Stats and Facts

Name Rachel Weisz
Birthdate 7th March 1971
Birth place London, England
Horoscope Pisces
Family Mother Edith Ruth, a Jewish-Austrian psychoanalyst and father George, a Jewish-Hungarian inventor. Has a younger sister, Minnie. Son Henry with Darren Aronofsky
Residence Recently moved to New York, also own a house in Primrose Hill, north London
Partner Darren Aronofsky (director)
Education Studied English at Cambridge University
Hair Dark
Eyes Hazel
Height 5′ 7″ (1.70 m)

Did you know that Rachel…

1. Edith (Rachel’s mother) tried to teach her German as a kid, but she never learned properly.
2. Didn’t want to change her name in the beginning of her career because she didn’t want to betray her family.
3. In the beginning of her career her name was spelled her “Vyce”, because “Vice” would have been too ridiculous (and “Weisz” too difficult). Her agent changed it back bacause he thought it looked “like a fucking number plate”. She has also been credited under the name Kenya Campbell.
4. Formed the Talking Tongues theater company while studying at Cambridge.
5. Won a student drama award for a play she wrote and acted in at 1991’s Edinburgh Festival.
6. Has dated Alessandro Nivola (I Want You co-star), Neil Morrissey (My Summer with Des co-star) and director Sam Mendes (who is now married to another British actress, Kate Winslet).
7. Has a crush on Secretary star Maggie Gyllenhaal.
8. Some entertaimers she admires: Katherine Hepburn, Bette Midler, Elizabeth Taylor, Cate Blanchett, Renee Zellweger, Elvis, and Madonna (”because she constantly reinvents herself.”)
9. Ewan McGregor (Scarlet and Black -co star) and Susan Lynch (Beautiful Creatures -co star) are her favorite actors.
10. Loves her Beautiful Creatures co-star Susan Lynch so much, that a lot of people thought they were in love; “It’s really difficult because we always sound like we’re madly in love with each other. My agent did actually say to me… I was seeing someone new and it was a bit of a secret. After a while, my agent went, “Rachel, I’ve just got to ask you… I don’t mean to be intrusive, but [whisper] is it Susan?” I’d obviously spent the whole lunch going, “La la la Susan, la la la Susan” and I went, “No, no. No, it’s not actually!’”
11. Her all-time favorite musician is Elvis (and favorite track being “Suspicious Minds”). She also loves Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, The White Stripes and Dolly Parton.
12. Says that smoking is her bad habit, but she quit again in late 2003! Congratulations!
13. Was a radical feminist at University.
14. Finds Hollywood and the whole film industry – particularly the way women are treated and used – ‘repellent’.
15. Wanted to make a document about a 70-year old gynegologist, who was the first woman to say “vagina” on national radio.
16. Harry Houdini is her idol – “He could bust out of any jail, out of any lock, out of any situation. He was a very early poster boy using S&M as part of his appearance and a greased body, wearing little underwear. Also he’s Hungarian and his surname was Weiss, so my fantasy has been that he’s a long lost cousin.”
17. She also admires Jackie Onassis and wants to play her in a biotopic.
18. Considers herself “a complete woman appeciator”. When asked which celebrities she thinks are sexy, she always mentions women first (including Shakira, Gena Rowlands, Cate Blanchett and Maggie Gyllenhaal).
19. Was offered a large part in Richard Gere movie King David when she was only 14. Her parents wouldn’t let her do it.
20. She hates frogs and camels.
21. Drives a black, old Jaguar 4.2 Sovereign with pepper-pot wheels.
22. Susan Lynch taught her the horny schoolgirl dance from Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” video.
23. Her favorite movie is Nicolas Roeg and Donald Cammell’s psychedelic 1970 masterpiece Performance.
24. I Want You is her favorite own film so far – “because its fucking amazing”.
25. Says she really wanted the part of Evelyn in the Mummy. When she heard she got it, she went straight to the pub to celebrate and got in an argument with a male friend who objected to the fact that she was asked to lose weight for the film.
26. Educated at the prestigious St Paul’s Girls School in London. Was in the same class as fellow actress Emily Mortimer.
27. Rachel is wheat intolerant.