Rosamund Pike

Rosamund Pike was an Academy Award-nominated British actress who was best known for her roles in "Jack Reacher" (2012), "Gone Girl" (2014), "Hostiles" (2017), and the television series "State of the Union" (SundanceTV, 2019). Pike was born in London to opera singer parents. Due to the roving nature of her parents' work, Pike, who was an only child, spent most of her childhood traveling with them throughout Europe. Given her parents' penchant for performing, it was only natural that Rosamund too would be drawn to acting. She was accepted into the National Youth Theatre, and before long was appearing as Juliet in Shakespeare's time-honored romance "Romeo and Juliet." It was at that performance that Pike was discovered by an acting agent who saw raw talent in the young Rosamund. He offered to represent her, Rosamund accepted, and she continued making appearances on stage. Pike took a brief sojourn from acting, however, to focus on her studies. She studied English Literature at Wadham College, Oxford, where one of her classmates was Chelsea Clinton, and soon graduated in 2001 with a degree. After receiving her degree, Pike returned to acting. She started out performing Shakespeare on various stages throughout England, before the allure of film and television proved too powerful for Pike to resist. She first nabbed parts on the British miniseries "Wives and Daughters" (BBC, 1999), as well as the serial drama "Love in a Cold Climate" (BBC, 2001). From there she graduated to supporting roles in films like "Die Another Day" (2002), "The Libertine" (2004), "Pride & Prejudice" (2005), and "Fugitive Pieces" (2007). Pike continued working steadily in films throughout the early 2010s. Some of the films she appeared in during this period include "Barney's Version" (2010), "The Big Year" (2011), and "Jack Reacher," in which she played the love interest of Tom Cruise's title character. Then in 2014 Pike landed her breakout role in "Gone Girl." The film, which was directed by David Fincher and was based on a best-selling novel of the same name, was a hit with both fans and critics, and would go on to earn Pike her first Oscar nomination for acting. Pike followed up her starring turn in "Gone Girl" with acclaimed roles in "Hostiles" (2017), "Beirut" (2018), and "A Private War" (2018). She also returned to TV in the late 2010s with a role in the SundanceTV series "State of the Union." 2019 was also the year that Rosamund Pike appeared in two films: the crime drama "The Informer" (2019), and "Radioactive" (2019), in which she played the Nobel Prize winning physicist and chemist Marie Curie.