Famke Janssen

Biography

Famke Janssen was born on November 5, 1964 in Amstelveen, Netherlands, and has two siblings, director Antoinette Beumer and actress Marjolein Beumer. She studied economics for a year at the University of Amsterdam. Moving to America in 1984, Famke modeled for Chanel in New York City. Later, taking a break from modeling, she majored in writing and literature at Columbia University and studied acting with Harold Guskin. She then went to Los Angeles, California, where she continued to study acting under Roy London. Her first film was the crime drama Fathers & Sons (1992), where she played the love interest of Jeff Goldblum. Later, she became James Bond's enemy in GoldenEye (1995) opposite Pierce Brosnan. Famke received strong critical acclaim for her electrifying performance as the femme fatale Xenia Onatopp. Her career has bloomed since then with her starring in such films as House on Haunted Hill (1999), a reoccurring role on FX's Nip/Tuck (2003) and the blockbuster trilogy X-Men (2000), X-Men 2 (2003), and X-Men: L'affrontement final (2006).