New Year's Day in 1964 brought the world an amazing beauty. Famke Janssen was born in Amsterdam, Holland. Her two sisters are blonde and blue-eyed, while she is the only brunette. "I felt different born into a family with two sisters who are blonde and blue-eyed, with me being the only brunette". She began her professional career as a model in Amsterdam but work for Chanel and other clients brought had her packing and on a jet plane for New York City.article continued below....

• Hide and Seek (2005) .... Katherine
• Family of the Year (2004)
• GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (2004) (VG) .... Xenia Onatopp
• Eulogy (2004) .... Judy
• X2 (2003) .... Jean Grey

Life as a model wasn't intellectually stimulating for Ms. Janssen, so she enrolled at Columbia University to study writing and literature. Famke is quite intelligent, and says her favorite authors are the Brontë sisters, Vladimir Nabokov, and Jean Rhys. Just two years later, though, her career in acting had begun to take off, so Famke left Columbia. She began studying 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 and Sons". But her turn in GoldenEye (opposite Pierce Brosnan) as the sexy Xenia Onatopp brought her into the spotlight. After the role, Famke took several supporting roles in many films - including Celebrity (with Leonardo DiCaprio), The Faculty (with Jordana Brewster), Deep Rising, and The House on Haunted Hill. Famke was a shoo-in for the role of Jean Grey in the heavily anticipated film, X-Men. The film performed quite well at the box office, and brought Famke further acclaim.

Off the screen, does Famke have a wildly romantic side? "I've never dated," says the beautiful and sexy woman. Say what? "I've always just had boyfriends." Ahhhhh. In fact, Famke has a permanent boyfriend, husband Todd Williams.

• Her name is Frisian for "little girl".
• 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 specially made for her for the film GoldenEye (1995).
• 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 puppy named Licorice.
• In 2001, dated actor Ben Affleck.
• 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.

• "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.