Rebecca Romijn was born on 6 November
1972 to a Dutch father and a Dutch-American mother.
Her parents, a custom toy and furniture maker and
an English teacher, divorced when she was seven.
Romijn attended Berkeley High School before she
enrolled in the music program at the University
of Southern California at Santa Cruz to study singing.
Later, a friend introduced her to a Parisian modeling
agent, who convinced her to move to Paris. Within
a short time, Romijn landed the cover of French
Elle and signed contracts with the cosmetics company
Biotherm and the famed fashion houses of Christian
Dior and Escada. Over the course of her modeling
career, she has posed for Victoria's Secret and
Sports Illustrated, as well as graced numerous magazine
covers.
Bored of modeling and with the support of her boyfriend
John Stamos, whom she married later in 1998, Romijn
took a chance on acting. In 1997, Romijn finally
made her television debut as David Schwimmer's girlfriend
on Friends.
Romijn made her first film debut starring as the
bearded lady in Dirty Work (1998)
before modeling lingerie for Mike Myers in Austin
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999).
She then returned to television to play David Spade's
wife on Just Shoot Me (1999).
Originally hired to appear in three episodes, Romijn
was such a big hit that producers asked her to return
later in the season.
For her role as Mystique in X-Men (2000),
she had her body painted from head to toe. Her work
in the film led to a part in Rollerball (2002),
a remake of the '70s film about the futuristic world
of sports. That same year, she earned the title
role in Femme Fatale (2002).
Romijn returned in the sequel X2: X-Men United (2003)
with a much bigger role for Mystique than the first
film. In 2004, she costarred opposite Thomas Jane
in The Punisher. That same year, she starred with
Greg Kinnear and Robert De Niro in the thriller
Godsend.
