Rachel Weisz

Born: 7th March 1971
Where: London, England, UK

The former model and Cambridge graduate hit the big time after being cast opposite Brendan Fraser in the box office smash The Mummy.

After studying English at Cambridge, she formed the Talking Tongues theatre company and won a student drama award for a self-scripted play at the Edinburgh Festival.

Weisz first caught the attention of her fellow Brits in 1993 when she co-starred with Ewan McGregor in the TV series Scarlet and Black.

In 1996, she made the move to the big screen in two very different films - Bernardo Bertolucci's drama Stealing Beauty and the action thriller Chain Reaction.

She had her first real lead role and earned critical praise in the romantic drama Swept From the Sea with Vincent Perez and co-starred in Land Girls with Anna Friel.

After a return to the stage in Tennessee Williams' Suddenly, Last Summer, Weisz starred opposite Fraser in the enjoyable archaeological caper The Mummy.

She starred alongside Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes in the WWII drama Enemy at the Gates, and reprised her role opposite Fraser for The Mummy Returns.

Recent work includes About A Boy opposite Hugh Grant and Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things (based on his own play).

She can also be seen in Jame Foley's scam caper Confidence with Edward Burns and Dustin Hoffman and with Hoffman again in John Grisham's Runaway Jury.

In 2005, she starred opposite Keanu Reeves as an LA cop investigating her sister's death in the stylish action thriller Constantine.

Weisz's portrayal of a murdered civil rights activist in the thriller The Constant Gardener earned her a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Interestingly, like the previous British winner in the same category - Catherine Zeta-Jones - she was also heavily pregnant while accepting her award.