She wore the most luxurious fashions of the 1980s. Her face is the envy of millions. So when Famke Janssen was cast as Xenia Onatopp, the new "Bond Girl" of the 1990s in the James Bond thriller, "GoldenEye" (1995), it was front-page news in The Hollywood Reporter. When the movie premiered, she was interviewed everywhere, and her name was added to wish lists all over Hollywood.

Janssen began modeling at a young age and was immediately successful in her native Holland. When work for Chanel brought her to NYC, she stayed. Still young for a model (not yet 25), she quit to study creative writing and literature at Columbia University and enrolled in an acting workshop. Having appeared in an episode of Fox's campy night-time soap "Melrose Place", Janssen landed her first significant role as Jeff Goldblum's romantic interest in "Fathers and Sons" (both 1992). She followed that up playing the action lead in the TV-movie "Model By Day" (Fox, 1994), a role she is said to want to forget. The multilingual actress co-starred with Scott Bakula in Clive Barker's "Lord of Illusions" (1995) before hitting screens in her breakthrough role as the villainous Russian killer who crushes men to death with her thighs in "GoldenEye".

After that, the raven-haired stunner was careful not to fall into the trap so many other models-turned-actresses had. She avoided accepting too many glamorous, yet unnecessary girlfriend roles in big studio movies, opting instead to tackle a variety of characters that required her to stretch her acting muscles, not just smile pretty for the camera. One of the only actresses to escape Bond-girl oblivion (few of James Bond's female co-stars have gone on to bigger and better projects), the busy actress appeared in six releases in 1998, announcing that she was more interested in working with quality directors and actors than starring in big-budget features. She essayed characters ranging from a bitter alcoholic in "The Gingerbread Man" to a Russian-born owner of a gambling joint in "Rounders" to a tough, blue-collar Bostonian in "Monument Avenue". Woody Allen cast her as a sophisticated book editor in "Celebrity", reteaming her with her "Gingerbread Man" co-star Kenneth Branagh, while Robert Rodriguez tapped her to be a timid high school teacher in "The Faculty". Her deft performances prompted critics and co-stars to marvel at her chameleonic versatility and uncanny knack for imitating accents.

Janssen slowed down a bit the following year, seen only in the forgettable horror flick "The House on Haunted Hill" before returning with gusto in 2000 and earning rave reviews for her performance in "Love & Sex", her first starring role in a romantic comedy. The movie, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, was also her first with actor-writer-director Jon Favreau. After that, she again switched gears, this time playing a telepathic mutant holding her own against Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and Anna Paquin in the big-screen version of the Marvel comic "X-Men". She returned to comedy later that year in the Favreau-helmed vehicle, "Made" (2001), again showing great chemistry with Favreau and a effective range in an otherwise small role.

In the kidnapping thriller "Don't Say a Word" (2001) Janssen also imbued the thankless role of Michael Douglas' bedridden wife with a great sense of vulnerability when their daughter is abducted. She switched gears in 2002 for the big screen version of the 1960s TV hit "I Spy" starring Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy, and even during the most comedic moments with her co-stars Janssen demonstrated an enviable ability to keep her performance rooted in reality and, after several turns downplaying her looks, using her considerable sex appeal to great effect. Next up was a return to the role of Jean Grey (now with red hair like her comic book counterpart) for the much-anticipated sequel "X2."