Weisz at a press conference for Enemy at the Gates at the 2001 Berlinale, photo by Michael Weiner Rachel Weisz (surname pronounced [vaɪs] or "vice") (born 7 March 1971) is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning, and BAFTA-nominated English actress. Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Awards 3 Nominations 4 Selected filmography 5 External links 5.1 Websites 5.2 Interviews Biography Early life Weisz was born in London in 1971. Her father, George Weisz, is a Hungarian-born Jewish inventor whose family fled to England in order to escape Nazi persecution. Her mother, Edith, is a Vienna-born Austrian Catholic psychoanalyst and aspiring actress of part Ashkenazi Jewish and part Italian Catholic heritage. Weisz was raised Jewish. Weisz read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. She graduated with a 2:1. During her university years she appeared in various student productions, co-founding a student drama group called Cambridge Talking Tongues, which went on to win a Guardian Student Drama Award at the Edinburgh Festival for an improvised piece called Slight Possession. Career Her breakthrough role was that of Gilda in Welsh director Sean Mathias's 1995 West End revival of Noël Coward's 1933 play Design for Living at the Gielgud Theatre. Having already worked for television, with strong parts in major UK series such as Inspector Morse (1993), Weisz started her cinema career in 1995 with Chain Reaction and then appeared Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty. She followed this work with more English films including Swept from the Sea, The Land Girls, and Michael Winterbottom's I Want You. Since then she has starred in a number of films including The Mummy (1999), Enemy at the Gates (2001), About a Boy (2002), Runaway Jury (2003) and Constantine (2005). Her stage work includes the role of Catherine in a London production of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer and Evelyn in Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things at the Almeida Theatre (also film). In a recent interview, Ms. Weisz expressed her admiration for Harry Houdini, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jackie Onassis, amongst others, but it is for singer Elvis Presley that she keeps her greatest love. Weisz in The Constant Gardener (2005). In 2005, Weisz starred in The Constant Gardener, a film adaptation of a John le Carré thriller of the same title set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. For this role, Weisz won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the 2006 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and the 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. In her home country, she was recognized as a leading role for the film according to the nomination from the BAFTA Film Awards and winnings from the London Critics Circle Film Awards and British Independent Film Awards. In 2006, Weisz will star in The Fountain, written and directed by her fiancé, Darren Aronofsky. In the same year, she plans to star in a New York production of August Strindberg's Miss Julie, playing the titular role. Personal life Weisz is engaged to American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. They have a son, Henry Chance, born on May 31, 2006.[1] The couple reside in Brooklyn. Weisz previously dated actor Alessandro Nivola, actor Neil Morrissey, and director Sam Mendes.[2] Awards Year Award Film 2006 London Critics Circle Film Award for British Actress of the Year The Constant Gardener 2006 British Independent Film Award for Best Actress The Constant Gardener 2006 Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture The Constant Gardener 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role The Constant Gardener 2006 Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role The Constant Gardener Preceded by: Cate Blanchett for The Aviator Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 2005 for The Constant Gardener Succeeded by: TBD Nominations Year Award Film 2006 BAFTA Film Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role The Constant Gardener 2006 Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress The Constant Gardener Selected filmography Year Title Role 2006 The Fountain Izzi 2005 The Constant Gardener Tessa Quayle 2005 Constantine Angela Dodson/Isabel Dodson 2004 Envy Debbie Dingman 2003 Runaway Jury Marlee 2003 The Shape of Things Evelyn Ann Thompson 2003 Confidence Lily 2002 About A Boy Rachel 2001 The Mummy Returns Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell/Princess Nefertiri 2001 Enemy at the Gates Tania Chernova 1999 Sunshine Greta 1999 The Mummy Evelyn Carnahan 1998 Swept from the Sea Amy Foster 1996 Chain Reaction Dr. Lily Sinclair External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rachel Weisz Wikinews has news related to: 2006 Oscars handed out at Kodak Theatre Websites Rachel Weisz at the Internet Movie Database Rachel Weisz at Yahoo! Movies Forever Rachel Weisz Rachel Weisz Paradise Interviews Weisz interview, 2005, Netribution Weisz interview, 2005, Cinema Confidential News Weisz interview, 2003, Cinemas Online Weisz interview (with Paul Rudd & Gretchen Mol), 2003, Tribeca Film Festival Weisz interview, 1999, Guardian UK Search Term: "Rachel_Weisz" Categories: 1971 births | Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge | Best Supporting Actress Oscar | BAFTA nominees | English film actors | English stage actors | English television actors | English Jews | Living people | Londoners