British actress Rachel Weisz broke through into the movie mainstream in 1999's hit blockbuster The Mummy with Brendan Fraser.Since this role she has gone on to become one of this country's most popular and versatile actresses who movies easily from blockbusters like Constantine to the more off beat roles like The Fountain and winning an Oscar along the way.FemaleFirst takes a look at her top five performances from a very successful career.

1. The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener wan an adaptation of the John le Carre novel of the same name, directed by Fernando Meirellas and starring Ralph Fiennes.Ralph Fiennes stars as Justin Quayle, a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), is killed, he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy.

For her performance as Tessa Quayle Rachel Weisz received an Oscar for best Supporting actress as well as a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

However the film did receive some criticism with many saying that the film didn't criticise the practices of the pharmaceutical industry and the effect that they have on those who live with illness and poverty in Africa.

2. The Mummy

Stephen Sommers 1999 blockbuster The Mummy is the film that brought Rachel Weisz to the attention of cinema going audiences with her role of Evelyn Carnahan.

In the 1920s, a group of archaeologists led by adventurer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) discovers the mummified body of Imhotep, an Egyptian priest who was cursed for falling in love with the Pharoah's mistress.

When they accidentally resurrect him, the battle for survival begins, as the mummy begins to use his powers to reclaim his long-lost love.

While the film was popular with the public, going on to gross just over $415 million at the global box office, it received mixed reviews from the critics.

However actors Weisz and Fraser became household names and the movie turned into a franchise releasing a sequel The Mummy Returns which did even better at the box office.

3. Enemy At The Gates

In 2001 Weisz stepped into familiar territory with her role as Tanya Chernova in war film Enemy at the Gates alongside Jude Law, Ralph Fiennes and Ed Harris.

September 1942. The German Army has advanced to the gates of Stalingrad. The Russian Army holds on desperately.

It is so poorly equipped that every pair of soldiers is given a single rifle--the second man only gets the weapon when the first is cut down.

Trapped in no man's land between the opposing armies, Russian recruit Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) finally acquires a rifle from Political Officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes).

Danilov is astonished when Zaitsev picks off several German officers. On their return to the Russian lines, Danilov writes about Zaitsev's exploits in the army newspaper.

Zaitsev is assigned to a sniper unit. He kills more German officers and, thanks to Danilov, becomes a hero.

In retaliation, the Germans bring in sharpshooter Major König (Ed Harris) from Berlin--to hunt Zaitsev. The two snipers engage in a desperate duel, as the appalling Battle of Stalingrad rages.

4. Sunshine

Sunshine was a 1999 release that saw Weisz work with Ralph Fiennes for the first tie, she would go on to work with him in the Constant Gardener, directed by István Szabó.

Sunshine is an epic tale that follows the Polish family the Sonnenscheins through five generations spanning more than 100 years, from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s, exploring the history, politics, world wars, social diaspora, and economic shifts that influence and change them during that period.

Beginning with Emmanuel Sonnenschein, who builds a business around the family product (a Taste of Sunshine tonic), the film follows the lineage from his son Ignaz (Ralph Fiennes), a political conservative loyal to the Hungarian Republic, to Ignaz's son Adam (also played by Fiennes), an olympic fencer who is victimized by the Nazi genocide, to Adam's son Ivan (Fiennes again), a member of the Hungarian communist regime who manages to divorce himself from it and be free.

Through these transitions, it is Valerie (played by both Jennifer Ehle and her real-life mother, Rosemary Harris), the cousin and wife of Ignaz, who becomes mother to Adam and grandmother to Ivan, supplying moral support, a family backbone.

The film was met well critically with nominations at the Golden Globes for Best Picture as well as a nomination for Weisz for Best Supporting Actress at the Genie Awards.

5. The Land Girls

One of Weisz's early performances in The Land Girl also makes the list.

It's 1941. World War II continues to rage across Europe. The young men of England have been called to the front to fight.

So, back at home, a new regiment is formed, an army of England's young women who are dispatched across the countryside to pick up the slack, known as "The Land Girls."

Three beautiful women (McCormack, Weisz, and Friel) answer the call, arriving at a farm in Dorset, where they meet handsome and volatile Joe (Mackintosh).

Tragedy and passion is revealed as the girls form close friendships with each other and with Joe.

My Blueberry Nights is released 22nd February

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

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