Sienna Miller

Born: December 28 1981
Where: New York, USA

The former model is landing heavy-hitting roles after an early career which was overshadowed by her dalliance with Jude Law. After featured roles in Alfie and Layer Cake, she has snagged leading parts in movies ranging from the Warhol biopic Factory Girl to the dark drama The Edge of Love alongside Keira Knightley. The daughter of American banker Ed Miller and Jo Miller, who was PA to David Bowie before running an exercise school, she was born in the US but raised in England.

Her parents divorced when she was five and her father went on to marry British interior designer Kelly Hoppen (they have subsequently split).

She attended the £20,000-a-year Heathfield School in Ascot, Berkshire (where she was called Squit because of her size), and went on to study acting at the Lee Strasberg institute in New York.

While in the US, she landed stage work in Independence, The Striker and a project from Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella called Cigarettes & Chocolate.

At the same time she was signed up by Select Model Management and went on to work in campaigns for Coca-Cola, Italian Vogue, Wrigley's and Prada.

In 2001, she made her big screen debut opposite Rupert Everett and Elle Macpherson in the romantic comedy South Kensington.

Minor roles followed (she was a guest star in the US TV series The American Embassy) until she landed a part in the BBC TV series Bedtime.

In 2004 she starred in two big screen outings - Matthew Vaughn's gangster caper Layer Cake and the remake of the Michael Caine drama Alfie.

It was while making the latter that she met newly-divorced actor Jude Law and the couple became engaged on Christmas Day that year.

However, in July 2005 Law was forced to make a public apology after embarking on an affair with Daisy Wright, the nanny of his children with ex-wife Sadie Frost.

Months later newspaper reports claimed she had conducted an affair with James Bond star Daniel Craig and the engagement was off.

Back on screen, in 2005 she starred opposite the late Heath Ledger in Lasse Hallstrom's Casanova.

Meatier fare followed, including the part of New York socialite Edie Sedgewick in Factory Girl and a soap star in Steve Buscemi's Interview.

In 2007, she played Victoria in Matthew Vaughn's fantasy Stardust and went on to play Dylan Thomas's wife Caitlin in John Maybury's The Edge of Love.