Natasha Tonya Henstridge (born August 15, 1974) is a Canadian actress and former fashion model. In 1995, she came to prominence with her debut movie role as the genetically engineered human-alien hybrid Sil in the science-fiction thriller Species, then the human-alien hybrid Eve in two sequels that followed, Species II and Species III. Other notable on-screen roles include The Whole Nine Yards, The Whole Ten Yards, It Had To Be You, Ghosts of Mars, She Spies, the TV series Eli Stone, and the Canadian TV mini-series Would Be Kings, for which she won the Gemini Award for best actress. Her most recent role is as Dawn Chamberlain in the TV series The Secret Circle.
Early Life[]
Henstridge was born in Springdale, Newfoundland, the daughter of Helen Henstridge, a homemaker, and Brian Henstridge, a construction manager and business owner. Her maternal grandparents were from the Mi'kmaq Nation. She was raised in Fort McMurray, Alberta, with her younger brother, Shane.
Modelling Career[]
At the age of 14, 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 of Cosmopolitan. 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.
Acting Career[]
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 US$113 million at the box 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 with 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 opposite Jean-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. In 2007, Henstridge was a festival judge at the first annual Noor Iranian Film Festival.
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 Newfoundland custom called "Screeching In" which involved getting O'Brien to drink Newfoundland Screech rum and kiss a large fish. In 2011, she appeared on the season 9 finale and season 10 premiere of CSI: Miami as Renee Locklear. She then starred in the CW TV series The Secret Circle as Dawn Chamberlain.
Personal Life[]
Henstridge married American actor Damian Chapa in 1995 and they divorced in 1996. She dated American actor Liam Waite from 1996 to 2004, and they have two sons together: Tristan River (born October 1998) and Asher Sky (born September 2001). She began a relationship with Scottish singer Darius Campbell in 2004. They became engaged but broke it off in early 2010, then later married on Valentine's Day 2011.They filed for divorce in July 2013. The divorce was finalized in February 2018.
Henstridge suffers from Hashimoto's thyroiditis, a condition that has caused weight gain.
In November 2017, during the #MeToo movement, Henstridge joined six other actresses in accusing director Brett Ratner of sexual misconduct and harassment; she maintains that he forced her to perform oral sex on him in the early 1990s.
Trivia[]
- She did not appear in the fourth film in the species film series-Species: The Awakening
- She was born on August 15, 1974 in Springdale, Newfoundland, Canada
- Height: 5' 9½" (1.77 m)
- Her birth name is Natasha T. Henstridge
- Natasha was raised in a trailer park in Alberta, Canada. Her father was a biker/contractor and her mother was a housewife. She left her home at age 14 to move to Paris, France to become a model.
- Was asked to play the role of Jill Valentine in Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), but could not accept due to other work commitments.
- Natasha Henstridge has a background in modeling, as does actor Justin Lazard (Patrick).
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