"I'm very drawn to characters who are very flawed. I'm less interested in characters who are just good or bad, because to me then they're not real people."
Rachel Hannah Weisz (pronounced "vice") is an English / American note actor, born 7 March 1970 in Westminster, London, best known for her roles in such films as the first two films of The Mummy Trilogy, Constantine (2005), Stealing Beauty, The Brothers Bloom and Enemy at the Gates. Also playing the protagonist of the very controversial movie Agora. She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Constant Gardener. She was engaged to film director Darren Aronofsky, and had a role in his movie The Fountain. They have a son, born in 2006.
She married Daniel Craig in June 2011. In September 2018, Weisz gave birth to their daughter.
Filmography
- Inspector Morse (1993) as Arabella Baydon
- Chain Reaction (1996) as Lily Sinclair
- Stealing Beauty (1996) as Miranda Fox
- The Mummy (1999) as Evelyn Carnahan
- The Mummy Returns (2001) as Evelyn Carnahan / Nefertiri
- Enemy at the Gates (2001) as Tania Chernova
- About a Boy (2002) as Rachel
- Confidence (2003) as Lily
- Runaway Jury (2003) as Marlee
- The Shape of Things (2003) as Evelyn Ann Thompson
- Constantine (2005) as Angela Dodson, Isabel Dodson and Mammon
- The Constant Gardener (2005) as Tessa Quayle
- The Fountain (2006) as Isabel Creo
- Eragon (2007) as Saphira (voice)
- Fred Claus (2007) as Wanda
- Definitely, Maybe (2008) as Summer Hartley
- The Brothers Bloom (2008) as Penelope
- The Lovely Bones (2009) as Abigail Salmon
- Agora (2009) as Hypatia
- The Whistleblower (2010) as Kathryn Bolkovac
- The Simpsons (2010) as Dr. Thurston (voice)
- Page Eight (2011) as Nancy Pierpan
- Dream House (2011) as Libby Atenton
- The Deep Blue Sea (2011) as Hester Collyer
- The Bourne Legacy (2012) as Marta Shearing
- Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) as Evanora
- The Lobster (2015) as Short-sighted Woman
- Denial (2016) as Deborah Lipstadt
- My Cousin Rachel (2017) (2017) as Rachel
- Disobedience (2017) as Ronit Krushka
- The Mercy (2017) as Clare Crowhurst
- The Favourite (2018) as Sarah Churchill
- Black Widow (2021) as Melina Vostokoff
Weisz's roles and works contain examples of:
- Actor Allusion:
- She's played scientists involved in "Black Ops" projects in Chain Reaction and The Bourne Legacy.
- She's a Posthumous Character in Constantine and The Constant Gardener.
- She's played doctors whose work contributed to creating brainwashed assassins in The Bourne Legacy and Black Widow.
- Awesome, Dear Boy: Oz the Great and Powerful's script came through her agent. Jumping at the chance to play a Wicked Witch, she lobbied hard for it.
- Celebrity Voice Actor: As the voice of Saphira in the film version of Eragon.
- Creator Backlash: Both she and husband Daniel Craig - as well as director Jim Sheridan - disowned the film Dream House and refused to promote it.
- The Danza: She played characters named Rachel in About a Boy and My Cousin Rachel.
- Deleted Role: She filmed scenes for the film To the Wonder but they ended up cut.
- Doing It for the Art: Agreed to work on The Fountain at a reduced rate, just because of Darren Aronofsky's enthusiasm for the project.
- Dyeing for Your Art: Cut all her hair off for her role as a cancer patient in The Fountain. She also dyed her hair platinum blonde for Beautiful Creatures.
- Fake American: Has played Americans sometimes, as she's able to slip into an American accent fairly easily. She plays an American in The Fountain but uses her natural voice when playing Queen Isabella of Spain (It Makes Sense in Context).
- Hollywood Old: At only the age of forty she played Hypatia at the age of sixty in Agora.
- Older Than She Looks: Still looks like she’s in her 20s even into her 50s.
- The Other Darrin: Maria Bello replaces her as Evey for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, due to Rachel not wanting to move to China to film (after having just given birth).
- Playing Against Type:
- One of her most famous roles - Evey in The Mummy is an example. Although she's smart, like Rachel's usual types, she's also a Cute Clumsy Girl who's pretty much The Fool as well. By the second film, Evey has matured, and she's within Rachel's type.
- She plays a snobby Rich Bitch type in Stealing Beauty.
- And in Oz the Great and Powerful she plays the Wicked Witch of the East. She had to really lobby for the role, as Sam Raimi didn't think she was right for it.
- Playing Their Own Twin:
- In Constantine she plays twins Angela and Isabelle Dodson.
- And Elliot and Beverly Mantle in Dead Ringers (2023).
- Star-Making Role: The Mummy brought her to national attention, and her Oscar win for The Constant Gardener solidified it.
- Throw It In!: One scene in The Constant Gardener was just the cinematographer following Rachel interacting with locals in Kibera.
- Typecasting: Usually as a strong intelligent lady - a scientist, librarian or else just a very smart and responsible type.
- What Could Have Been:
- She's been up for a few roles that Cate Blanchett ended up playing - such as Daisy in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Marion in Robin Hood (2010). She was also in the running for Catwoman and Miranda Tate/Talia in The Dark Knight Rises. She was also considered for Kate Hudson's Star-Making Role in Almost Famous.
- As a teen model at 14, she got a bit of public attention for turning down what would have been her first acting role in the Richard Gere film King David. As the film ended up being a Box Office Bomb that was trashed by critics, she may have seen potential trouble. According to this article
, she was up for the role of King David's daughter... who gets raped by her brother, who is in turn murdered by another brother as revenge. So it's understandable if she and her parents had misgivings. (In the final film, David's daughter appears very briefly and the first crime is mercifully offscreen). - Her character in The Mummy Returns (Evie's past life) was originally called Nefertiti, after a real life Egyptian queen. Not wanting audiences to laugh at the name, they changed it to Nefertiri.
- The Lovely Bones filmed the subplot from the book where Abigail has an affair with the detective investigating Suzie's murder (which accounts for the chemistry between them in one scene). The whole subplot ended up cut.
