Rebecca Alie Romijn is an American film and television actress and former fashion model. She currently plays Alexis Meade on the hit show, Ugly Betty.
Biography
Early life
Romijn was born in Berkeley, California, the daughter of Elizabeth , a public school English teacher and textbook author, and Jaap Romijn, a custom furniture maker. Her father, a native of Barneveld, The Netherlands, is Dutch, and her mother is a second-generation Dutch American who met Romijn's father while studying in Europe. Romijn's maternal grandfather, Dr. Henry B. Kuizenga, was a Presbyterian minister and seminary professor. Her maternal grandmother is first cousins with Dorothy Letterman, David Letterman's mother. Many sources say that she was once nicknamed the "Jolly Blonde Giant" but she has admitted to making that up 'for a laugh'. While studying music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she became involved with fashion modeling and eventually moved to Paris for more than two years. She stands 5 feet 11 inches .
Career
Among other jobs, Romijn modeled for the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated and for Victoria's Secret. She also was the host of MTV's House of Style from 1998 to 2000. Rebecca is a fixture on annual lists of the world's most beautiful women by publications such as Maxim , AskMen.com and FHM . She also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in an episode titled "Chinatown."
In 2000's X-Men, Romijn had her first major movie role as "Mystique"; she returned to the role in 2003's sequel X2: X-Men United, and again for X-Men: The Last Stand . In these movies her costume consisted of blue makeup and some strategically placed prosthetics on her otherwise nude body. In X2: X-Men United she shows up in a bar in one scene in her "normal" look, and also in X-Men: The Last Stand, she appears as a dark-haired "de-powered" Mystique. She had her first leading role in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale
