Rachel Weisz is known for portraying women of incredible spirit and intelligence, continues to seek out challenging projects and roles both on screen and on stage.
Weisz is currently in production in New York City on the Untitled Josh Marston Project along with Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates and Danny Glover.
She recently finished filming Paolo Sorrentino’s Youth alongside Michael Caine, and Derek Cianfrance’s The Light Between the Oceans, co-starring Michael Fassbender and based on M.L. Stedman’s New York Times bestseller, which follows a lighthouse keeper and his wife in post-World War I Australia who are faced with a moral dilemma when a boat washes ashore with an infant.
In 2005, Weisz earned unanimous critical praise as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance opposite Ralph Fiennes in Fernando Meirelles’ film adaptation of the best-selling John le Carré novel The Constant Gardner.
In 2012, she received a Golden Globe Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama nomination for her highly acclaimed performance in Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea, a film adaptation of Terrence Rattigan’s play. Her performance in this independent film also earned her Best Actress awards from The New York Film Critics Circle and the Toronto Film Critics Association.
Weisz’s diverse work includes Alejandro Amenábar’s ancient Egyptian epic Agora (2009) which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Rian Johnson’s international con man adventure The Brothers Bloom (2008) opposite Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody, Wong Kar Wai’s My Blueberry Nights (2007), Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones (2009), Adam Brooks’ romantic comedy Definitely Maybe (2008), and the indie political drama The Whistleblower (2010) directed by Larysa Kondracki, for which Weisz received strong praise.
Weisz also starred in Jim Sheridan’s thriller Dream House (2011) opposite Daniel Craig, Francis Lawrence’s hit thriller Constantine (2005), Darren Aronofsky’s sci-fi/romantic fantasy adventure The Fountain (2006) opposite Hugh Jackman, Gary Fleder’s Runaway Jury (2003), James Foley’s Confidence (2003), Chris and Paul Weitz’s About a Boy (2002), Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Enemy at the Gates (2001), Michael Winterbottom’s I Want You (1997), David Leland’s The Land Girls (1998), Beeban Kidron’s Swept from the Sea (1997), Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty (1996) and David Hare’s Page Eight (2011) alongside Bill Nighy and Ralph Fiennes for the BBC.
Weisz has also appeared in a number of blockbuster films including Stephen Sommers’ The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001), Tony Gilroy’s The Bourne Legacy (2012) opposite Jeremy Renner and most recently Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great and Powerful (2013) opposite James Franco and Michelle Williams.
Weisz starred on Broadway in Mike Nichols’ Betrayal opposite Daniel Craig and Rafe Spall. Before its opening, Betrayal shattered weekly box office records in previews at The Barrymore Theater formerly held by Nichols’ last play, Death Of a Salesman.
In 2010, Weisz won the Laurence Olivier Award in the category of Best Actress for her performance as Blanche DuBois in the West End revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire.
Weisz received critical acclaim for Focus Features’ The Shape of Things, which also marked her first venture into producing. She had previously starred in writer/director Neil LaBute’s staging of his original play of the same name, in both London and New York City.
Her performance in Sean Mathias’s UK staging of Noel Coward’s Design for Living garnered her a London Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Newcomer. She also starred in the West End production of Suddenly Last Summer directed by Mathias.
Weisz began her career as a student at Cambridge University where she formed the Talking Tongues Theatre Group, which performed numerous experimental pieces and won the prestigious Guardian Award at the Edinburgh Festival.