Rosamund Pike

Born in 1979 in London, England, actress Rosamund Mary Elizabeth Pike was the only child of a classically trained violinist's mother, Caroline (Friend), as well as an opera singer father, Julian Pike. Due to her parents' work, she spent in her early years traveling throughout Europe. Pike was born in Bristol and went to Badminton School. She then began her acting career at the National Youth Theatre. In a National Youth Theatre production of "Romeo and Juliet", she was first noticed and contracted by an agent. However, she continued her education at Wadham College, Oxford, where she studied English Literature, eventually graduating with an upper second grade distinction degree.Pike has appeared in a variety of UK TV series, including Wives and Daughters (1999) after which she made an impressive movie debut as the stunning beauty "Miranda Frost" in the James Bond film, Die Another Day (2002); at the time the film premiered it was released at just 23. Though her debut was a major-budget action feature, the film work that followed was primarily in smaller, independent films like Promised Land (2004), The Libertine (2004), (for which she was awarded the Best Supporting Actress award at The British Independent Film Awards) and Pride & Prejudice (2005), as one of the Bennet daughters. After a brief stint in Hollywood, Doom (2005) and Fracture (2006) and Fracture (2006), she returned to film with exceptional performances in three lesser films. She was also in Johnny English Reborn (2011) and in the sci-fi film Wrath of the Titans (2012). Pike returned to action films as the lead actress alongside Tom Cruise in Jack Reacher (2012).