Natasha Henstridge
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| Natasha Henstridge | |
| Born | August 15, 1974 Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Spouse(s) | Damian Chapa (1995 - 1996) (divorced) |
| Notable roles | Sil in Species |
Natasha Henstridge (born August 15, 1974) is a Canadian fashion model turned actress. Her most notable roles include Species and Species II. Born in Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador, she was raised in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. At the age of thirteen, she entered the Casablanca Modeling Agency's "Look of the Year" contest and was chosen first runner-up.
The following year, Henstridge went to Paris to pursue her modeling ambitions. At fifteen, she was featured on her first magazine cover, the French edition of Cosmopolitan. Several magazine covers followed and Henstridge went on to do television commercials for products such as Olay, Old Spice, and Lady Stetson. Her modeling career established, Henstridge decided to try her luck in movies. She was married to Director Damain Chapa twice.
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[edit] Movies and television
Her first movie, Species was a box office success raking in $113 Million (USD).[1] Her role as the alien 'Sil', was determined to reproduce with a male at the first opportunity. The film was notable for its sexual content and spawned a sequel Species II, where a male alien was attempting to mate with Eve, a genetic duplicate of Sil. Eve was played as gentle and more docile than the original Sil. The film was a failure at the box office, taking in $19 million (USD) domestically. A few smaller independent movies followed, including Bela Donna and Dog Park, with varied box office returns.
In 2000, she starred in The Whole Nine Yards, which led to its sequel The Whole Ten Yards, and also Ghosts of Mars. The latter was not well-received, with a 21% rating in Rotten Tomatoes [2].
She has played a number of roles on television, such as Caracara, The Outer Limits, She Spies, and in the acclaimed ABC drama Commander in Chief. The show was cancelled after 18 episodes.[citation needed] She also hosted Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed on TLC, a show about urban legends.
[edit] Species
In her movie debut, in Species, Henstridge plays a genetically engineered human form with extraterrestrial DNA. She breaks from the captivity of a laboratory and embarks on a killing spree. A team of experts bands together to stop her. With a strong cast and an interesting story angle, Species was an instant cult hit. That year, Henstridge won the MTV Movie award for "best kiss", for a scene in which her character, while kissing an aggressive would-be suitor, impales his head with her tongue.
This movie was a box office hit and made Henstridge an instant star in the sci-fi movie genre. The movie gave Henstridge a perfect platform to launch her acting career, but she could not capitalize on it as most of the following movies failed to generate the same excitement. Species is perhaps the most successful debut movie for any model turned actress. The movie netted $60 million in North America and about $53 million overseas.
[edit] Species II
The long-awaited sequel of Species was released in 1998 by MGM-UA to much fanfare. In the film Species II, she plays a cloned version of the alien she played in Species.
Unlike its predecessor, Species II was a failure at the box-office. Undaunted, Henstridge continued to pursue various roles. Despite having some reservations about the sci-fi genre, she signed up for John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars in the lead role and reprised her role as Sil in a brief cameo in Species III.
[edit] Caracara
Henstridge played the protagonist in her TV movie, Caracara (released in the US as The Last Witness), which received poor ratings. She plays a lonely ornithologist Rachel Sutherland who allows her home to become an observation post for the F.B.I., in their efforts to zero-in on a would-be assassin of a foreign president. She falls in love with one of the agents, who turns out to be the assassin himself. How Rachel foils the assassination and escapes from the grip of the assassin is the subject of the rest of the story.
[edit] Bela Donna
The following year, she played in a multilingual movie called Bela Donna which did well in Brazil and South America. In the movie, she plays a wife to an explorer who goes on a treasure hunting spree to Brazil. There she is stalked by a fisherman with whom she falls in love. What follows is a web of intrigue, betrayal, and suspense. The movie received positive reviews in Brazil, where it was exclusively shot and her role widely acclaimed.
[edit] Selected filmography
- Species (1995)
- Maximum Risk (1996)
- Bela Donna (1998)
- Dog Park (1998)
- Species II (1998)
- Caracara (1999)
- The Whole Nine Yards (2000)
- Second Skin (2000)
- Ghosts of Mars (2001)
- She Spies (2002)
- Species III (2004)
- The Whole Ten Yards (2004)
- Widow On The Hill (2005)
[edit] Current Projects
Henstridge was working on the TV show She Spies, prior to its cancellation. She has also completed a TV movie titled Widow on the Hill which has received critical acclaim. Henstridge has begun taking roles in independent films to help build up her acting credibility.
From 2005 to 2006, Henstridge had a recurring role on Commander in Chief, which starred Geena Davis as a fictional female U.S. President.
She has recently begun filming the CTV original mini-series Would Be Kings in Hamilton, Ontario.[3]
[edit] Personal life
Henstridge was married to actor Damian Chapa twice. However, the second marriage lasted only a few months and the couple divorced in 1996. She has two sons by actor Liam Waite, named Tristan River Waite, born October 14, 1998, and Asher Sky Waite, born in September 2001.
She is dating Scottish singer-songwriter and actor Darius Danesh. Henstridge said that she and Danesh met at a pedestrian crossing in Los Angeles.[4]
