Biography And Filmography:

Rachel Weisz was born on March 7, 1970 and raised in London’s suburb of Hampstead. Her parents were both Jewish emigrants who had escaped Nazi rule – her father, an inventor who had to flee Hungary; her mother, an Austrian psychoanalyst. 

A co-starring role with Ewan McGregor in the BBC miniseries "The Scarlet and The Black" (1993) led to her return to the West End in a revival of Noel Coward’s “Design for Living,” which won her a Critic’s Circle Award for Best Newcomer. Weisz made the jump to the movie screen with a small role in director Bernardo Bertolucci's "Stealing Beauty" (1996) with Liv Tyler, and in a supporting role, opposite Keanu Reeves, as a scientist trying to save the world in “Chain Reaction” (1995). 

Her celebrity profile and reputation grew with a series of British films including the Joseph Conrad adaptation “Swept from the Sea” (1997) with Ian McKellen, “I Want You” (1997), and the WWII comedy “The Land Girls” (1998), the story of three young women and the events that would change their lives. The friendships that would stay with them forever and the loves that would change their hearts. In 1999, she returned to the theater with a performances in Tennessee Williams’ Southern gothic drama “Suddenly Last Summer.” 

Rachel Weisz was unknown in Hollywood until her high-profile breakout role as a gawky but courageous librarian opposite Brendan Fraser in the blockbuster "The Mummy" (1999). The romantic war drama "Sunshine" (1999), where she co-starred with Ralph Fiennes as an adulterous wife involved with her talented brother-in-law, won multiple award nominations. 

The comedy thriller “Beautiful Creatures” (2000) was universally criticized for not delivering the action it promised, while "Enemy at the Gates" (2001) with Jude Law, was well received by critics and had a modest  box office success. In the movie, she played a Russian soldier fighting to save Stalingrad during WWII. That same year, she revisited her role as the librarian in the sequel, "The Mummy Returns" (2001).

In 2001, Weisz was cast in the role of a single mom and romantic love interest for Hugh Grant in "About a Boy" (2002), and then turned killer for the crime thriller "Confidence" (2003), giving a sexy performance as the girl stuck in the middle. She continued her Hollywood success alongside Dustin Hoffman in "Runaway Jury" (2003); a movie adaptation of John Grisham's legal thriller, as a woman involved in a deadly effort to change a verdict.

The actress then appeared as Ben Stiller's wife in the comedy "Envy" (2004) with Jack Black. Weisz returned to horror-adventure movies with the comic book inspired "Constantine" (2005) with Shia Labeouf, portraying a cop pulled into the world of occult investigator John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) after the mysterious death of her sister.

In director Fernando Meirelles' version of the John LeCarre novel, Weisz played the attractive but politically outspoken wife of a self-righteous British diplomat in Africa (Ralph Fiennes) whose murder sends him on a journey to find the evil, mysterious secrets that led to her death.Rachel took home a Golden Globe Award, an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as both a BAFTA and a Critic’s Circle Awards. She then appeared at the 78th Academy Awards ceremony pregnant with her first child, that of fiancé and film director Darren Aronofsky.

Next, Weisz was hired and cast in the sci-fi drama “The Fountain,” a fantasy spanning over one thousand years and three parallel stories. "The Fountain" is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world. She then co-starred in the Vince Vaughn holiday vehicle “Fred Claus” (2007), about a man Fred Claus, Santa's bitter older brother who is forced to move to the North Pole. Then she teamed with Jude Law again for the romantic comedy "My Blueberry Nights" (2007), where a young woman takes a soul-searching journey across America to resolve her questions about love while encountering a series of offbeat characters along the way.

Weisz then appeared in the romantic comedy “Definitely, Maybe,” portraying a journalist and lover of single dad Ryan Reynolds, and then was cast in the crime drama "The Brothers Bloom" (2008) starring opposite Adrien Brody, about the best con men in the world, who are swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they've decided to take on one last job - showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress the time of her life with a romantic adventure that takes them around the world.

Rachel Weisz was now a certified Hollywood celebrity and every director wanted her in their movies.

Rachel then starred in the dramatic horror thriller "The Lovely Bones" (2009), about a young girl who was brutally raped and murdered and watches the effects of her death on her family from Heaven, as her parents drift apart, her father becomes obsessed with vengeance and her sister grows into the woman she would never be. A starring role in the historical drama "Agora" (2009) followed, set in Roman Egypt and concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hopes of pursuing freedom while also falling in love with his master, the famous female philosophy professor and atheist Hypatia of Alexandria.

Weisz wrapped her year with the dramatic "Dirt Music" (2009) starring along side Colin Farrell, and based on the novel by Tim Winton. The film focuses on the lives of an alcoholic mother and a gloomy poacher living in a remote fishing village in Western Australia. After the success of the original "Sin City", there had to be a sequel to capitalize on the franchise, and she appeared in "Sin City 2" (2010) with Antonio Banderas and starring Jessica Alba, where in the dark bowels of Sin City, a man plans to have his vengeance against the woman who betrayed him, Ava Lord. 

Weisz wrapped her year starring with Susan Sarandon, Ian McKellan and Colin Firth in the biographical thriller "The Colossus" (2008), about an ornithologist at the turn of the 20th century who transports hundreds of songbirds to an ailing prime minister in South Africa and falls for a political activist trying to stop the impending Boer War.

In 2012, Weisz took the starring role of Marta in the action thriller “The Bourne Legacy” - a story centered on a new CIA operative in the universe based on Robert Ludlum's novels.

In 2013 Weisz starred alongside Mila Kunis on the fantasy “Oz: The great and powerful”, a prequel to the original Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum told from the point of view of the Wizard. It tells how the Wizard arrived in Oz and how he became the ruler. The movie’s cast also included Zach Braff, Michelle Williams, and James Franco.