It’s a rare talent indeed that can don and shed roles with the ease of changing an outfit, but that’s exactly what British actress Rosamund Pike seems to do so effortlessly. Whether portraying a hidden double agent (Die Another Day), playing a jilted wife who fakes her own death and frames her husband (Gone Girl), bringing to life the complicated struggles of 18th-century scientist Marie Curie (Radioactive) or embracing villainy as the anti-protagonist in the recent I Care A Lot Netflix movie, this talented thespian seems to revel in the challenge of bringing powerful female roles – with all their intrinsic struggles and triumphs – to the screen.

Unlike many of her fellow leading ladies, who all too often lay bare their lives for public consumption, Pike is notoriously private about her off-screen life. Over the course of her 20-year career, however, she has let slip one or two interesting facts…

Youthful Inspiration
Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike was born on 27 January 1979 in East London’s Hammersmith district, the only child of opera singers Caroline Friend and Julian Pike. Given her parents’ clear love of performing, it probably came as no surprise that she was bitten by the acting bug while still a child. Recalling watching her parents on stage as a child, she says: “All I was really looking at was whether I believed the performance, whether I believed that this was something that was real and human and true. I think all I’ve ever been interested in is the truth.”

Star Student
Since the age of seven, the London-born star lived in several cities across Europe due to her opera singer father’s various commitments. As a result, she speaks fluent French and German. Despite the constant relocation, Pike remained an outstanding student, eventually winning a full scholarship to Bristol’s prestigious Badminton School, before enrolling at Oxford University to major in English Literature.

Acting Bug
Although her parents’ career piqued Pike’s interest in stage performance, it wasn’t until she watched renowned actor Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance in 1993’s In the Name of the Father that she decided to enter the industry herself. Addressing the influence of this seminal performance, she says: “It made me realise the power of film and made me aware that this medium could inspire a physical reaction within me.”

Breakout Role
The actress entered the big league when she starred in the 2014 American psychological thriller Gone Girl, although it was actually a movie released some 12 years earlier that was truly her big break. Her captivating performance as double agent Miranda Frost in Die Another Day, the Pierce Brosnan-starring Bond instalment, saw her receive widespread acclaim, opening the door for far juicier roles in the years to come.

Jilted Bride
Despite boasting an award-winning career, the I Care A Lot actress’ personal life has been anything but smooth sailing. In particular, her romances have all too often turned sour, with her two-year relationship to Pride & Prejudice director Joe Wright – who she met while filming the movie in a supporting role and whom she was engaged to at the time – ended when the groom-to-be chose to pull the plug just days before the wedding. Thankfully, she had better luck with her next love affair with British mathematical researcher businessman Robbie Uniacke, with whom she now shares two children.

Imperfect Beauty
In an industry where photoshopping images of actors to create unrealistic standards of beauty is the norm, Pike has been extremely vocal about criticising this practice of ‘body tuning’. Complaining of her eyes being changed from green to brown in promotional material for her 2019 biographical drama, Radioactive, as well as having been given a huge breast augmentation in posters for 2011’s Johnny English Reborn, she says: “There’s probably countless times where our image is doctored and we might not even notice as I think we are all losing our grip on what we really look like.”

Baddie Vibes
Over the years, Pike has received widespread acclaim for her ability to portray strong, independent women, many of whom, typically, set out to buck a particular trend. Her most beloved roles, however, are arguably those that see her playing a villain. Most famously, she played Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, who fakes her own murder and frames her husband to punish him for his infidelity. In her most recent small-screen outing, I Care A Lot, she once again goes to the dark side with her portrayal of Marla Grayson, an amoral professional legal guardian who scams the elderly out of their homes and pensions. Not only did the critics cheer her tour de force performance – one even went so far as to rave: “Pike is almost too effective, her delicious villainy too irresistible to completely loathe.” – she even received her first Golden Globe for this particular performance.

Buried Accolades
For most dwellers in Tinseltown, receiving an award is something to take pride in and something to show off at every opportunity. In the case of Pike, who has won a Golden Globe, an Emmy Award and a British Independent Film Award, the exact opposite is true. In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, she said: “I find it an uneasy thing to display any award in your home. It’s probably deeply psychological, like some deep underlying imposter syndrome, so I bury them in the garden with a little bit showing up, so you can have an enticing glimpse of a hand or globe…”

Social Media Influencer
After years of shunning social media, the Gone Girl star finally caved in and joined the popular Instagram service a few years ago. Since then, she’s gone on to acquire more than 450,000 followers, largely thanks to her quirky posts and intriguing snapshots of her personal life. In February this year, she went viral after displaying her more innovative side via a post showing how to eat a pineapple without using a knife.

Multitalented
As if being an award-winning actress weren’t enough, the British star has her finger in a number of other pies. This has seen her become the face of LK Bennett, the high fashion brand beloved by Kate Middleton, while she also narrated the 2009 documentary Yesterday We Were in America, the story of the first pilots to complete a non-stop transatlantic flight successfully.