Famke Janssen Talks TNG & Her New Film, Jack of the Red Hearts

Famke Janssen is best known these days for starring in such major film franchises as X-Men, Taken and James Bond, and for her nuanced work in many indie features, including City of Industry, Made, The Wackness and Bringing Up Bobby (which she also produced, directed and wrote). She’s also recurred on the television series Nip/Tuck and How to Get Away with Murder, and for three seasons played Olivia Godfrey on Hemlock Grove. Given the breadth and depth of her credits, it’s sometimes easy to forget that Janssen – who hails from the Netherlands -- started out as a model-turned-actress whose turn as Kamala in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Perfect Mate” marked one of her very first on-screen appearances.

What intrigued you about Kamala as a character?I wasn’t familiar with Star Trek at all, so I didn’t know until much later how unusual a character she was. It was just a really fun character to play. It was iconic in the end only because I ended up working with Patrick years later on the X-Men movies. So we had this whole history before we started working together on X-Men, and that, of course, made it so much easier. Coming in on a big action film like that, it’s always a little nerve-wracking, so it was great to have had that previous experience with Star Trek and to not have been a stranger to him.

Again, visit www.jackoftheredhearts.com for details about Jack of the Red Hearts.