Biographie

Considers herself more French than British, having lived in Paris for more years than in her homeland.

Speaks French fluently and often stars in French films. Dubbed herself in French in Quatre mariages et un enterrement (1994).

The casting choice of her as Katherine Clifton in Le patient anglais (1996) led to a dispute between the studio and the producers of the film. Originally, 20th Century Fox was to finance the film, but they preferred a more well-known actress to play Katharine instead of Thomas. Demi Moore lobbied particularly hard for the role. After the producers refused to give in on a series of casting choices, Fox backed out of the film, and the project was uncertain just as production was about to begin. However, within a few weeks - during which the cast and crew stayed on in Italy without knowing if the film would be made - the film was picked up by Miramax.

Has lived in Paris since she was 19.

Speaking an almost perfect French, with only a small hint of English accent, she has provided her own dubbing in most of her movies shot in English.

People have always told me I was beautiful, but beauty isn't the same as attractiveness and I don't think I have ever been attractive . . . My sister Serena is beautiful and attractive, but not me.

The parts I've been most successful in are the ones I've desperately, desperately wanted. One of them being Quatre mariages et un enterrement (1994). I couldn't think of anyone better for that part than me. And the other was Le patient anglais (1996). Occasionally, you read scripts and, well, there you are on the page.

I'm 47 - unlike most actresses, I don't lie about my age - but I'm liking this bit. I love it. I wouldn't swap it for a million years.

I'm not complaining. I love the teamwork of making films, and you get to go to the most beautiful places. It's a very privileged life in that respect. And you live about eight different lives when you're making a film - 12 hours a day for 6, 8, 10 weeks just pretending to be someone else. I find that very stimulating. And then every now and then I go to a film that just blows you away, and that encourages me to want to make another.

I've always really wanted to be onstage but movies kind of carry you along. You get swept away by them. And there's this feeling sometimes of being a bit of a pawn and of other people channeling their ambition through you. They make films, they make films, they make films. But theater - good theater - is rarer. If you see a really amazing production - there aren't many, but if you see one - it stays with you forever and ever. Films are just consumables. The experience of living theater is more powerful.