Rachel Weisz
Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Good article Template:Pp-move Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Rachel Hannah Weisz (Template:IPAc-en;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> born 7 March 1970)Template:Refn is an English actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received several awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award.
Weisz began acting in stage and television productions in the early 1990s, and made her film debut in Death Machine (1994). She won a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for her role in the 1994 revival of Noël Coward's play Design for Living, and went on to appear in the 1999 Donmar Warehouse production of Tennessee Williams' drama Suddenly Last Summer. Her film breakthrough came with her starring role as Evelyn Carnahan in the Hollywood action films The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001).<ref name="hollywood debut">Template:Cite news</ref> Weisz went on to star in several films of the 2000s, including Enemy at the Gates (2001), About a Boy (2002), Runaway Jury (2003), Constantine (2005), The Fountain (2006), The Lovely Bones (2009) and The Whistleblower (2010).
For her performance as an activist in the 2005 thriller The Constant Gardener, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and for playing Blanche DuBois in a 2009 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress. In the 2010s, Weisz continued to star in big-budget films such as the action film The Bourne Legacy (2012) and the fantasy film Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) and achieved critical acclaim for her performances in the independent films The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Denial (2016), and The Favourite (2018). For her portrayal of Sarah Churchill in The Favourite, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and received a second Academy Award nomination.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Weisz portrayed Melina Vostokoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow (2021) and starred as twin obstetricians in the thriller miniseries Dead Ringers (2023).
Early life and family
[edit]Weisz was born on 7 March 1970 in Westminster, London, and grew up in Hampstead Garden Suburb.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her father, George Weisz, was a Hungarian Jewish mechanical engineer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her mother, Edith Ruth (Template:Nee Teich),<ref>England and Wales, Death Index, 2007–2017.</ref> was a teacher-turned-psychotherapist originally from Vienna, Austria.<ref name=thisislondon/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her maternal grandfather's ancestry was Austrian Jewish; her maternal grandmother was Catholic and of Italian ancestry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The scholar and social activist James Parkes helped her mother's family to leave Austria for England.<ref name=People-Denial-2016>Template:Cite news</ref> Weisz's mother was raised in the Catholic church and formally converted to Judaism upon marrying Weisz's father.<ref name="theguardian.com">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=naie>Template:Cite news</ref> Weisz's maternal grandfather was Alexander Teich, a Jewish activist who had been a secretary of the World Union of Jewish Students.<ref name=llev>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=rasl>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=mrp>Template:Cite book</ref>
Her parents immigrated to the United Kingdom as children around 1938, prior to the outbreak of World War II, in order to escape the Nazis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her younger sister Minnie Weisz is a visual artist.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Weisz's parents valued the arts; they encouraged their children to form opinions of their own by engaging their participation in family debates.<ref name=talk>Template:Cite web</ref> Weisz left North London Collegiate School and attended Benenden School for one year, completing A-levels at St Paul's Girls School.<ref name="Yahoo"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Known for being an "English rose",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="HelloMagazine">"Profile of Rachel Weisz". Hello. Retrieved 12 June 2012</ref><ref name="theguardian.com"/> Weisz began modelling at the age of 14.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1984, she gained public attention when she turned down an offer to star in King David with Richard Gere.<ref name="Yahoo">Template:Cite web</ref>
Weisz went to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she read English, matriculating in 1988. She graduated with upper second-class honours. During her university years she was a contemporary of Sacha Baron Cohen, Alexander Armstrong, Emily Maitlis, Sue Perkins, Mel Giedroyc, Richard Osman and Ben Miller (whom she briefly dated),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and appeared in various student dramatic productions, co-founding a student drama group called Cambridge Talking Tongues.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The group won a Guardian Student Drama Award at the 1991 Edinburgh Festival Fringe for an improvised piece written by Weisz herself called Slight Possession,<ref name=ncg>Template:Cite book</ref> directed by David Farr.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Career
[edit]1990s
[edit]In 1992, Weisz appeared in the television film Advocates II, followed by roles in the Inspector Morse episode "Twilight of the Gods", and the BBC's steamy period drama Scarlet and Black, alongside Ewan McGregor.<ref name="MSNF"/> Dirty Something, a BBC Screen Two, hour-long television film made in 1992, was Weisz's first film.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Weisz's breakthrough role on the stage was that of Gilda in Sean Mathias's 1994 revival of Noël Coward's Design for Living at the Gielgud Theatre,<ref name=esu>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=wen>Template:Cite news</ref> for which she received the London Critics' Circle Award for the most promising newcomer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her portrayal was described as "wonderful" by a contemporary review.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Weisz started her film career with a minor role in the 1994 film Death Machine;<ref name="MSNF" /> her first major role came in the 1996 film Chain Reaction.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The film received mostly negative reviews–it holds a 16% rating on Rotten Tomatoes<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was a minor financial success.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She next appeared as Miranda Fox in Stealing Beauty, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where she was first labelled an "English rose".<ref name="HelloMagazine" />
Weisz found roles in the 1997 American drama Swept from the Sea,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the 1998 British television comedy-drama My Summer with Des, Michael Winterbottom's crime film I Want You,<ref name="indmagaz">Template:Cite news</ref> and David Leland's The Land Girls, based on Angela Huth's book of the same name.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 1999, Weisz played Greta in the historical film Sunshine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The same year, her international breakthrough came with the 1999 adventure film The Mummy, in which she played the female lead opposite Brendan Fraser. Her character, Evelyn Carnahan, is an English Egyptologist,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> who undertakes an expedition to the fictional ancient Egyptian city of Hamunaptra to discover an ancient book. Variety criticised the direction of the film, writing: "(the actors) have been directed to broad, undisciplined performances [...] Buffoonery hardly seems like Weisz's natural domain, as the actress strains for comic effects that she can't achieve".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She followed this up with the sequel The Mummy Returns in 2001, which grossed an estimated $433 million worldwide,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (equivalent to $Template:Inflation million in Template:Inflation-year dollars)Template:Inflation-fn higher than the original's $260 million<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (equal to $Template:Inflation million in Template:Inflation-year dollars).Template:Inflation-fn
Also in 1999, she played the role of Catherine in the Donmar Warehouse production of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer,<ref name=autogenerated1>Template:Cite web</ref> What's on Stage called her "captivating", stating that she brought "a degree of credibility to a difficult part".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The same year, Weisz appeared in Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things at the Almeida Theatre, then temporarily located in London's King's Cross, for which she received a Theatre World Award.<ref name=shape/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> CurtainUp called her "a sophisticated, independent artist" with "great stage presence".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2000s
[edit]In 2000, she portrayed Petula in the film Beautiful Creatures,<ref name="MSNF">Template:Cite web</ref> followed by 2001's Enemy at the Gates,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the 2002 comedy-drama About a Boy, with Hugh Grant, based on Nick Hornby's 1998 novel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2003, she played Marlee in the adaptation of John Grisham's legal thriller novel The Runaway Jury;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and starred in the film adaptation of the romantic comedy-drama play The Shape of Things.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2004, Weisz appeared in the comedy Envy. The film failed at the box office.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Variety opined that Weisz and co-star Amy Poehler "get fewer choice moments than they deserve."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her next role was alongside Keanu Reeves in Constantine, based on the comic book Hellblazer.<ref name=guardian2>Template:Cite news</ref> Film Threat called her portrayal "effective at projecting scepticism and, eventually, dawning horror".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Her next appearance, in 2005, was in Fernando Meirelles's The Constant Gardener,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a film adaptation of a John le Carré thriller set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya.<ref name="guardian3">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=thisislondon>Template:Cite news</ref> Weisz played an activist, Tessa Quayle, married to a British embassy official.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film was critically acclaimed,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> earning Weisz the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> UK newspaper The Guardian noted that the film "established her in the front rank of British actors",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while the BBC wrote: "Weisz is exceptional: film star charisma coupled with raw emotion in a performance to fall in love with".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2006, she received the BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2006, Weisz starred in American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky's romantic drama The Fountain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The San Francisco Chronicle found her portrayal of Queen Isabel "less convincing" than other roles.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> That same year, she provided the voice for Saphira the dragon in the fantasy film Eragon;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and rejected an offer to star in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor due to script issues.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The part eventually went to Maria Bello.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her subsequent films include the 2007 Wong Kar-wai drama My Blueberry Nights,<ref name=weiszroles/> and Rian Johnson's 2008 caper film The Brothers Bloom.<ref name="weiszroles">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2009, she played the lead role of Hypatia of Alexandria in the historical drama film Agora, a Spanish production directed by Alejandro Amenábar.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The New York Times called her portrayal "adept", noting that she imparted "a sympathetic presence".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> That same year, she appeared as Blanche DuBois, in Rob Ashford's revival of the play A Streetcar Named Desire.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her performance in the play was praised by critics, the Daily Telegraph noted that she "rises to the challenge magnificently".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2010s
[edit]
Weisz starred in the film The Whistleblower, which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2010. The film was based on the true story of human trafficking by employees of contractor DynCorp. During its première, the intense depiction of the treatment meted out to victims by the kidnappers made a woman in the audience faint.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Variety wrote "Weisz's performance holds the viewer every step of the way."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> That same year, she guest-starred in the animated series The Simpsons, in the 22nd season episode "How Munched is That Birdie in the Window?".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Weisz's 2011 roles included an adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play The Deep Blue Sea,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Fernando Meirelles' drama 360,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the BBC espionage thriller Page Eight, and the thriller film Dream House.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
She filmed scenes for To the Wonder, a 2012 romantic drama film written and directed by Terrence Malick; her scenes were cut.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She has starred in the 2012 action thriller film The Bourne Legacy based on the series of books by Robert Ludlum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2013, Weisz starred on Broadway alongside her husband, Daniel Craig, in a revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal. It opened 27 October 2013, and closed 5 January 2014.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Box office receipts of $17.5 million made it the second highest grossing Broadway play of 2013.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> That year, Weisz played Evanora in the fantasy film Oz the Great and Powerful.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2015, she appeared in drama film Youth and in science fiction film The Lobster. The film won Cannes Jury Prize. In 2016, she appeared in the drama film The Light Between Oceans, and portrayed Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt in Denial, a film based on Lipstadt's book, and directed by Mick Jackson.
In 2017 Weisz starred in My Cousin Rachel, a drama based on Daphne du Maurier's novel, and in 2018 co-starred in a British biographical film about sailor Donald Crowhurst, The Mercy, directed by James Marsh.
Weisz's production company, LC6 Productions, released its first feature film, Disobedience, in 2017, starring Weisz and Rachel McAdams.<ref name=krollvariety>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=turnermm>Template:Cite web</ref> Weisz grew up three London Underground stops away from the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood where the film is set. Raised within Judaism, Weisz never fully connected to her ancestral religion. She claims she was "really disobedient" herself and has never felt she fits in anywhere.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2018, Weisz played Sarah Churchill in The Favourite, winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and receiving her second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In April 2019, she entered talks to join Scarlett Johansson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Widow.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In July of that year, Weisz was announced to play Melina Vostokoff in the film, which was released on 9 July 2021.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2020s
[edit]Weisz starred in and executive produced the thriller miniseries Dead Ringers, a remake of the 1988 film of the same name for Amazon Prime Video.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
[edit]In 2001, Weisz began dating the American filmmaker and producer Darren Aronofsky. They met backstage at London's Almeida Theatre, where she was starring in The Shape of Things. Weisz moved to New York City with Aronofsky the following year;<ref name=shape>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> in 2005, they were engaged. Their son was born in May 2006 in New York City.<ref name=usatoday>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The couple resided in the East Village in Manhattan. Mohel Philip Sherman performed their son's brit milah (bris).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In November 2010, Weisz and Aronofsky announced that they had been apart for months but remained close friends and were committed to bringing up their son together in New York.<ref name=peoplesplit>Template:Cite news</ref>
Weisz and the English actor Daniel Craig were friends for many years and worked together on the 2011 film Dream House. They began dating in December 2010 and married on 22 June 2011 in a private New York ceremony, with four guests in attendance, including Weisz's son and Craig's daughter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 1 September 2018, it was reported that they had their first child together, a daughter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Weisz has been featured on the covers of magazines such as Vogue.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She served as a muse to the fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and was named L'Oréal's global ambassador in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Weisz learned karate for her role in The Brothers Bloom.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> A British citizen by birth, Weisz became a naturalised American citizen in 2011.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>
Filmography
[edit]Film
[edit]Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Advocates II | Template:Sortname | Television film |
| 1993 | Inspector Morse | Template:Sortname | Episode: "Twilight of the Gods" |
| Tropical Heat | Joey | Episode: "His Pal Joey" | |
| Scarlet and Black | Mathilde | TV miniseries | |
| 1994 | Seventeen | TV short | |
| Screen Two | Becca | Episode: "Dirtysomething" | |
| 1998 | My Summer with Des | Rosie | Television film |
| 2000 | This is not an Exit: The Fictional World of Bret Easton Ellis | Template:Sortname | Television Program |
| 2010 | Template:Sortname | Template:Sortname (voice) | Episode: "How Munched Is That Birdie in the Window?" |
| 2011 | Page Eight | Template:Sortname | Television film |
| 2023 | Dead Ringers | Template:Sortname | Lead role; also executive producer |
| What If...? | Template:Sortname (voice) | Season 2, Episode: "What If... Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?" |
Theatre
[edit]| Year | Play | Role | Theatre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Design for Living | Gilda | Gielgud Theatre |
| 1999 | Suddenly Last Summer | Catherine | Donmar Warehouse |
| The Shape of Things | Evelyn Ann Thompson | Almeida Theatre | |
| 2001 | The Shape of Things | Evelyn Ann Thompson | Promenade Theatre |
| 2009 | A Streetcar Named Desire | Blanche DuBois | Donmar Warehouse |
| 2013 | Betrayal | Emma | Ethel Barrymore Theatre |
| 2016 | Plenty | Susan Traherne | The Public Theater |
Awards and nominations
[edit]See also
[edit]- List of British Academy Award nominees and winners
- List of Jewish Academy Award winners and nominees
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of actors with three or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]External links
[edit]- Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments
- Pages with broken file links
- Darren Aronofsky
- 1970 births
- Living people
- Actors from the City of Westminster
- Actresses from London
- Actresses from Manhattan
- Age controversies
- Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
- Audiobook narrators
- Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners
- Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award winners
- Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
- British child models
- Critics' Circle Theatre Award winners
- English emigrants to the United States
- English female models
- English film actresses
- English people of Austrian-Jewish descent
- English people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
- English people of Italian descent
- English stage actresses
- English television actresses
- Jewish film people
- Laurence Olivier Award winners
- Models from Westminster
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Screen Actors Guild Award winners
- People educated at Benenden School
- People educated at North London Collegiate School
- People educated at St Paul's Girls' School
- People from the East Village, Manhattan
- People from Westminster
- Theatre World Award winners
- 21st-century American women
- 20th-century English actresses
- 21st-century English actresses