Kristin Scott Thomas
Born: 24th May 1960
Where: Redruth, Cornwall
The Francophile former convent girl made her international breakthrough when she was Oscar-nominated for The English Patient.
However, she was already well-known to British audiences for her BAFTA-winning portrayal of the waspish Fiona in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Her father, a Royal Navy pilot, died in flying accident in 1964, a fate that was to befall her stepfather six years later.
The tragedies left her mother to look after five children alone with the extra burden falling onto Scott Thomas.
She spent time in a convent before the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she studied to be a teacher later switching to drama.
She left England at the age of 19 to work as an au pair in Paris, fell in love with the country and now splits her time between England and Paris.
She enrolled at school, and received training in acting at L'Ecole Nationale des Arts et Techniques de Theatres.
After graduating, she got gained early exposure in Prince's Under a Cherry Moon, while her performance in A Handful of Dust landed the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer.
Switching between British and French productions, her next milestone was Roman Polanski's 1992 Bitter Moon opposite Hugh Grant.
Two years later she would re-team with the actor for Four Weddings and a Funeral before delivering a startling portrayal of Lady Anne in Richard III.
After the art house Angels & Insects, she switched genres to appear in Mission: Impossible before playing the doomed love interest of Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient.
Her American profile was raised still higher by Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer before returning to England to make the below par Revenger's Tragedies.
Her next triumph was as part of an ensemble cast in Robert Altman's excellent Gosford Park.
In 2003, she starred in the French romantic comedy Small Cuts opposite Daniel Auteuil as well as the period drama The Adventures of Arsene Lupin.
She starred alongside Rowan Atkinson in the black comedy Keeping Mum and also played a glacial art collector in the drama Chromophobia.
Recent work includes the critically-acclaimed French thriller Tell No One and the costume drama The Other Boleyn Girl.
