Rachel Weisz (born March 7, 1971) is an Academy Award-winning English film and television actress. She became known after her roles in the Hollywood films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, and has since continued appearing in major film roles.Weisz (pronounced "Vice") was born in London, England and grew up in Hampstead. Her father, George Weisz, is a Hungarian-born inventor whose family fled to England to escape Nazi persecution. Her mother, Edith Ruth, is a Vienna-born Austrian psychoanalyst and aspiring actress. Weisz's father is Jewish and her mother has been referred to as either Catholic, Jewish, or having Jewish ancestry. Weisz was raised in a cerebral Jewish household and refers to herself as Jewish.Weisz has a sister, Minnie Weisz, who is an artist.
Weisz was educated at North London Collegiate School, from which she was expelled[citation needed]. She was then sent to Benenden School and eventually settled when she was about 13 in St Paul's Girls' School. She then entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she graduated with a 2:1 in English. During her university years she appeared in various student productions, co-founding a student drama group called Cambridge Talking Tongues, which went on to win a Guardian Student Drama Award at the Edinburgh Festival for an improvised piece called Slight Possession.
Weisz is engaged to American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. They have been dating since 2004. They have a son, Henry Chance, born on May 31, 2006 in New York City.[10][11] The couple reside in the East Village in Manhattan. Rachel and Darren are considering to get married in a traditional wedding ceremony at the oldest synagogue in New York.
Weisz previously dated actor Alessandro Nivola, actor Neil Morrissey, director Sam Mendes, and actor/comedian Ben Miller.