Natasha Henstridge
Natasha Henstridge (born August 15, 1974) is a Canadian model turned actress who has starred in several movies, including Species and Species II. Born in Springdale, Newfoundland to parents Brian and Helen, she was raised in a trailer park in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Her father is a contractor and her mother a housewife. At the age of thirteen, she entered the Casablanca Modelling Agency's "Look of the Year" contest and won the prize for first runner up.
The following year, Henstridge went to Paris to pursue her modelling ambitions. At fifteen, she was featured on her first magazine cover, the French edition of Cosmopolitan. Several magazine covers followed and Henstridge went on to do television commercials for products such as Oil of Olay, Old Spice and Lady Stetson. Her modelling career well established, Henstridge decided to try her luck in movies.
Movies and television
Her first movie Species was a box office success, grossing $100 million. Her role as a alien nymphomaniac was notable for its sexual allure.
In the sequel Species II, she played a gentler and more docile version of the alien. A few smaller movies followed, including Bela Donna, Dog Park with varied box office returns.
In, 2000 she starred in The Whole Nine Yards which led to sequels The Whole Ten Yards and The Ghosts of Mars, also well received.
She has played a number of roles on television, such as Caracara, The Outer Limits and She Spies.
Species
In her movie debut, in Species, Henstridge plays a genetically engineered human form of the DNA of an alien. She breaks from the captivity of the lab and embarks on a killing spree. A team of experts bands together to stop her. With a strong cast and an interesting story angle, Species was an instant cult hit. That year, Henstridge won the MTV Movie award for "best kiss."
This movie was a box office hit and is considered one of the most successful cult movies of all time, comparable to Evil Dead. Henstridge became an instant star in the sci-fi movie genre and producers flocked to recruit her for cult movies. The movie gave Henstridge a perfect platform to launch her acting career but she could not capitalize on it as most of the following movies failed to generate the same excitement. Species is perhaps the most successful debut movie for any model turned actress.
Species-2
The long-awaited sequel of Species was released in 1998 by MGM-UA to much fanfare. For Henstridge it was an opportunity to play a different role. She plays a heroine in the movie rather than the villain she played in her first role. In Species 2, she plays a cloned version of the the alien she played in Species. Created to be more docile than her predecessor, she is part of an experiment to understand alien life forms. However, events take an unexpected turn. Patrick Ross, the son of a senator returns from his trip to Mars carrying a deadly alien virus. He is on the loose, picking up women, mating, and killing them in an effort to multiply the alien species. Eve is used as bait in an effort to terminate him. However, events turn sour as Eve breaks free from the captivity of the lab to mate with Patrick. Despite the the publicity, the film failed to bolster Henstridge's career.
Unlike its predecessor, Species 2 was a failure at the box-office. The critics, who almost universally panned the movie, pointed to the thin storyline, poor acting and gratuitous violence. In his review, Roger Ebert wonders why seemingly sophisticated aliens capable of travelling beween stars and sending messages across space turn out to be "(d)isgusting, slimy morph-creatures with rows of evil teeth, whose greatest cultural achievement is jumping out at people from behind things..."[1]
Undaunted by the failure, Henstridge continued to pursue various roles. Despite having some reservations about the sci-fi genre, she signed up for John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars in the lead role.
Caracara (a.k.a. The Last Witness)
Henstridge played the protagonist in her TV movie, Caracara, which received poor ratings. She plays a lonely ornithologist Rachel Sutherland who allows her home to become an observation post for the F.B.I., in their efforts to zero-in on a would-be assassin of a foreign president. She falls in love with one of the agents who turns out to be the assassin himself. How Rachel foils the assassination and escapes from the grip of the assassin is the subject of the rest of the story.
Bela Donna
The following year, she played in a multilingual movie called Bela Donna which did well in Brazil and South America. In the movie, she plays a wife to an explorer who goes on a treasure hunting spree to Brazil. There she is stalked by a fisherman with whom she falls in love. What follows is a web of intrigue, betrayal and suspense. The movie received positive reviews in Brazil, where it was exclusively shot and her role widely acclaimed.
Selected filmography
- Species III (2004)
- The Whole Ten Yards (2004)
- She Spies (2002)
- Ghosts of Mars (2001)
- The Whole Nine Yards (2000)
- Second Skin (2000)
- Caracara (1999)
- Bela Donna (1998)
- Dog Park (1998)
- Species II (1998)
- Species (1995)
Current Projects
Henstridge was working on the TV show She Spies, prior to its cancellation. She has also completed a TV movie titled Widow on the hill which has received critical acclaim. Henstridge has begun taking roles in independent films to help build up her acting credibility. She is settled in L.A.'s Hollywood Hills with fiancé and sons (Tristan and Asher).
Personal Trivia
Since Species made her a star, she's been married and divorced, and briefly dated Leonardo DiCaprio. She was married twice to her first husband, actor Damian Chapa. However, the second marriage lasted only a few months. Her current partner is Liam Waite. On October 14, 1998 her first son, Tristan River Waite, was born. Her second son, Asher Sky Waite was born in September, 2001. She has lately been linked with British pop star Darius.