Famke Janssen: Golden Girl

Famke Janssen's golden opportunity may or may not have arrived in the form of GoldenEye, the new James Bond flick.

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Playing a Bond girl has served as more of a curse than a career boost for most actresses who've done it, but since dropping out of modeling four years ago, Janssen has only turned out embarrassments like Model by Day, in which she played a female Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Lord of Illusions, in which she did little more than seek protection from Scott Bakula. GoldenEye can't help looking like a good move. "It's a very scary thing to do a Bond movie in terms of what I'd like to do in the future," admits Janssen. "It's one of those things where you don't know if you're going to get caught in a stigma, but I think that this role is different and I won't be pinpointed because of it."

No mere Bond bimbo, Janssen plays "an over-the-top villain, but she's really fun and evil--like Cruella De Vil." Does she enjoy playing bad? "Oh yeah, because you bring that character into real life and you feel like you can take on the world." Speaking of real life, did Janssen have a fan following in her modeling heyday the way supermodels do now? "No, I was never recognized. Except once, I was walking down the street when this woman shrieked, 'I have your nose!' I said, 'Excuse me?' She said, 'l went to a plastic surgeon and showed him a picture of your nose and told him to get me one.'"

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Heidi Parker