Famke Janssen
Famke Janssen
Famke Beumer Janssen]; born c. 1964) is a Dutch actress, director, screenwriter and former fashion model. She played Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye, Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series, Ava Moore on Nip/Tuck and Lenore Mills in Takenand its sequels, Taken 2and Taken 3. 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. Janssen is scheduled to star in an upcoming NBC crime thriller, The...
NationalityDutch
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth5 November 1964
CityAmstelveen, Netherlands
I love stories about two people who are doing illegal things, who we really enjoy watching despite the fact that we know they are doomed in some way.
I think every movie is its own little world, and a director certainly sets the tone.
I started as a model in Holland and Chanel took me to New York when I was 19, after which I decided to stay.
I know Dark Phoenix is a huge part of the X-Men saga, so I'm assuming they're at least going to want to touch on it, but I don't know and I don't know whether I would want to be involved. That depends on many different things.
It's different for each individual. It's different when you talk about homosexuality. It's different when you talk about a malady like deafness. Everybody might have a different response to that and that's what makes it an interesting subject to throw in a movie.
We've always been ready for female superheroes. Because women want to be them and men want to do them.
In studio films, everything has to be boxed in, everybody needs to know beforehand - this is comedy, this is sci-fi, this is drama - and what's the point of independent film if you don't get to experiment?
Once you achieve a certain level of success or fame, it becomes really difficult to go against type.
It's not as if you can act bigger to fit the surroundings or the budget more. Whatever, it just doesn't work that way.
I live in New York. I don't really particularly want to move to LA.
Everybody gets typecast in movies, but you have to make wise choices. I'd say around 90 percent of movie casting is about the way you look, so you have to fight that. If producers had their way, I'd only be in action films, but I'm interested in a more varied career than that.
I don't know how to cook and there's so much work involved you have to buy the groceries and prepare them. I like it when people cook for me, or I'll just order some take-out.
I think one of the biggest things is the budget.For a studio, becomes a very big challenge to make sure that movie will work even better on every level. As an actor I don't think in those terms when I make a movie.
I like to go from mainstream movies to more artsy films. I don't sign on for the money. Maybe I should, but I don't. There's always a good reason for doing something.