Photograph by Jennifer Cooper

Rachel Weisz
Tessa Quayle, The Constant Gardener
Age: 34
Birthplace: London
Essential Filmography: The Mummy (1999), Enemy at the Gates (2001), About a Boy (2002), Runaway Jury (2003), Constantine (2005)

PREMIERE: Who are your idols?
Gena Rowlands, Katharine Hepburn, Jack Nicholson, Shirley MacLaine, Ingrid Bergman. Jimi Hendrix. Janis Joplin.

Describe your character in this movie.
She’s an activist married to a British diplomat in Africa. She finds a very high level of corruption among the international governments and pharmaceutical companies that are abusing Africans.

Why did you take this part?
Oh my God. Why did they take me? I desperately wanted to play it. It was the best part I’d ever read, because she’s a very passionate character and flawed and irreverent and idealistic and a much better person than me.

What kind of research did you do for the role?
I met a lot of aid workers and activists in England, which was very helpful, but the main inspiration came in Africa. I spent time with a woman named Patricia; she was a black Kenyan activist, and she was rather like Tessa in that she didn’t work for an organization—she was kind of a lone warrior. She counseled the women of the slum where we filmed who were HIV-positive, and she allowed me to go with her on house calls. That was the most tremendous privilege, to be able to spend time with her.

Any discoveries playing this part?
You know, how much we end up saying, “Ugh, the world is too big, bad, and corrupt, what can I do?” I guess the lesson my character taught me is one person can make a difference, and even if you do one small thing to help, it’s better than nothing.

What is your best piece of acting advice?
For me, it was learning to relax . . . and then to be reckless.

What is your most humiliating rejection story?
All rejection is humiliating. The way out of it is just not to take it personally. It’s just very hard because you are the product. What’s been rejected is you. You just have to learn not to take it personally.

If you could have starred in any movie ever, what would it have been?
[gasps] Oh, God! Probably All About Eve or Casablanca.