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Rachel Weisz started modeling when she was 14, and began acting during her studies at Cambridge University. While there, she formed a theater company named "Talking Tongues," which won the Guardian Award, at the Edinburgh Festival, for its take on Neville Southall's "Washbag." Rachel went on to star on stage in the lauded Sean Mathias revival of Noël Coward's "Design For Living." It was a role that won her a vote for Most Promising Newcomer by the London Critics' Circle.
Weisz on filming "The Constant Gardener" (2005, below):: "Nothing against South Africa, but the Kenyan landscape has a particular spirit and you can't just try to mimic that somewhere else. I can't separate Kenya from the story, or the story from Kenya. What's also important is that we have helped the existing infrastructure, so that more films might shoot there in the future."
When Weisz's character Tessa walks through the slum, numerous children ask her, "How are you?" and she responds, "I'm fine, how are you?" That scene was unscripted. The children are actual children who live in Kibera, not extras.
Weisz on winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her work: "I was eight months pregnant, so a lot of my memory was centering around - well, needing to urinate] actually often, and you know, the thing, the fear that you have that you're going to be in the can when your name is called. There was a huge amount of excitement, huge amount of anxiety that comes from being at the Oscars for the first time and being very pregnant. I also get really sad. I had designed such a clever dress that people who didn't know me, that didn't know I was pregnant, probably thought I was just chubby. I wish I'd worn a tighter dress that definitely showed for sure I was pregnant."
Unlike the Academy Awards, Weisz did not win an acting award equivalent to her Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. Weisz was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role, nominated in the lead actress instead of the supporting actress category. The BAFTA for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role that year was won by actress Reese Witherspoon for "Walk the Line" (2005). In the same year, Thandie Newton won the BAFTA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for "Crash" (2005).
Happy Birthday, Rachel Weisz!
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