Biography for
Famke Janssen More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

5 November 1964, Amstelveen, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Birth Name

Famke Beumer Janssen

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

Famke was born in Holland, where she began her professional career as a model. She later moved to the United States, where she has made her home since 1984. Initially settling in New York, she majored in writing and literature at Columbia University and studied acting with Harold Guskin. She then went to Los Angeles, where she continued to study acting under Roy London. Famke made her feature film debut with Jeff Goldblum in Fathers & Sons (1992).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Greg Keller

Mini Biography

Famke Janssen was born November 5, 1965, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and has two other siblings. Moving to America in the 1980s, she modeled for Chanel in New York. Later, taking a break from modeling, she attended Columbia University, majoring in literature.

This model-turned-actress broke into Hollywood in the early 1990s. Her first film was Fathers & Sons (1992); later, she became James Bond's enemy in GoldenEye (1995). Her career has bloomed since then with her starring in such films as House on Haunted Hill (1999), Hide and Seek (2005), a reoccurring role on FX's "Nip/Tuck" (2003) and the blockbuster movies X-Men (2000), X2 (2003), and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Brittany Johnson

Spouse

Tod Williams

(1995 - 2000) (divorce)

Trivia

Her two sisters are blonde and blue-eyed, while she is the only brunette.

Was cast as Serleena in Men in Black II (2002) but had to drop out due to a death in the family. Lara Flynn Boyle was cast in her place.

Speaks Dutch, German, English, and French.

Offered the lead female role in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), but turned it down.

Sisters Antoinette Beumer and Marjolein Beumer are a director and actress respectively.

Wears size 11 shoes. Because of their large size, her shoes had to be especially made for her for the film GoldenEye (1995). In Love & Sex (2000), Jon Favreau's character jokes about how big her character's feet were.

Measurements: 36-24-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

Provides the Dutch-language narration for the Studio Tram Tour at Disney parks.

While appearing on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (1993) to promote her role of the sex-crazed assassin in the James Bond film GoldenEye (1995), Famke gave Conan a first hand experience of her character's signature moves by performing them on him using the top of his desk. When she asked him if he would like the demonstration, Conan responded with "This is what we in the industry call a 'no-brainer'."

Has a Boston Terrier named Licorice.

Ranked #69 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women In The World." [2002]

Her sister was visiting South-East Asia during the Tsunami on December 26th, 2004, and had to flee the water to save her life.

Originally, Famke Janssen cast for the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) series after her work on the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) episode "The Perfect Mate" and was to reprise her role as Kamala. However, she wanted to leave herself open for feature film work and turned the role down. Jadzia Dax's role was created to take the place of this character, performed by actress Terry Farrell.

Ex-Sister-in-law of Director Joram Lürsen.

Did all her own pool shots in Turn the River (2007).

Used to eat almonds and dried cranberries every day while filming X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

Her favorite movies of her career are Love & Sex (2000) and Turn the River (2007).

Turn the River (2007) was written for her by her The Treatment (2006) co-star Chris Eigeman.

Her favorite horror movie is The Shining (1980).

Is a fan of Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep.

She is against typecasting.

Is a Vegetarian.

Lives in New York City.

She's the Dutch-language narrator for the studio tram tour at Disneyland and Disney World.

Personal Quotes

"I felt different born into a family with two sisters who are blonde and blue-eyed, with me being the only brunette". In an interview to People Weekly magazine, July 31, 2000. Volume 54, Number 5.

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.

"I love darkness. I am attracted to the dark side of life! I thought it was really interesting that Jean Grey went through some changes in this film." - About her character's change in X2 (2003) (aka X-Men United)

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.

As long as corruption exists, human trafficking will likely flourish I'd like to give something back on an issue that matters to me.

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