Rosamund Pike

Early life

Pike, born on 27 January 1979 in London, England, is the only daughter of opera singers Caroline and Julian Pike. Pike's father is currently a professor of music and head of operatic studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

The family travelled across Europe until she was seven, following wherever her parents' performing careers took them. Pike won a scholarship to Badminton School in Bristol, and while appearing as Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet at the National Youth Theatre, was noticed by an agent, who helped her embark upon a professional career.

After being turned down by each stage school to which she applied, she gained a place to read English literature at Wadham College, Oxford, from which she graduated. She took a year off to pursue her acting career, garnering stage experience in David Hare's Skylight, Arthur Miller's All My Sons, and several plays by Shakespeare; she achieved an Upper Second class degree in 2001.

Career

While she was still at Oxford, Pike acted in and directed various plays, including one by Simon Chesterman, who was then a graduate student. She also made appearances on British television shows, including A Rather English Marriage (1998), Wives and Daughters (1999), and Love in a Cold Climate (2001), a miniseries based on Nancy Mitford's novels The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate. She also appeared as a CIA agent in the pilot of the science fiction series, Seven Days (1998), and as Sarah Beaumont in an episode of the series Foyle's War.

After graduating, she considered working at Waterstone's bookshop due to a lack of acting opportunities, but was offered a role as a Bond girl and MI6 agent assigned to aid James Bond in Die Another Day. She also appeared in the special show Bond Girls Are Forever and, shortly afterwards, the BAFTA tribute to the James Bond series. She was the first Bond girl to attend Oxford, where she read English. Pike then played Elizabeth Malet in The Libertine (2004), co-starring Johnny Depp, which won her the Best Supporting Actress award at the British Independent Film Awards. In the same year, she portrayed Rose in The Promised Land, a film about Israel, and starred as scientist Samantha Grimm in the cinematic adaptation of the computer game series Doom. In 2005, she appeared as Jane, the elder sister of Elizabeth (played by Keira Knightley), in Pride & Prejudice. Pike then starred in the film adaptation of Anne Michaels's novel Fugitive Pieces. She also starred as a successful attorney in the film Fracture, opposite Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Pike was a judge at the 2008 Costa Book Awards.

Her stage credits include Hitchcock Blonde by Terry Johnson (in a role requiring her to appear completely nude on stage with only a pair of high heels) and Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, both in London's West End, and Gaslight at London's Old Vic Theatre. Pike has said that she would be happy to do at least one play every year. In 2009, she played the title character in Madame de Sade during the Donmar's West End season.

She appeared in the British film Made in Dagenham and in the Canadian film Barney's Version where she plays Miriam. In 2010, she starred in a production of Hedda Gabler on UK tour. Pike has recorded voicework for a lead role in the film Jackboots on Whitehall and lent her voice to a new series of James Bond audio-books, narrating The Spy Who Loved Me. In 2010 Pike played the part of Pussy Galore in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Fleming's Goldfinger. In 2011, Pike played the part of Kate Sumner in the 2011 Bond spoof film Johnny English Reborn, playing a psychologist and English's love interest. The film is a sequel to the 2003 film Johnny English and was a box office success, taking over $160 million.

In 2012, she played the role of Queen Andromeda in the fantasy epic Wrath of the Titans. She replaced Alexa Davalos, who had played the role in Clash of the Titans and had dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. Taking the role in Wrath of the Titans meant she had to drop out of consideration for a role in the forthcoming Superman film. Although the film was not well received by critics, it grossed over $300 million and critics considered her performance to be one of the film's highlights. She also starred as Helen Rodin, the female lead alongside Tom Cruise in the thriller Jack Reacher, an adaptation of the novel One Shot by author Lee Child. The film opened to positive critical reception and had grossed over $218 million.

After a supporting role in the critically acclaimed The World's End (2013), Pike was seen in the David Fincher-directed thriller Gone Girl (2014), a film adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel of the same name. Featuring opposite Ben Affleck, Pike was cast as Amy Dunne, a woman who goes missing on her fifth wedding anniversary. According to Fincher, Pike was his first choice for the role because he wanted someone who was not widely known, Pike having not appeared in any major leading role prior to the film's commencement, and because he found her enigmatic and couldn't easily read her. The film emerged as a box office hit, earning over $356 million in global ticket sales. The movie and Pike's performance both earned widespread acclaim from critics. Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote that the film is "Smartly shot, detailed ... and performed" and called Pike's portrayal "a star-makingly good performance, spellbinding in its operatic mix of tones and temperatures." Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter reviewed that she "is powerful and commanding ... Physically and emotionally, Pike looks to have immersed herself in this profoundly calculating character, and the results are impressive." She received numerous awards and nominations, including for the Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.

Since 2015, she has voiced Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in the remake of Gerry Anderson's Thunderbirds Are Go produced by ITV in conjunction with Weta Workshop. In February 2016, she starred in the music video for Voodoo in My Blood by Massive Attack directly inspired by the subway scene with Isabelle Adjani in the movie Possession (1981) directed by Andrzej Żuławski.

Personal life

Since December 2009, Pike has been in a relationship with Robie Uniacke, a mathematical researcher. They have two sons. In 2015, when they visited China to promote Gone Girl, Pike mentioned that Uniacke had given her a Chinese name 裴淳华 (pinyin: Péi Chúnhuá), and being a fan of Chinese culture, they request the media to use this as her Chinese name rather than the transliteration of her English name.

Activism

In 2015, she signed an open letter for which the ONE Campaign had been collecting signatures; the letter was addressed to Angela Merkel and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa, respectively, which will start to set the priorities in development funding before a main UN summit in September 2015 that will establish new development goals for the generation.