 1995, Famke married director Tod "Kip" Williams, who
directed her in the film The Adventures of Sebastian Cole,
but they got divorced in 2000.
Putting her writing degree to good use, Famke wrote a
screenplay, but has not done anything with it yet. Fluent in
German, French, English, and Dutch, Famke claims to be a
huge fan of such authors as The Bronte Sisters and Vladimir
Nabokov. As an actress, Famke prefers playing roles of
characters from novels, since they have more depth.
Although X-Men (2000) was adapted from a comic book series
rather than a novel, this box-office hit increased Famke's
star quality exponentially. The film not only reunited her
with her Star Trek co-star Patrick Stewart and allowed her
to join the ranks of fellow superheroes Rebecca Romijn and
Halle Berry, but it also made everyone aware of Famke's
superpowers as an actress.
After the X-Men hype died down, Famke's next films were Love
& Sex (2000), co-starring Jon Favreau, and Circus. Next, she
starred in Favreau's Made and the Michael Douglas thriller
Don't Say a Word, both released in 2001.
Following the action comedy I Spy (2002) with Eddie Murphy,
she saved the world once more in X2: X-Men United (2003),
starred in the thriller Hide and Seek (2005) and joined the
comic world again in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).
On the TV front, Famke kept busy with a guest-starring role
on Aly McBeal in 2000 and 2001, and, although she's far from
looking like a man, she played a post-op transvestite in the
plastic surgery TV drama Nip/Tuck. |
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Other
Information |
Her two sisters are blonde and blue-eyed, while she is the
only brunette.
Was cast as Serleena in Men in Black II (2002), but had to
drop out due to a death in the family. Lara Flynn Boyle was
cast in her place.
Speaks Dutch, German, English and French.
Offered the lead female role in _Terminator 3: Rise of the
Machines (2003)_ , but turned it down.
Sisters Antoinette Beumer and Marjolein Beumer are a
director and actress respectively.
Wears size 11 shoes. Because of their large size, her shoes
had to be specially made for her for the film GoldenEye
(1995).
Measurements: 36-24-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
Provides the Dutch-language narration for the Studio Tram
Tour at Disney parks.
While appearing on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993) to
promote her role of the sex-crazed assassin in the James
Bond film GoldenEye (1995), Famke gave Conan a first hand
experience of her character's signature moves by performing
them on him using the top of his desk. When she asked him if
he would like the demonstration, Conan responded with "This
is what we in the industry call a 'no-brainer'."
Has a puppy named Licorice.
Ranked #69 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women In The
World." [2002]
Her sister was visiting South-East Asia during the Tsunami
on December 26th, 2004 and had to flee the water to save her
life. |
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