Best remembered for her role of Evelyn Carnahan in the 1999 movie The Mummy, Rachel Weisz is a British film and theater actor, who started her acting career with television shows. Before appearing on television, Weisz was an active part of theater and performed at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. While she made her television debut in 1993 with the detective drama series Inspector Morse, her debut movie was the 1994 Japanese-British sci-fi action-horror Death Machine in 1994. She has appeared in movies like I Want You, Enemy at the Gates, About a Boy, Constantine, The Constant Gardener, and . Even after becoming a successful movie actor, Weisz continued to be a part of theater and went on to win the Olivier Award for Best actor for her performance in Tennessee Williams' 2009 revival of the 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire.
Early LifeThe London-born actor was born to George Weisz, a Hungarian inventor, and Edith Ruth, an Austrian teacher-turned-psychotherapist, on the 7th of March, 1970. Her younger sister Minnie Weisz is a photographer and curator. The actor’ parents fled to the United Kingdom to escape the Nazis since both her parents are Jewish. Her parents encouraged her and her sister to pursue their respective interests in arts, making a career out of their passion.
Weisz attended North London Collegiate School after which enrolled at the Benenden School. After a year of attending Benenden School, she opted out and completed her A-levels at St. Paul’s Girls School. While still studying, Weisz started modeling at the age of 14 and also turned down Richard Gere’s offer to appear in the movie King David in 1984. She then graduated from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. While in university, she not only was a part of a number of student productions but also co-founded a student drama group, Cambridge Talking Tongues, which went on to win a Guardian Student Drama Award at the 1991 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Personal LifeIn 2001, Weisz started dating American filmmaker and producer Darren Aronofsky, whom she met at London’s Almeida Theatre. A year into their relationship, Weisz moved to New York with Aronofsky and, in 2005, the couple were engaged. The following year, two welcomed their first child Henry Chance Aronofsky. Five years after the birth of their son, in 2010, the couple announced that they had parted ways. The same year, Weisz started dating fellow English actor Daniel Craig and got married to him the following year in the presence of her son and Craig’s daughter.
Movie CareerBefore stepping her foot into movies and Hollywood, the British actor was a part of theater. Starting her acting career in the early 1990’s, Weisz was seen in various plays performed at various festivals while she was still studying at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. She first appeared on television in the year 1992 with the TV movie Advocates II, after which she got her theater breakthrough role of Gilda in Design for Living, which is Sean Mathias’ 1994 revival of Noël Coward's 1932 play. Her portrayal of Gilda won her immense praise and also won her the London Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Newcomer.
She appeared in a number of episodes of television series such as Inspector Morse and Tropical Heat, and was also seen in BBC’s four-part British drama Scarlet and Black, all of the three in 1993. The actor was then seen in a minor role in the 1994 Japanese-British sci-fi action-horror film Death Machine, marking her film debut. She, however, made her Hollywood debut in 1996 with the sci-fi thriller movie Chain Reaction, co-starring Keanu Reeves and Morgan Freeman. The same year, she appeared in Italian Academy Award-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci’s mystery-romance Stealing Beauty.
In 1999, she played the role of Catherine in Tennessee William’s one-act play Suddenly, Last Summer. Her performance in the play won her immense praise for her portrayal of Catherine, with many calling her captivating. She, however, gained worldwide recognition after she appeared in the movie The Mummy in 1999, where she played the role of an Egyptologist, who takes off on an adventure in search of an ancient book. The movie, co-starring Brendan Fraser and Arnold Vosloo, went on to become a blockbuster hit. Its commercial success led to the makers releasing its sequel The Mummy Returns in 2001, which was successful at the box-office.
She followed up her previous success with movies like Beautiful Creatures, Enemy at the Gates, About a Boy, and The Runaway Jury. In 2003, she appeared in the movie adaptation of the 2001 play The Shape of Things, which she was also performed at the Almeida Theater. Weisz’s next release was the 2004 comedy Envy, co-starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Christopher Walken. However, the movie was a box office failure, with Weisz having very little scope to shine. She then appeared opposite Keanu Reeves in Constantine, the movie adaptation of DC Comics’ Hellblazer, however, the movie opened to mixed reviews.
The English actor won several accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for her performance in Fernando Meirelles’ 2005 political thriller drama The Constant Gardener. The movie, set in the slums of Kibera and Loiyangalani, saw Weisz playing the role of an activist. The following year, she won the BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year. The same year, she lent her voice to the character of Saphira the dragon in the fantasy film Eragon. Owing to certain script issues, she turned down the offer to be a part of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
After appearing in a series of movies, Weisz was then seen in Rob Ashford’s 2009 revival of the play A Streetcar Named Desire, where her portrayal of Blanche DuBois won her immense praise by critics. In 2010, she played the role of Kathryn Bolkovac, an American police investigator who filed a lawsuit against the company she worked for under the charge of human trafficking, in the movie The Whistleblower. Based on the true story of DynCorp’s employees being involved in human trafficking, the movie was screened at the Toronto Film Festival. Weisz’s performance was lauded and won her immense praise, however, the movie received mixed reviews. She then made a guest appearance in the 22nd season of the popular American animated sitcom The Simpsons. The following year she was seen in The Deep Blue Sea opposite Tom Hiddleston, 360 opposite Jude Law, Page Eight, and Dream House co-starring Daniel Craig.
Although she filmed a few scenes in Terrence Malick’s 2012 romantic drama To The Wonder co-starring Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, and Rachel McAdams, her scenes were edited out from the final cut. She then appeared in the movie adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s series of books, The Bourne Legacy in 2012. The action-thriller co-starring Jeremy Renner opened to mixed yet mostly positive reviews. The following year, Weisz appeared in the Broadway play Betrayal alongside her husband Daniel Craig. The Broadway play went on to become the year’s second highest Broadway play of the year. The same year, she played the role of Evanora, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the fantasy adventure Oz the Great and Powerful.
The actor was a part of the 2015 drama Youth, after which she was seen in the sci-fi The Lobster, which went on to win the Cannes Jury Prize. The following year she was seen in the drama film Complete Unknown, Denial, The Light Between Oceans, and The Mercy.