Famke Janssen

Born: January 1 1964
Where: Amsterdam, Holland

The ex-model first caught attention as Bond villainess Xenia Onatopp - who crushed victims to death between her thighs - in GoldenEye.

Since that headline-grabbing role, she has demonstrated her range in movies ranging from the comedy Made to superheroine Jean Grey in X-Men.

Famke, which means 'little girl' in the Frisian dialect of northern Holland, lived in Amsterdam with her family until 1984.

Moving to the USA, she landed a contract with the Elite modelling agency and also studied writing and literature at Columbia University.

After a spell studying drama in New York under Harold Guskin, she moved to LA to make her screen debut in 1992 with Jeff Goldblum in serial killer thriller Fathers and Sons.

A box office flop, she took the familiar route of TV roles, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, where she played Kamala, a "metamorphic".

She followed the role with a one-episode stint as a scheming hooker on Melrose Place.

In 1995, GoldenEye director Martin Campbell cast her opposite Pierce Brosnan as Onatopp, a role that catapulted her into the big time.

Now she had gained recognition, Janssen, who wished to break the 'Russian Vixen' mould, was able to be more choosy as to the roles she took.

Things didn't get off to a good start with 1996's disappointing Dead Girl but the crime thriller City of Industry was on firmer ground.

She had a small role in the Ted Demme crime drama Snitch and Robert Altman cast her in the enjoyable 1998 thriller The Gingerbread Man.

The same year Janssen switched genres for sci-fi horror with Deep Rising and also raised her profile with an appearance in Woody Allen's Celebrity.

Most stars know they've arrived when Woody Allen comes knocking, and Janssen's opportunity to work with the bespectacled actor-director came in 1998's Celebrity.

Mainstream roles followed in college horror yarn The Faculty and the 1999 remake of The House on Haunted Hill.

In 2000, she starred opposite Jon Favreau in the romantic comedy Love & Sex and followed that with British crime thriller Circus alongside John Hannah.

However, it was Bryan Singer's casting of Janssen as clairvoyant Jean Grey in the X-Men series that consolidated her success.

After appearing in Jon Favreau's comedy Made, the Michael Douglas thriller Don't Say A Word and espionage caper I-Spy with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson, she was cast as the alien villainess in Men in Black II but had to drop out due to a death in the family. Lara Flynn Boyle was cast in her place.

In 2003, she was offered the lead role in Terminator III: Rise of the Machines, but turned it down.

After the sequel X-Men 2, Janssen switched to comedy with Eulogy and the horror yarn Hide & Seek with Robert De Niro.

A recurring role as a transsexual man-eater in hit TV series Nip/Tuck has done wonders for her profile.