famke janssen

Biography

Janssen moved to the United States in 1984 and began her professional career as a fashion model. She was signed with Elite Model Management, and worked for Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and Victoria's Secret. After studying writing and literature at Columbia University she moved to Los Angeles where she appeared in guest roles on TV series (such as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Melrose Place).

Her first film role was with Jeff Goldblum in Fathers & Sons (1992), later she appeared in the first Pierce Brosnan James Bond film, GoldenEye, making an impression on the cinema world as femme fatale Xenia Onatopp. After her brilliant performance, she became one of the most sought after actresses by many directors. In 1998 alone, she starred in eight films. She was also cast in Men in Black II as villainess Serleena in 2002, but had to drop out due to a death in the family. She was also offered the role of the T-X in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, but turned it down and was replaced by Kristanna Loken.

Janssen played the highly coveted role of superheroine Dr. Jean Grey/Phoenix in X-Men, X2, and X-Men: The Last Stand. In the films, she plays Dr. Jean Grey, a teacher and medical expert at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, where she also doubles as a core member of the X-Men. Her mutant powers are telekinesis and telepathy. In the first film, she appears before a Senate hearing as an advocate for mutant rights, and later helps to save the leaders of the world's nations from an attack by Magneto. In the second film, her powers are growing exponentially as she also grows as Phoenix, and she travels to Boston with Storm to track down Nightcrawler, and later embarks on a mission to Alkali Lake with the rest of the X-Men and The Brotherhood. In the final minutes of the film, she sacrifices her life to save the X-Men from drowning under the water escaping from the Alkali Lake dam. Lastly, in the third film, she is resurrected as the Phoenix and she fights alongside the Brotherhood to destroy humans and their mutant cure.

Famke also starred in the movies Lord of Illusions, House on Haunted Hill, I Spy, Rounders, and Deep Rising.

Janssen also had a prominent role in the second season of the popular TV show Nip/Tuck, as seductive and manipulative life coach Ava Moore.

She speaks Dutch, English, and French and is the only brunette in a family of blondes. While best known for her poise and great physical beauty, she is also recognized in Hollywood for her exceptionally large feet, which even made their way into a scene in her 2000 film Love & Sex (in which Jon Favreau's character teases a blushing Janssen about the size of her feet).

Famke currently lives in New York.

Trivia

• Height: 5' 11" (1.80 m)
• Measurements: 36-24-36 (91-61-91 cm)
• Shoe size: size 11 (US) 44 (European)
• First name is pronounced "Fam-kuh" (the 'a' pronounced as in the word 'part')
• Has two sisters, Antoinette Beumer (Director) and Marjolein Beumer (Actress)
• Is the only one of her three sisters to keep her birth surname, Janssen. Sisters Marjolein and Antoinette chose to take the last name Beumer, the maiden name of their mother, after their parents divorced.
• Famke's name means little girl in Frisian, the native language of the Dutch province Friesland
• Provides the Dutch-language narration for the Studio Tram Tour at all Disney parks
• Was married to writer/director Tod Culpan Williams from 1995 to 2000, son of architect Tod Williams
• Has a brindle Boston Terrier named Licorice, with whom she frequently travels. [1]

Selected filmography

• Fathers & Sons (1992) - Kyle Christian
• Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Perfect Mate" (1992) - Kamala
• Relentless IV: Ashes to Ashes (1994) - Dr. Sara Lee Jaffee
• Model by Day (1994) - Lex/Lady X
• Lord of Illusions (1995) - Dorothea Swann
• GoldenEye (1995) - Xenia Onatopp
• City of Industry (1997) - Rachel Montana
• Monument Ave. (1998) - Katy (known internationally as Snitch)
• The Gingerbread Man (1998) - Leeanne
• Deep Rising (1998) - Trillian St. James
• RPM (1998) - Claudia Haggs
• Celebrity (1998) - Bonnie
• Rounders (1998) - Petra
• Adventures of Sebastian Cole, The (1998) - Fiona
• The Faculty (1998) - Miss Elizabeth Burke
• House on Haunted Hill (1999) - Evelyn Stockard-Price
• Love & Sex (2000) - Kate Welles
• Circus (2000) - Lily
• X-Men (2000) - Jean Grey
• Made (2001) - Jessica
• Ally McBeal (2001) - Jamie (episodes "The Man with the Bag" and "The Ex-Files")
• Don't Say a Word (2001) - Aggie Conrad
• I Spy (2002) - Special Agent Rachel Wright
• X2 (2003) - Jean Grey
• Eulogy (2004) - Judy
• Hide and Seek (2005) - Katherine Carson
• The Treatment (2006) - Allegra Marshall
• X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) - Jean Grey/Phoenix
• Turn the River (2007) - Kailey
• The Ten (2007) - Gretchen
• I Married a Witch (2007) -

External links

• Famke Janssen at the Internet Movie Database
• Famke-Janssen.org (fansite)