Famke Janssen

Famke Janssen (Born 5 November 1965) is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her roles in GoldenEye, Nip/Tuck and as Dr. Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men movies. Janssen is also a UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for Integrity. Janssen's name is pronounced as Fahm-Kuh Yan-Sin. The first name means little girl in West Frisian, the native language of the Dutch province Friesland. Famke Janssen is the most succesfull Dutch Actress in the U.S.A.

Famke Janssen was born in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. Besides her native Dutch, Janssen learned to speak English, German and French. She has two sisters, director Antoinette Beumer and actress Marjolein Beumer. Before coming to America, Janssen studied economics for a year at the University of Amsterdam calling it "the stupidest idea I ever had". Janssen moved to the United States in 1984 and began her professional career as a fashion model. She was signed with Elite Model Management and worked for Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and Victoria's Secret. After retiring from modeling in the early 1990's, she enrolled at Columbia University to study creative writing and literature and also took up acting. Several years later she moved to Los Angeles to establish her acting career.

Upon moving to Los Angeles, Janssen obtained her first parts, appearing in guest roles on TV series. One of her first appearances was in 1992, when she starred in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Perfect Mate" as empathic metamorph Kamala, opposite Patrick Stewart (who would later star with her in the X-Men film series). Then, in that same year, Janssen was offered the role of Jadzia Dax of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but turned it down in favor of film roles. Janssen's first film role was with Jeff Goldblum in the 1992 film Fathers & Sons. In 1995, she appeared in the first Pierce Brosnan James Bond film, GoldenEye, as femme fatale Xenia Onatopp.

Famke Janssen played superheroine Dr. Jean Grey/Phoenix in X-Men, X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand. She won a Saturn Award for the role in X-Men: The Last Stand. She also starred in the movies Lord of Illusions, The Faculty, House on Haunted Hill, I Spy, Rounders, Deep Rising, Hide and Seek, and Taken (film). In addition, Janssen had a prominent role in the second season of the popular TV show, Nip/Tuck, as the seductive and manipulative transsexual life coach, Ava Moore.

In 2003, Janssen was awarded the International Star of the Year. In 2004, she won the Hollywood Life Breakthrough Artist of the Year for her work on Nip/Tuck. In 2006, the Hamptons International Film Festival awarded her with the Golden Starfish Award for career achievement in acting. She is in fact the most succesfull Dutch actress all times in the U.S.A.