Rachel Grant first graced our screens opposite Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond film Die Another Day. She appears as Bond girl Peaceful Fountains of Desire, Bond’s would-be assassin posing as a masseuse in Bond’s Hong Kong hotel suite.

As well as body doubling for Angelina Jolie in the film Tombraider, Rachel worked on Richard Jobson’s martial arts feature The Purifiers playing Li opposite Kevin Mckidd and Dominic Monaghan.

Rachel has appeared in numerous television shows in the UK including Emmerdale, Masters of Combat, Blue Murder, Casualty, Zero to Hero, Murder in Suburbia, Starhyke and as Hypno Girl in the comedy sketch show Rajan & the Evil Hynotists. However most might remember Rachel in her first regular TV gig as Nina, the horror hostess on the Sci-Fi channel who became their most popular presenter and appeared on the Friday night programming strand, Sci-fright.

Rachel has also starred in several high-profile TV advertising campaigns, most recently the Carlsberg campaign in the UK as well as the Axe/Lynx Pulse ‘Make Luv’ TV advert which started a whole new dance craze and spawned a massive number one hit in the UK, Europe and Asia.

Her help with various charities include Cancer Research UK, WSPA (World Society for Protection of Animals) & SPARKS Sports Aiding Medical Research for Kids. She has taken part in numerous events including Sunsmart at Brighton beach, the ban bear farms campaign and abseilled down Twickenham Stadium for Cancer Research UK's Guiness World Record for the largetst mass abseil on a single site.

Rachel currently lives and travels between Los Angeles and London.

I was born Rachel Louise Grant de Longueuil on the island of Luzon north of the Philippines. My birth would have been fairly uneventful except for a fire that gutted my grandparents’ entire family home where my parents were vacationing at the time causing my mother to give birth to me prematurely. Someone suggested I should aptly be named Phoenix after the legendary Egyptian bird, which rose from the ashes. Instead I was given the less exotic name of Rachel. Then within a month of my arrival our new home in the Philippines was swept away in a flood and typhoon. My family shortly after moved back to England.

My father the Baron De Longueuil, a doctor and hypnotist, is of English-Scottish, French-Canadian descent. My late grandfather Baron Raymond de Longueuil, was a professional artist in the South of France and his mother was the Lady Ernestine Maud Bowes-Lyon. My great granny Ernestine was 1st cousin to the Queen Mother and grew up with the Queen Mum in Glamis Castle in Scotland. Not that it matters to anyone or that anyone would believe me! My mother, whose grandmother was Spanish, is from the Philippines. My maternal great-grandfather was a doctor who was one of the founders of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) in Southeast Asia.

I was considered quite a shy and mischievous little girl with a fascination for unusual things and eating strange food. I would taste anything like leaves or berries from the garden (and handfuls of them off the juniper tree which I later found are highly poisonous), digging and collecting all things that moved (and didn’t), looking at them under my microscope. Once, my mother caught me eating a Christmas bauble. (In fact, I recall eating more than one!) I can honestly claim there’s nothing I have eaten I have not liked the taste of. I guess this taste for the unusual has paid off since I am actually a gourmet eater and not a bad cook at all. I love making sushi and Thai curries.

I am the middle of three sisters (Angela, a model and a ballet teacher and Rebecca who performed in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams and Trevor Beattie’s Show Burlesque). The three of us went to a local ballet school in Nottingham (Nora Morrison School) where we did ballet, singing, and acting. We performed regularly around the UK at dance and drama festivals and competitions as well as numerous charitable events notably the Royal Society of the Blind.

I attended a catholic and girls’ school in Nottingham and my life as a student consisted of balancing my various activities and travels with my studies resulting in 8 lovely GCSE marks of Grade A’s. But when the time came for me to choose between University or going to London to pursue a dream career in drama, I chose the latter. I obtained a 3-year Diploma in the Performing Arts at the London Studio Centre and also attended courses at RADA, Italia Conti and the Royal Ballet.

I went on to perform in panto, short films, hair shows, pop promos (to name some, Toni Braxton, Vanessa Mae, Westlife, Top of the Pops) and appeared in several TV adverts and editorials. I once had a part on Emmerdale, have presented travel shows for Cathay Pacific Airlines and was also one of the body doubles for Angelina Jolie in the film Tomb Raider. My performing career has taken me to many foreign lands. I can remember one year in particular travelling to over 12 countries, not easy but I loved it.

At one stage, I found myself doing beauty pageants. My initial feelings towards beauty contests were to be taken lightly, aimed at the frivolous or the unintelligent. My notions soon changed. Apart from the sheer fun and experience, I went to the Bahamas, Las Vegas, Singapore and the Philippines, meeting people of various cultures, promoting either the UK or the Philippines, and most importantly, helping the charities involved. Now I think pageants are a good idea! They are a wonderful celebration of women, culture, creed, racial equality and unity, and the way forward for mankind is towards togetherness, harmony and understanding.

I have since continued to work in television and film. One of my most memorable roles was as horror hostess Nina in the show Sci-fright on the Sci-fi channel. I also thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Pinewood Studios on the James Bond film Die Another day where I played Bond girl Peaceful. Now I travel and live in both Los Angeles and London and love the work, events, and adventure.

What I want for the future is to keep working. My dream is to have a life long career in theatre and film. However, I am always grateful for the chance to perform, express myself and delight audiences in my own modest way. I have met some very interesting personalities in the world of performing. I am glad I chose this path.

Credit: rachelgrant.com