Famke Janssen

Famke Beumer Janssen (/ˈfɑːmkə ˈjɑːnsən/; Dutch pronunciation: [ˈfɑmkə ˈbøːmər ˈjɑnsə(n)]; born 1964) is a Dutch actress, director, screenwriter and former fashion model. She played Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye (1995), Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series (2000–present), Ava Moore on Nip/Tuck and Lenore Mills in Taken (2008) and its sequels, Taken 2 (2012) and Taken 3 (2015). 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.

Early life and education

Famke Beumer Janssen was born c. 1964 in Amstelveen in the Netherlands. Her first name, Famke, means "girl" in West Frisian, the native language of the Dutch province Friesland. She was given both her mother and father's surnames; Beumer and Janssen. She retained the name Janssen. She has two sisters, director Antoinette Beumer and actress Marjolein Beumer, both of whom changed their surnames to simply Beumer. In addition to her native Dutch, Janssen speaks English and French. She also learned German, but has not kept up with it. Following her high school graduation, Janssen studied economics for a year at the University of Amsterdam, which she later called "the stupidest idea I ever had." In the early 1990s, she enrolled at Columbia University to study creative writing and literature. She graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.