Weisz, whose immigrant parents are academics (her Hungarian dad is an inventor, Viennese mom a psychologist), studied at Cambridge, where she was a founding member of a theater group called Talking Tongues, which performed experimental pieces, including many that Weisz had a part in writing, directing and performing in. She got her first big break in a theater production of Noel Coward's Design for Living, for which she received The Evening Standard award for Best Newcomer. She then did a fair share of British television before being offered small parts in feature films (Stealing Beauty, Chain Reaction, Going All the Way).

Weisz's 1999 turn opposite Brendan Fraser in The Mummy sealed her success as a film actress, but she wasn't always convinced that show business was her true calling.

"I wanted to be a lawyer," she reveals. "I said a couple of years ago to my dad, 'That's it. I'm giving up acting to go back to college.' But my dad said to me, 'Your character is too molded into an actress now; you'd be a terrible lawyer.' And I said, 'You're probably right.' Somewhere my work ethic got in the way, and I felt like I should be doing something proper. But anyway, I'm acting now."