Saffron Burrows

Born: January 1 1973
Where: London, UK

The former fashion model has attracted critical attention with appearances ranging from the blockbuster Troy to WWII thriller Enigma.

Born into a socialist family - her father is an architect and her mother a feminist teacher - Burrows counts left-wing firebrand Tony Benn among her friends.

She sold the Socialist Worker newsletter for pocket money, attended marches and rallies after school with her activist mother and stepfather, and even shared her home with striking miners.

She joined an anti-racism group when she was 11 years old and she went on to become the Vice President of the National Civil Rights Movement.

At the age of 15 the six-foot Burrows was discovered by a talent scout in London's Covent Garden and embarked on a successful modelling career for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Vivienne Westwood.

However, at 17 she gave up modelling to pursue an acting career at the Anna Scher school and made her big screen debut in 1993 with a minor role as a commune girl in Jim Sheridan's IRA drama In The Name of the Father.

Appearance in low-budget outings such as Welcome II the Terrordome followed before she attracted the attention of international audiences with her role in the low-budget Irish drama Circle of Friends in 1995.

Subsequent appearances included the rom-coms Hotel de Love, Lovelife and The MatchMaker as well as the sci-fi actioner Wing Commander with Freddie Prinze Jr.

In 1999, she starred in Renny Harlin's well-received shark action thriller Deep Blue Sea and landed a lead role in the drama Miss Julie.

(she became involved with director Mike Figgis before their relationship ended and she became romantically linked to actress Fiona Shaw)

Burrows followed Figgis' Timecode with the crime drama Gangster No1 and was cast as Claire alongside Kate Winslet in the Second World War codebreaking drama Enigma in 2001.

The following year she appeared in Salma Hayek's biopic Frida and went on to play Andromache in Wolfgang Petersen's 2005 blockbuster version of Troy with Brad Pitt.

In 2007, she starred in the Adam Sandler September 11 drama Reign Over Men and also played a gangster's moll in the British crime caper The Bank Job.