Famke Janssen
Famke Janssen | |
|---|---|
 Famke Janssen at WonderCon, 2013 | |
| Born | Famke Beumer Janssen[1] c. 1964 (age 59–60)[2][3] |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Height | 182 cm (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) |
| Spouse | |
Famke Beumer Janssen (/ˈfɑːmkə ˈjɑːnsən/; Dutch: [ˈfɑmkə ˈbøːmər ˈjɑnsə(n)]; born c. 1964) is a Dutch actress, director, screenwriter and former fashion model. She played Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye (1995), Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series (2000–14), Ava Moore on Nip/Tuck and Lenore Mills in Taken (2008) and its sequels, Taken 2 (2012) and Taken 3 (2014). In 2008, she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for Integrity by the United Nations. She made her directorial debut with Bringing Up Bobby in 2011. She is also known for her role in the Netflix Original Series Hemlock Grove (TV series) and for her role in ABC's How To Get Away With Murder. Janssen is scheduled to star in the 2016–2017 season crime thriller, The Blacklist: Redemption, on NBC.
Early life and education
Famke Beumer Janssen[1] was born c. 1964[2] in Amstelveen in the Netherlands.[3] Her first name, Famke, means "girl" in West Frisian, the native language of the Dutch province Friesland.[4] She was given both her mother and father's surnames: Beumer and Janssen. She retained the name Janssen.[5] She has two sisters, director Antoinette Beumer and actress Marjolein Beumer, both of whom changed their surnames to simply Beumer.[6] In addition to her native Dutch, Janssen speaks English and French. She also learned German, but has not kept up with it.[7] Following her high school graduation, Janssen studied economics for a year at the University of Amsterdam, which she later called "the stupidest idea I ever had."[6] In the early 1990s, she enrolled at Columbia University to study creative writing and literature. She graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Career
Modelling and early 1990s
In 1984, Janssen moved to the United States to begin her professional career as a fashion model. She signed with Elite Model Management and worked for Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Victoria's Secret. She starred in a 1988 commercial for the perfume Exclamation by Coty, Inc.[8] Her looks have been compared to Hedy Lamarr and other 1940s films stars.[4]
After retiring from modelling in the early 1990s, Janssen had guest roles on several television series, including a starring role in the 1992 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Perfect Mate", as empathic metamorph Kamala, opposite Patrick Stewart, with whom she later starred in the X-Men film series.[4] That same year, Janssen was offered the role of Jadzia Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but turned it down to pursue film roles.[9] Her first film role was alongside Jeff Goldblum in the 1992 crime drama film Fathers & Sons.
1990s
In 1995, Janssen appeared in Pierce Brosnan's first James Bond film, GoldenEye, as femme fatale Xenia Onatopp. She also appeared in Lord of Illusions with Scott Bakula. In an attempt to fight against typecasting after her Bond girl performance, Janssen began seeking out more intriguing support roles, appearing in John Irvin's City of Industry, Woody Allen's Celebrity, Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man, and Ted Demme's Monument Ave.[10] Denis Leary, her co-star in Monument Ave., was impressed by how easily she blended in, initially not recognizing her as she was already in character.[4] In the late 1990s, she also appeared in The Faculty, Rounders, Deep Rising, and House on Haunted Hill.
X-Men films
In 2000, Janssen played superhero Dr. Jean Grey in the Marvel Studios film X-Men. She later reprised the role in the 2003 sequel, X2 where her character shows signs of increasing powers but at the end of the film, she is presumably killed. Janssen returns as a very much alive Jean whose death in X2 awoke her dark alternate personality, Phoenix in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). At the end of the film, she is killed by Wolverine (played by Hugh Jackman), who only does it because Jean asks him to, not wanting to hurt anyone when Phoenix is in control. For that role, she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.[11] She returned as Jean in the 2013 film The Wolverine as a hallucination of Wolverine's.[12]
In 2014, Janssen reprised her role of Jean Grey in a brief cameo for X-Men: Days of Future Past, as did a few of the original actors from the first three films including Anna Paquin and James Marsden. In the film, Wolverine went back in time and changed the course of the future, the result being that the events of the third movie, including the deaths of Jean Grey and Cyclops, never happened.[13][14]
2002–present
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In 2002, Janssen landed the role of villainess Serleena in Men in Black II, but had to abandon the film due to a death in her family.
In addition, Janssen had a prominent role in the second season of the popular TV series Nip/Tuck, as the seductive and manipulative life coach Ava Moore, which earned her Hollywood Life's Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award.[15] She reprised her role in the final two episodes of the series.
In 2007, she starred in Turn the River, for which she was awarded the Special Recognition Best Actress Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival.[16] The following year, she starred in Luc Besson's Taken. Janssen also continued to work in television, appearing in TV pilots for NBC's cop drama Winters and Showtime's The Farm, a The L Word spin-off set in a women's prison. Both pilots were rejected by their respective networks. Janssen also provided the Dutch language narration for the Studio Tram Tour at all Disney theme parks.[10]
In 2011, Janssen made her directorial début with the drama Bringing Up Bobby. She also wrote the screenplay to the film, which stars Milla Jovovich, Bill Pullman and Marcia Cross.[17] She reprised her role as Lenore Mills in Taken 2 (2012) and Taken 3 (2014). She starred as the main villain Muriel in Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013).
Janssen has starred in the Netflix Original, horror thriller television series Hemlock Grove since 2013 where she plays the role of family matriarch Olivia Godfrey.[18]
Janssen is scheduled to star in an upcoming NBC crime thriller, The Blacklist: Redemption (a spinoff of The Blacklist), beginning in the fall of 2016.[19]
Personal life and activism
Janssen was married to writer and director Kip Williams, son of architect Tod Williams, from 1995 to 2000.[3]
Janssen appeared with her dog, Licorice, a brindle Boston Terrier, in a 2007 PETA campaign to raise awareness for animal rights. The campaign used the slogan "Be an Angel for Animals."[20] On 28 January 2008, she was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for Integrity for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime at a United Nations anti-corruption conference held in Nusa Dua, Bali.[21]
In 2016, Janssen showed frustration in not being cast in the new X-Men movie X-Men: Apocalypse saying Hollywood was sexist towards older women.[22] She said “Women, it’s interesting because they’re replaced, and the older versions are never to be seen again... whereas the men are allowed to be both ages.”[22]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Fathers & Sons | Kyle Christian | |
| 1994 | Relentless IV: Ashes to Ashes | Dr. Sara Lee Jaffee | Video |
| 1995 | GoldenEye | Xenia Onatopp | |
| 1995 | Lord of Illusions | Dorothea Swann | |
| 1996 | Dead Girl | Treasure | |
| 1997 | City of Industry | Rachel Montana | |
| 1998 | Monument Ave. | Katy O'Connor | |
| 1998 | The Gingerbread Man | Leeanne Magruder | |
| 1998 | Deep Rising | Trillian St. James | |
| 1998 | RPM | Claudia Haggs | |
| 1998 | Rounders | Petra | |
| 1998 | Celebrity | Bonnie | |
| 1998 | The Adventures of Sebastian Cole | Fiona | |
| 1998 | The Faculty | Miss Elizabeth Burke | |
| 1999 | House on Haunted Hill | Evelyn Stockard-Price | |
| 2000 | Love & Sex | Kate Welles | |
| 2000 | Circus | Lily Garfield | |
| 2000 | X-Men | Jean Grey | |
| 2001 | Made | Jessica | |
| 2001 | Don't Say a Word | Agatha "Aggie" Conrad | |
| 2002 | I Spy | Rachel Wright | |
| 2003 | X2 | Jean Grey | |
| 2004 | Eulogy | Judy Arnolds | |
| 2005 | Hide and Seek | Dr. Katherine Carson | |
| 2006 | X-Men: The Last Stand | Jean Grey / Dark Phoenix | |
| 2006 | The Treatment | Allegra Marshall | |
| 2007 | The Ten | Gretchen Reigert | |
| 2007 | Turn the River | Kailey Sullivan | |
| 2008 | The Wackness | Kristen Squires | |
| 2008 | Taken | Lenore "Lenny" Mills | |
| 2008 | 100 Feet | Marnie Watson | |
| 2010 | The Chameleon | Jennifer Johnson | |
| 2011 | Down the Shore | Mary Reed | |
| 2011 | Bringing Up Bobby | N/A | Director, producer, writer |
| 2012 | Taken 2 | Lenore "Lenny" Mills | |
| 2013 | Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters | Muriel | |
| 2013 | The Wolverine | Jean Grey | |
| 2013 | The Being Experience | N/A | original title: In the Woods |
| 2014 | A Fighting Man | Diane Schuler | |
| 2014 | Unity | Narrator (voice) | Documentary; post-production |
| 2014 | X-Men: Days of Future Past | Jean Grey | Cameo |
| 2014 | Taken 3 | Lenore "Lenny" Mills | |
| 2015 | Jack of the Red Hearts | Kay | |
| 2016 | Going Under | N/A | Post-production |
| 2016 | This Is Your Death | Ilana Katz | Post-production |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Kamala | Episode: "The Perfect Mate" |
| 1994 | Melrose Place | Diane Adamson | Episode: "Michael's Game" |
| 1994 | Model by Day | Lex / Lady X | TV film |
| 1994 | The Untouchables | Cleo | Episode: "Voyeur" |
| 2000–01 | Ally McBeal | Jamie | Episodes: "The Man with the Bag", "The Ex-Files" |
| 2004–10 | Nip/Tuck | Ava Moore | Recurring role (11 episodes) |
| 2007 | Winters | Christie Winters | TV film |
| 2008 | Puppy Love | Maya | Web series |
| 2009 | The Farm | Valentina Galindo | TV film |
| 2013–15 | Hemlock Grove | Olivia Godfrey | Main role (33 episodes) |
| 2015–present | How to Get Away with Murder | Eve Rothlow | Recurring role (7 episodes) |
| 2015 | SuperMansion | Special guest / Frau Mantis | Voice role (2 episodes) |
| 2016 | Robot Chicken | Jean Grey | Voice role; episode: "Joel Hurwitz" |
| 2016 | The Blacklist | Susan Hargrave | Recurring role (3 episodes) |
| 2016 | The Blacklist: Redemption | Susan Hargrave | Upcoming series; main role |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Nominated Work | Results | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | MTV Movie Award for Best Fight (shared with Pierce Brosnan) | GoldenEye | Nominated | |
| 1999 | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Horror | House on Haunted Hill | Nominated | |
| 2000 | Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Science Fiction | X-Men | Nominated | |
| 2006 | Teen Choice Award for Choice Liplock (Shared with Hugh Jackman) | X-Men: The Last Stand | Nominated | |
| 2007 | Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress | X-Men: The Last Stand | Won | |
| 2007 | Hamptons International Film Festival for Special Recognition | Turn the River | Won | |
| 2007 | Hamptons International Film Festival for Special Prize | Turn the River | Won | |
| 2016 | Gold Derby TV Award for Drama Guest Actress | How to Get Away with Murder | Nominated |
References
- ^ a b "Famke Janssen- Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b College Tour: Famke Janssen kijk je op. npo.nl. 2014-09-26. Event occurs at 30:36. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
- ^ a b c "Famke Janssen Biography". FilmReference.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c d Elias, Justine (15 November 1998). "Famke Janssen; Transformations As a Way of Life, Not Just on Screen". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ "Famke Janssen [1965] Stage and Screen Performer". New Netherland Institute. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
Also note that Famke retained her family name Janssen but her sisters changed their family name to Beumer.
- ^ a b Malanowski, Jamie (20 August 2000). "A Scene Stealer's Big Score". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
- ^ Toal, Drew (7–13 May 2008). "The Hot Seat: She's a hustler, baby". Time Out New York. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ "Famke Janssen Exclamation perfume commercial". Retrieved 16 October 2011 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Famke Janssen". BuddyTV. Retrieved 23 December 2012.
- ^ a b "Famke Janssen on Tavis Smiley". PBS. 6 May 2008. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Famke Janssen [1965] Stage and Screen Performer". New Netherland Institute. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
In 2007 she won three awards, the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress...
- ^ Robert Yaniz Jr. "'The Wolverine': Hugh Jackman on Jean Grey's Return". Screen Rant. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ Rob Keyes. "Famke Janssen on 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' Return: 'Stay Tuned'". Screen Rant. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ Malkin, Marc (30 May 2014). "X-Men: How Famke Janssen Kept Her Days of Future Past Cameo a Secret". E! News. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ "Famke Janssen at the Hollywood Life Magazine's Breakthrough of the..." Getty Images.
- ^ "2007 Hamptons International Film Festival Awards". HamptonsFilmFest.org. 4 January 2008. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ Gilmore, Joan (5 August 2010). "Around Town: Bobby crew at JRB gallery". The Journal Record. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ Gina McIntyre (27 May 2014). "'Hemlock Grove' first look: Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgard in Season 2". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (14 May 2016). "The Blacklist Spinoff Picked Up To Series, NBC, Cruel Intentions Alive". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
- ^ "Famke Janssen Is an Angel for Animals". PETA. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ "UN Anti-Corruption Conference Opens in Bali". United Nations Information Service Vienna. 28 January 2008. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ a b Child, Ben (25 April 2016). "Jansen said she could not understand why other X-men actors have been given older versions of themselves". The Guardian. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
External links
