Natasha Henstridge

Natasha T. Henstridge (born August 15, 1974) is a Canadian fashion model turned actress. Her most notable on-screen roles include Species, The Whole Nine Yards, It Had To Be You, and the Canadian TV mini-series Would Be Kings, for which she won the Gemini Award for best actress. She most recently played the role of Taylor Wethersby in the TV series Eli Stone.

Early life

Henstridge was born in Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador, the daughter of Helen, a homemaker, and Brian Henstridge, a biker/contractor. She was raised in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada with her younger brother, Shane.

Modeling career

At the age of 13, Henstridge entered the Casablanca Modeling Agency's "Look of the Year" contest and was chosen first runner-up. The following year, she went to Paris to pursue her modeling ambitions. At 15, she was featured on her first magazine cover, the French edition ofCosmopolitan. Several more magazine covers followed and Henstridge went on to do television commercials for products such as Olay, Old Spice, and Lady Stetson. Her modeling career established, Henstridge moved on to a career in movies.

Film

In her 1995 film debut Species, Henstridge played Sil, a genetically engineered alien/human hybrid created from a message received by SETI, who breaks free from the captivity of a laboratory. Pursued by a team of experts who band together to stop her before she multiplies, Sil embarks on a killing spree while also discovering her powerful instinct to mate. Species was an instant hit, making $113 million (USD) at thebox office. Notable for its sexual content, the film won Henstridge the MTV Movie award for "best kiss" for a scene in which her character, while kissing an aggressive would-be suitor, impales his head on her tongue. In 1998, she played Eve, a more ambiguous genetic duplicate of Sil, in Species II, which was a failure at the box office.

A few smaller independent movies followed, including Bela Donna and Dog Park, with varied box office returns. Henstridge starred oppositeJean-Claude Van Damme in the action/adventure movie Maximum Risk. She also starred in the 2000 film The Whole Nine Yards and its 2004 sequel The Whole Ten Yards. Despite having some reservations about the science fiction genre, she signed up for John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (2001) in the lead role. The film was not well-received, with a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2004, she briefly appeared as Eve in Species III.

Henstridge is known for her confident intimate or sex scenes with her co-actors, examples of which can be seen in Species (1995) or Steal(2002).^{[original research?]} Henstridge turned down the role ultimately played by Linda Fiorentino in Men in Black (1997), and she was the first choice for the role of videogame heroine Jill Valentine in Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) which she had to pull out of due to conflicts withSpecies III.

Television

Henstridge has played a number of roles on television, for example in Caracara and The Outer Limits. From 2005 to 2006, she had a recurring role on the ABC drama Commander in Chief, which starred Geena Davis as a fictional female U.S. President. She also hosted Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed on TLC, a show about urban legends. She guest-starred in the South Park first season episode "Tom's Rhinoplasty" as a substitute teacher, and was credited as "the chick from Species".

Henstridge was working on the TV show She Spies, prior to its cancellation. She has also completed a TV movie for the Lifetime channel titled Widow on the Hill. In 2006, she filmed the CTV original mini-series Would Be Kings in Hamilton, Ontario, for which she won a Gemini Award. She also starred in the expansion set to the video game Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, entitled Kane's Wrath.

In 2008, Henstridge played a role on the ABC show, Eli Stone. She has also been involved with two other productions, joining the cast of Dave Rodriguez's Anytown, an indie drama that examines a racist high school attack and its aftermath. She has also been involved with the production of Should've Been Romeo from American Independent Pictures.

In 2009, Henstridge did a guest spot on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. During this she demonstrated a Newfounland custom called "Screeching In" which involved getting O'Brien to drink Newfoundland Screech rum and kiss a large fish.^[8]

Personal life

Henstridge was married to actor Damian Chapa from 1995 to 1996. She has two sons by actor Liam Waite, named Tristan River, born October 1998, and Asher Sky, born September 2001. Henstridge then had a five-year relationship with Scottish singer-songwriter, stage actor, and author Darius Campbell. The two broke off their engagement in early 2010.^[11]

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995	Species	Sil
1996	Maximum Risk	Alex Minetti
	Adrenalin: Fear the Rush	Delon
1998	Bela Donna	Donna
	Standoff	Mary
	Dog Park	Lorna
	Species II	Eve
1999	Caracara (aka. The Last Witness)	Rachel Sutherland	TV Film
2000	Bounce	Mimi Prager
	The Whole Nine Yards	Cynthia Tudeski
	Second Skin	Crystal Ball
	It Had to Be You	Anna Penn
	A Better Way to Die	Kelly
2001	A Girl, Three Guys, and a Gun	5 O'Clock Girl
	Ghosts of Mars	Lieutenant Melanie Ballard
	Kevin of the North	Bonnie Livengood
2002	Steal (aka. Riders)	Karen
2004	Species III	Eve
	The Whole Ten Yards	Cynthia
2005	Widow on the Hill	Linda Dupree Cavanaugh	TV Film
2008	Deception	Simone Wilkinson
2009	Anytown	Carol Mills
	Let the Game Begin	Angela
2010	You Lucky Dog	Lisa Rayborn	TV Film
	The Devil's Teardrop	Margaret Lukas	TV Film
2011	Should've Been Romeo		filming
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Jason and the Argonauts	Hypsipyle	Miniseries
2002–2004	She Spies	Cassie McBain	40 episodes
2005–2006	Commander in Chief	Jayne Murray	16 episodes
2008	Would Be Kings		Miniseries
2008–2009	Eli Stone	Taylor Wethersby	26 episodes
2009	Impact	Dr. Maddie Rhodes	Miniseries
2010	Drop Dead Diva	Claire Harrison	2 episodes
Video Game
Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath	Alexa Kovacs

Posted in: hollywood actress