Famke Janssen

FAMKE JANSSEN

She may have captured the world’s attention as a Bond girl in 1995’s GoldenEye, but Famke Janssen is determined to break the stigma attached to such.  Yes, she CAN act, yes, she does have brains to match her beauty, and has proven so many times over since her rise to fame.

Famke Beumer Janssen was born on November 5th, 1965 in Amstelveen, the Netherlands.  Though her name is often mispronounced in the U.S., growing up in Amsterdam she was known as Fahm-Kuh Yan-Sun --  in her native language of West Frisian, her first name means 'little girl.’  Besides the Dutch she grew up speaking, Famke also speaks English and French.

Prior to moving to the United States, Famke attended the University of Amsterdam where she studied economics.  She later called this “the stupidest idea I ever had.”  After moving to the U.S. in 1984, Famke began a career as a fashion model.  Elite Model Management signed her and she was soon doing ad work for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Victoria’s Secret.  In the early 1990s, Famke left the modeling business and enrolled at Columbia University to study drama, literature and creative writing.  Soon after, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting.

Among her first roles were the 1992 Jeff Goldblum film Fathers & Sons, and an appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation as empathic metamorph Kamala in the episode The Perfect Mate.  After a few more TV appearances, and a rather lackluster horror film (Clive Barker’s Lord of Illusions), Famke appeared as femme fatale Xenia Onatopp in Pierce Brosnan’s first James Bond film GoldenEye.

FAMKE JANSSEN

Proud to be a Bond girl, but determined not to be typecast as such, Famke next took roles in an increasingly eclectic assortment of projects, including City of Industry (1997), The Gingerbread Man (1998), Deep Rising (1998), Rounders (1998), Woody Allen’s Celebrity (1998), The Adventures of Sebastian Cole (1998), The Faculty (1998 ... this seems to have been a very productive year), House on Haunted Hill (1999), and Love & Sex (2000).

Also in 2000, director Bryan Singer cast Famke as Dr. Jean Grey in his adaptation of the Marvel comics staple X-Men.  The film was a worldwide smash and spawned numerous sequels -- Famke also starred in X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

After making her X-Men debut, Famke went on to star in yet more diverse projects, like Don’t Say a Word (2001), Eulogy (2004), Hide and Seek (2005), The Treatment (2006), Alibi (2007), The Ten (2007), Turn the River (2007 -- Famke played a female pool hustler and won the Special Jury Best Actress Award at the 2007 Hamptons International Film Festival), The Wackness (2008), Taken (2008), 100 Feet (2008), Puppy Love (2008), and The Farm (2009).

When she isn’t working, Famke resides in West Village in New York City.  Though she is currently single, she was married to writer/director Tod Williams from 1995 - 2000.  She also travels frequently with her Boston Terrier Licorice.

Beauty, brains, charisma, talent -- Famke seems to have the world on a string.  According to her, all she needs now is the boy.  “My dream is to find a guy,” she says.  “Someone who can tell me a different bedtime story every night.”  (Ahem) ... You know, I am a writer.  A novelist, even.  If you read this, Famke, get in touch.  We’ll talk.

FAMKE JANSSEN AND LICORICE

Up next: Kiddie Ride (2009), Peep World (2009), The Possibility of Fireflies (2009), The Chameleon (2010).

Famke Janssen Quotes:

"I felt different born into a family with two sisters who are blonde and blue-eyed, with me being the only brunette."

“I would rather not work than play in a movie that nobody watches.”

“We've always been ready for female superheroes.  Because women want to be them and men want to do them.”

“I don't want to be exploited.  That of course, as an actress, is a real challenge, not to be exploited.  So I'm just going to keep looking for as many different types of roles as I can find in different genre movies.  That's my goal, my aim.  I like doing that.  I've had a pretty varied career so far."

“I don't even like talking about dating.  It's like having a stamp on your forehead: 'I'm available and I'm looking.’ “

“I think acting is just like that.  There is something childish and fun about it.”

FAMKE JANSSEN

“Looking back, boy, has there ever been a stigma in being a Bond Girl.  That's what my mission in life is, just to prove them wrong.  That's why I have such an urge to keep going and proving that.  It's so silly.  What on earth does the way you look have anything to do with whether you can act or not.”

“I'm a firm believer in taking risks in life, because you'll never get anywhere unless you do, and the more risk involved the greater the outcome -- or the worse, but you never know so you've got to go for it.”

Regarding the subject matter of her 2008 film Taken: “As long as corruption exists, human trafficking will likely flourish I'd like to give something back on an issue that matters to me.”

“Everybody gets typecast in movies, but you have to make wise choices.  I'd say around 90 percent of movie casting is about the way you look, so you have to fight that.  If producers had their way, I'd only be in action films, but I'm interested in a more varied career than that.”

“I don't know how to cook and there's so much work involved you have to buy the groceries and prepare them.  I like it when people cook for me, or I'll just order some take-out.”

“I always feel like I want to do my career my own way.  I never follow anybody's path, what they've done.”

“I love scary movies.  The Shining and Don't Look Now are two of the best.”

FAMKE JANSSEN

“I love the first two X-Men movies because I thought that Bryan Singer did such a great job.  He elevated that whole genre.  He's a very talented director.”

“I want to work with great directors.  I want to work on good material with good actors.  I've probably done 20 movies at this point and a lot of independents.  It's been an incredible ride and I love it and I'm just going to keep going and doing what I'm doing.”

“Playing psychos is fun, they give you the license and freedom that you don't have when you play a normal person.  Because, with a psycho, there's no limit.  You can absolutely ham it up.”