Biography

Rachel Grant is best known for her role as Bond girl Peaceful Fountains of Desire, Bond’s would-be assassin posing as a masseuse in the James Bond film Die Another Day. More recently she starred in the Italian film The African Game and plays Lina Sofia in the eagerly anticipated action flick The Tournament with Ving Rhames and Robert Carlyle. Rachel’s credits further include Until Death with Stephen Rea and Jean Claude Van Damme and The Purifiers with Kevin McKidd.

Rachel has guest starred in numerous British television shows including Emmerdale, Masters of Combat, Blue Murder, Casualty, Zero to Hero, Murder in Suburbia, Starhyke and Rajan & the Evil Hynotists. However most might remember Rachel as Nina in Sci-Fright on the Sci-Fi channel, becoming their most watched TV show.

Rachel has also starred in several high-profile TV advertising campaigns, including Carlsberg and Galaxy. She appeared in one of the world’s most successful commercial campaigns ever - the Axe/Lynx Pulse ‘Make Luv’ TV advert which started a whole new dance craze and spawned a massive number one hit in the UK, Europe and Asia.

Her help with various charities include Cancer Research UK, WSPA and her family’s The Padua Charitable Fund, which helps build houses, hospitals and schools in poor areas in the Philippines.

Rachel currently lives and travels between Los Angeles and London.

Trivia: Rachel Grant has an IQ of 140.

 

Background by Rachel Grant

I was born Rachel Louise Grant de Longueuil on the island of Luzon north of the Philippines. My birth would have been fairly uneventful except for a fire that gutted my grandparents’ entire family home where my parents were vacationing at the time causing my mother to give birth to me prematurely. Someone suggested I should aptly be named Phoenix after the legendary Egyptian bird, which rose from the ashes. Instead I was given the less exotic name of Rachel. Then within a month of my arrival our new home in the Philippines was swept away in a flood and typhoon. My family shortly after moved back to England.

My father the Baron De Longueuil, a doctor and hypnotist, is of English-Scottish, French-Canadian descent. My late grandfather Baron Raymond de Longueuil, was a professional artist in the South of France and his mother was the Lady Ernestine Maud Bowes-Lyon. My great granny Ernestine was 1st cousin to the Queen Mother and grew up with the Queen Mum in Glamis Castle in Scotland. Not that it matters to anyone or that anyone would believe me! My mother, whose grandmother was Spanish, is from the Philippines. My maternal great-grandfather was a doctor who was one of the founders of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) in Southeast Asia.

I was considered quite a shy and mischievous little girl with a fascination for unusual things and eating strange food. I would taste anything like leaves or berries from the garden (and handfuls of them off the juniper tree which I later found are highly poisonous), digging and collecting all things that moved (and didn’t), looking at them under my microscope. Once, my mother caught me eating a Christmas bauble. (In fact, I recall eating more than one!) I can honestly claim there’s nothing I have eaten I have not liked the taste of. I guess this taste for the unusual has paid off since I am actually a gourmet eater and not a bad cook at all. I love making sushi and Thai curries.

I am the middle of three sisters. Angela, a ballet dancer and model, is the eldest and runs her own ballet school in London. Rebecca, who performed in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams is currently a series regular on the UK show Holby City. The three of us went to a local ballet school in Nottingham where we did ballet, singing, and acting. We performed regularly around the UK at dance and drama festivals and competitions as well as numerous charitable events notably the Royal Society of the Blind.

I attended a catholic and girls’ school in Nottingham and my life as a student consisted of balancing my various activities and travels with my studies resulting in 8 lovely GCSE marks of Grade A’s. But when the time came for me to choose between University or going to London to pursue a dream career in drama, I chose the latter. I obtained a 3-year Diploma in the Performing Arts at the London Studio Centre and also attended courses at RADA, Italia Conti and the Royal Ballet.

During my studies at the London Studio Centre I was delighted to be booking work. My professional career began in panto as the understudy to the lead princess in Aladdin at the Oxford Playhouse. I also played in short films, hair shows all over the world, pop promos (to name some, Toni Braxton, Vanessa Mae, Westlife, Top of the Pops) and have appeared in several TV adverts and editorials. I have also presented travel shows for Cathay Pacific Airlines and was one of the body doubles for Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider. I have since worked on several TV productions and films and have enjoyed every minute if it. My performing career has taken me to many foreign lands. I can remember one year in particular travelling to over 12 countries. Travelling has become a big and important passion of mine. I plan to visit as many of the world's 195 countries in my time. To date, my list reads 32 and counting!

At one stage, between gigs, I found myself taking part in beauty pageants. My initial feelings towards beauty contests were to be taken lightly, aimed at the frivolous or the unintelligent. My notions soon changed. Apart from the sheer fun and experience, I travelled to the Bahamas, Las Vegas, Singapore and the Philippines, meeting people of various cultures, promoting my country and more importantly, helping the charities involved. Pageants are a wonderful celebration of women, culture, creed, racial equality and unity - all which is needed more than ever. I have met some of the most extraordinary, strong and intelligent women at these events. My roomate in Singapore at the Miss Asia World Finals was Melissa Bhagat, a Canadian who is now helping change the face of politics. See: www.melissabhagat.com

 

What I want for the future is to keep working, to have a life long career in theatre and film. However, I am always grateful for the chance to perform, express myself and delight audiences in my own modest way. I have met some very interesting personalities in the world of performing.

I am glad I chose this path.