Claire Forlani

Claire Antonia Forlani (born 17 December 1971) is an English actress. Forlani was born in Twickenham in London, the daughter of Barbara (née Dickinson), and Pierluigi Forlani, a music manager from Ferrara, Italy. At the age of 11, Forlani entered the Arts Educational School in London, where she began to study acting. During her six years at the school, she also studied dance, which led to performances on stage in The Nutcracker and Orpheus in the Underworld. Forlani`s parents moved to San Francisco in 1993, in order to allow for wider casting opportunities in Hollywood films. Subsequently, Forlani was cast in the television mini-series J.F.K.: Reckless Youth and the film Police Academy: Mission to Moscow. In 1995, she played the supporting role of Brandi Svenning in Kevin Smith`s Mallrats. In 1996, Forlani appeared in a supporting role as Sean Connery`s daughter in the blockbuster action movie The Rock. She continued to appear in both widely released and smaller-budget films. Forlani was cast in the 1998 film Deep Rising, but, due to creative conflicts, left the set during the first few days of filming. That same year, she starred with Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black, her most financially successful film. She then appeared in Antitrust, a thriller released in January 2001 to mixed reviews.

Forlani was the new face of L`Oréal in 2001. She has been ranked #51 (2000) and #89 (2001) in Stuff magazine`s 100 Sexiest Women, #85 (2001) in FHM magazine`s 100 Sexiest Women and was slotted in Loaded`s Hot 100 Babes. In 2003, she co-starred with Jackie Chan in The Medallion. In Autumn 2006, Forlani joined the cast of CSI: New York in a recurring role as a medical examiner, Dr. Peyton Driscoll. In February 2007, Forlani portrayed Tori Bodeen in the movie version of Nora Roberts`s bestselling book Carolina Moon. She recently starred opposite Daniel Craig in Flashbacks of a Fool. Forlani has dated actors Benicio del Toro, John Cusack (between 1997 and 1998), Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves and Ben Stiller (between 1998 and 1999). In June 2007, Forlani married actor Dougray Scott, with whom she has two stepchildren.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claire_Forlani

Claire Forlani An actress whose fragile, fine-boned beauty has often gotten her cast as emotionally vulnerable, put-upon girlfriends, Claire Forlani has done strong work in this capacity in such films as Basquiat and Meet Joe Black. The daughter of an Italian father and a British mother, she was born in London on July 1, 1972. At the age of 11, she began studying dance and drama at London's Arts Educational School, where she trained for the next six years. She began her professional acting career in 1991, when she appeared in a number of productions for British television.

After relocating with her family to San Francisco in 1993, Forlani made her American acting debut with a small but memorable role in the TV miniseries JFK: Reckless Youth (1993) as a young woman who dances her way into the heart and hormones of the young president. She subsequently had a minor part in Police Academy - Mission to Moscow (1994), and then landed more substantial work in Mallrats (1995) after impressing director Kevin Smith with her flawless impression of an immature young American. Forlani's work in Mallrats gave her enough exposure to garner the attention of various casting agents, as evidenced by her central role as the all-too accommodating waitress girlfriend of Basquiat's (1996) eponymous artist (Jeffrey Wright).

The actress remained in troubled girlfriend mode for The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997), in which she played Beat icon Neal Cassady's suicidal paramour, and then literally flirted with death in Meet Joe Black (1998). The film cast Forlani in her biggest role to date, that of a young doctor who falls in love with Death, as personified with blond highlights by Brad Pitt; although the film itself was the object of much critical ire, Forlani escaped relatively unscathed. After playing yet another imperiled girlfriend in Mystery Men (1999), Forlani switched gears to play a neurotic college student who ends up in bed with her best friend (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) in the romantic comedy Boys and Girls (2000). Forliani stayed busy throughout the 2000s, winning praise for her work in the critically acclaimed fantasy drama Northfolk (2003), which also starred James Woods and Nick Nolte. She appeared in director Christopher Guest's playful send-up of Hollywood during awards season, For Your Consideration, in 2006, though she is better known for her portrayal of medical examiner Peyton Driscoll in CSI: NY (2006-2007). In 2008 she joined the cast of the supernatural thriller Not Forgotten to play a supporting role, and returned to the small screen in 2011 to play the part of Igraine in Camelot, a short-lived television series from STARZ.

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