Rachel Weisz

Birthday: 7 March 1970, Westminster, London, England, UK

Birth Name: Rachel Hannah Weisz

Height: 168 cm

Rachel Hannah Weisz was born on 7 March, 1970, in London, U.K., to Edith Ruth (Teich), a psychoanalyst, and George Weisz, an inventor. Her parents both came to England around 1938. Her father is a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, and her mother, from Vienna, is of Italian and Austrian Jewish heritage. Rachel has a sister, Minnie, a curator and photographer.Rachel started modeling when she was 14, and began acting during her studies at Cambridge University. While there, she formed a theater company named "Talking Tongues", which won the Guardian Award, at the Edinburgh Festival, for its take on Neville Southall's "Washbag". Rachel went on to star on stage in the lauded Sean Mathias revival of Noël Coward's "Design For Living". It was a role that won her a vote for Most Promising Newcomer by the London Critics' Circle.She has starred in many movies, including The Mummy (1999), Enemy at the Gates (2001) and Stealing Beauty (1996). Rachel can also be seen in the movies The Shape of Things (2003), About a Boy (2002), Constantine (2005) and The Constant Gardener (2005), for which she won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress.She recently (early 2011) married "James Bond" actor, Daniel Craig in a private ceremony in New York. Show less «

I sometimes do worry that actors are people's role models, you know. And doctors and teachers and pe...Show more »

I sometimes do worry that actors are people's role models, you know. And doctors and teachers and people doing really important things just get paid nothing. And they put us on the cover of magazines. They should be our heroes. I find it all a bit dubious. Show less «

Natalie Portman's character in Black Swan (2010) has technique, but what she doesn't have is abandon...Show more »

Natalie Portman's character in Black Swan (2010) has technique, but what she doesn't have is abandon. If you have both, it equals something very special. The only way to feel free is to get lost. Show less «

I'm very wary of talking about statements. I'm a storyteller, I'm an actor, an entertainer.

[ on the perceived lack of good movie roles for women] There should be more. Its strange, talking ab...Show more »

[ on the perceived lack of good movie roles for women] There should be more. Its strange, talking about women as if we're a tiny minority group that needs to be represented in cinema. It's like saying we need to find some good roles for sheepdogs. Show less «

Some of the material I'm attracted to is not commercial. Which means it's really fucking interesting...Show more »

Some of the material I'm attracted to is not commercial. Which means it's really fucking interesting, you know? It's off-center. It doesn't fit a genre. I'm not trying to sound like I'm unaware. I understand that it's a business to some extent, but I also think that with independent film, the stakes are not that high. There are things that are big-business-slash-small-art. This cocktail would have been low-business-slash-high-art. It's about creativity rather than merchandising. Show less «

I find Hollywood really toxic.

People find out I'm an actress and I see that 'whore' look flicker across their eyes.

There's not much room for eccentricity in Hollywood, and eccentricity is what's sexy in people.

I have absolutely no empathy for camels. I didn't care for being abused in the Middle East by those ...Show more »

I have absolutely no empathy for camels. I didn't care for being abused in the Middle East by those horrible, horrible, horrible creatures. They don't like people. It's not at all like the relationship between horses and humans. Show less «

[Talking about Darren Aronofsky] I guess the first impression was that I'd been a big admirer of his...Show more »

[Talking about Darren Aronofsky] I guess the first impression was that I'd been a big admirer of his work, and then I met someone who you'd never have put with that work. There was something very refreshing about that. I thought I was going to meet someone who was very intense and weird. Show less «

There's a lot of contemporary actresses I admire, but there's practically no one who's made a color ...Show more »

There's a lot of contemporary actresses I admire, but there's practically no one who's made a color movie whose career I'd want ... I don't feel very modern at all. Show less «

I think most people look back on their childhood and think: "Phew! I'm out of that!" But of course, ...Show more »

I think most people look back on their childhood and think: "Phew! I'm out of that!" But of course, I grew up in a very nice house in Hampstead Garden Suburb, so what do I know? Show less «

I think mystery is kind of great. I don't know anything about Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn or Av...Show more »

I think mystery is kind of great. I don't know anything about Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn or Ava Gardner - not really - and I like that. I love watching their movies because they're my personal movie stars. I don't know what they eat and who their trainer is. Show less «

I found myself a sophisticated, educated American. He's not an actor. He's traveled the world. He kn...Show more »

I found myself a sophisticated, educated American. He's not an actor. He's traveled the world. He knows where Europe is, unlike a lot of Americans. He's very cultured, but he's all man. Show less «

The celebrity thing... I don't want to sound as if I absolutely don't want it because that's not tru...Show more »

The celebrity thing... I don't want to sound as if I absolutely don't want it because that's not true. If you're in the entertainment business, you have to be honest. There's something alluring about it... Show less «

The thing about having your hair a different color is that it doesn't change your DNA. It's how peop...Show more »

The thing about having your hair a different color is that it doesn't change your DNA. It's how people respond to you, I guess. Show less «

I've never felt uncomfortable with my level of fame. I don't get hassled. Maybe sometimes in a minor...Show more »

I've never felt uncomfortable with my level of fame. I don't get hassled. Maybe sometimes in a minor way, but New Yorkers are much too cool for that. The thing is, you choose to be an actress, but not to be a celebrity. Show less «

I'm not one for parties and stuff like that. I get a bit nervous around lots of people. Being invisi...Show more »

I'm not one for parties and stuff like that. I get a bit nervous around lots of people. Being invisible is what I really enjoy. That I find quite entertaining. Show less «

Los Angeles makes you feel ugly. I'm not going to pretend I haven't secretly wanted to be super-skin...Show more »

Los Angeles makes you feel ugly. I'm not going to pretend I haven't secretly wanted to be super-skinny, because all girls do.But I have a woman's body, not a boy's body. Most women do and should feel proud of their butts and their breasts and their bellies. Show less «

God no! I hate it, absolutely hate it. I can't stand it, it's such a drag. So I just tend to wear th...Show more »

God no! I hate it, absolutely hate it. I can't stand it, it's such a drag. So I just tend to wear the same things all the time. I don't like change anyway. - on shopping. Show less «

You know what, I have faith in people. I think people want to see something new and different. They ...Show more »

You know what, I have faith in people. I think people want to see something new and different. They don't want to see anything that they've seen before. They don't want to have it worked out in the first 10 minutes how it will end. I think people are really smart and sophisticated. Show less «

I thought David Bowie was a poet in touch with God. For me, he really dramatized not belonging in a ...Show more »

I thought David Bowie was a poet in touch with God. For me, he really dramatized not belonging in a really powerful and poetic way and when you're 14 and you feel grotesque, it's like: "I've found a friend." Show less «

If I was a record, I'd be Beethoven. It's very raw and passionate, it makes you want to get out ther...Show more »

If I was a record, I'd be Beethoven. It's very raw and passionate, it makes you want to get out there and do your thing. Show less «

'Oh God, don't make me come across as a moaner. I think it's unacceptable to moan about anything whe...Show more »

'Oh God, don't make me come across as a moaner. I think it's unacceptable to moan about anything when you're lucky enough to do what I do. What I'm trying to say is I'm more settled now. The thirties have calmed me down. I know who my real friends are, I know what I want to do. In your twenties, you just do everything. It's just overload all the time. In the thirties, you learn that it's OK to go to bed early if you want. Show less «

[re winning Oscar for The Constant Gardener (2005)] I was eight months pregnant, so a lot of my memo...Show more »

[re winning Oscar for The Constant Gardener (2005)] I was eight months pregnant, so a lot of my memory was centering around - well, needing to urinate] actually often, and you know, the thing, the fear that you have that you're going to be in the can when your name is called. There was a huge amount of excitement, huge amount of anxiety that comes from being at the Oscars for the first time and being very pregnant. I also get really sad. I had designed such a clever dress that people who didn't know me, that didn't know I was pregnant, probably thought I was just chubby. I wish I'd worn a tighter dress that definitely showed for sure I was pregnant. Show less «

They're very harsh critics and they've often said to me: "That was shit, you were crap', but this is...Show more »

They're very harsh critics and they've often said to me: "That was shit, you were crap', but this is the first time [after he saw her as "Amy Foster" on Swept from the Sea (1997)] my father said to me: 'I think one day you'll be a good actress"-- on her parents. Show less «

I don't do too well there. If you were brought up in London, where you can walk around everywhere an...Show more »

I don't do too well there. If you were brought up in London, where you can walk around everywhere and there are theaters, you can't really do LA. I couldn't make a life there. You're in a car all the time, and there are no seasons. Show less «

I'm a bit superstitious about certain things, like what shoes to wear. If I wear the wrong shoes, th...Show more »

I'm a bit superstitious about certain things, like what shoes to wear. If I wear the wrong shoes, the whole day may go wrong. Or if I don't get to the bottom of the stairs before the door closes - stupid little things like that. Then I also have all the normal ones, like don't walking under ladders and so on. Show less «

You just have to play every scene honestly and forget about a reaction and what the audience is goin...Show more »

You just have to play every scene honestly and forget about a reaction and what the audience is going to think. I think the more seriously you take something, the more funny it might be. Show less «

When I'm playing a character, I use the American accent. But when I go back to England, I just glide...Show more »

When I'm playing a character, I use the American accent. But when I go back to England, I just glide right back into Englishness immediately. Every actor uses a dialect coach. Every actor, and if they say they don't, they're lying. Everybody does, yeah. You don't want to worry about it. You have someone listening out to check that you're not straying. Show less «

"Working with someone like Dustin Hoffman is a huge honor and, after you kind of get through that, y...Show more »

"Working with someone like Dustin Hoffman is a huge honor and, after you kind of get through that, you're frightened about working with a screen legend, and I was just in awe". Show less «

Rachel Weisz

Rachel Weisz's FILMOGRAPHY

Rachel Weisz'S roles

Feedback about this page?