Few women have revitalized the role of women in science fiction and action movies like Natasha Henstridge. She was born in August of 1974 in Newfoundland, Canada. Like many young women as striking as she, Natasha began her career at the age of 15-years-old as a model working out of Paris, France. When modeling proved to be too repetitive, Natasha decided she needed a new challenge and began doing name brand commercials. This would all lead to her first mainstream, Hollywood role at the young of 19-years-old – as the space alien Sil in 1995’s Species. Sil is the result of spliced DNA between a human and alien DNA. Originally theorized to be docile as a female, Sil eventually breaks out of her containment cell, matures rapidly, and has the intentions of reproducing in hopes of using her offspring to irradiate the human race.
After her breakout role in Species, Ms. Henstridge stuck with the scifi genre and booked roles in Adrenaline: Fear the Rush (1996) and “The Outer Limits” and “Homeboys from Outer Space” in 1997. She would return to the Species franchise again in 1998 with Species II, this time playing the role of Eve – a new, actually more docile version of Sil who voluntarily remains in captivity to be studied in hopes of protecting the human race from her other half. When a Mars mission returns to Earth with some of her alien counterparts on board, Eve helps the scientists combat the other members of her family with telepathic connections and even an alien vs. alien battle resulting in her own pregnancy and death.
Following Species II, Natasha began to enter the realm of action-thrillers. For the sake of this article, I’m not going to mention all of them, but she did co-star in The Whole Nine Yards (2000) and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards (2004) with Bruce Willis; as well as playing the lead in two seasons of “She Spies” from 2002-2004. She also appeared in Bounce with Ben Affleck in 2002. However, she never strayed far from the scifi genre. In between action gigs she booked roles in John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars (2001) and returned for the third Species installment in 2004. In Species III, the previous movie’s ending was retconned and Eve returns only briefly to give birth to a second half-breed baby which then proceeds to kill her.
So, where is Natasha Henstridge now?
She had a lot of low profile, independent action, drama, and comedy gigs from 2005 – 2007. Luckily, her career received a second wind starting with a cameo in Deception in 2008 with Hugh Jackman. Shortly after that, she appeared in two episodes of “Drop Dead Diva” and two episodes of “CSI” in 2011. Perhaps her biggest achievement of the 2010s decade, Natasha landed the lead, recurring role as Dawn Chamberlain in the book-to-CW Drama “The Secret Circle” from 2011-2012. Currently, she has a number of projects lined up including A Bronx Bull with William Forsythe due out in 2015.
Other facts: Natasha was ranked as the #85 sexiest woman in the world by Stuff Magazine and #1 in Femme Fatales Magazine. She has notoriously turned down roles in Independence Day, Men in Black, and the role of Jill Valentine in Resident Evil: Apocalypse.
