Julie Cox

Born: September 15 1973
Where: Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK

The actress is best known for her role as Princess Irulan Corrino in cult sci-fi flick Dune.

Born in the English Fens, Cox was raised in the Highlands by her Scottish mother while her father worked on the North Sea rigs as an engineer.

At the age of six, she moved with her family to Indonesia, where her father worked in the oil business.

Looked after single-handedly by her father, she led a peripatetic life in southeast Asia, attending 16 schools, during which time she became interested in acting at the age of 13, in Jakarta.

After graduating from high school in Australia, she returned to England at the age of 18 and was determined to make a career on the stage.

In London, she was invited to act in a commercial and work snowballed, particularly after she fine-tuned her art for two years in a Paris theatre workshop.

After returning to England in 1992, she signed up to an agent and launched her professional screen career as "the childlike empress" in Never Ending Story III: Escape From Fantasia.

TV work followed including stints Tears Before Bedtime, Danielle Steel's Zoya and Tales From The Crypt.

In 1996, she played Princess Diana in Princess in Love opposite Christopher Bowen's Prince Charles and also starred in the TV version of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

She appeared in the 1998 drama Woundings and also starred alongside Bob Hoskins in the disturbing drama Felicia's Journey.

In 2000, she built up a massive cult following with the role of Princess Irulan Corrino in the TV version of Frank Herbert's cult sci-fi classic.

She would reprise the role in the 2003 sequel Children of Dune after appearing in big screen offerings including The War Bride with Anna Friel and alongside Patrick Stewart in the Shakespeare-inspired King of Texas.

High-profile British TV roles followed, including Spooks and the part of Annabella Milbanke in Byron opposite Jonny Lee Miller.

Cox even linked with "the muscles from Brussels - Jean-Claude Van Damme - for the 2006 action thriller Second in Command and appeared alongside Vinnie Jones in the drama The Riddle.

As well as working on Holby Blue, Cox starred in the crime thriller The Oxford Murders with Elijah Wood.

Cox stars in The Oxford Murders, alongside Elijah Wood and John Hurt. In 2007, she was the female lead in The Riddle, a feature film also starring Vinnie Jones, Sir Derek Jacobi and Vanessa Redgrave.