Gabrielle Anwar (Actor)

Actress Gabrielle Anwar poses at the 10th Annual Costume Designers Guild Awards. (Photo: Frank Micelotta / Getty Images)

Born on Feb. 4, 1970 in Laleham, Middlesex, England, actress Gabrielle Anwar had been working steadily on both sides of the Atlantic ever since her memorable tango with Al Pacino in “Scent of a Woman” (1992). Anwar was reared from birth into the film business – her Persian father, Tariq Anwar, was an Oscar-nominated film editor, and her mother was British-born actress. Her desire to avoid going to school led Anwar to acting – being kicked out of one for fist-fighting helped kick-start her career, leading to her being cast in the BBC miniseries “Hideaway” (1986) when she was just 15. She spent the ensuing years bouncing from one acting job to another while cleaning apartments in between to make ends meet.

Anwar landed a small part in the sci-fi thriller “First Born” (A&E, 1989), following up with wider exposure in minor features, including “Manifesto” (1988) and “If Looks Could Kill” (1991). She took the lead role in “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” (1991), playing the real-life stunt rider Sonora Webster, whose famous trick was diving into a tank of water on horseback. In “Scent of a Woman,” the coming-of-age story about a young student (Chris O’Donnell) being forced to accompany a blind Army officer (Pacino) on a hedonistic trip to New York City, Anwar danced a romantic tango that – though lasting only seven minutes on screen – made a lasting impression with critics and audiences. Many stood up and took notice of the ethereal beauty, leading to bigger and more promising roles.

Turning to television, Anwar was an ice skater taken by Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) on an episode of “Beverly Hills 90210” (Fox, 1990-2000), before playing the dead wife of a hard-boiled detective (Gary Oldman) on Showtime’s noir anthology series, “Fallen Angels” (1992-96). She made another memorable appearance – this time as Queen Anne in Stephen Herek’s modern take on “The Three Musketeers” (1993). Anwar continued her climb to stardom with a leading role opposite Michael J. Fox in the romantic comedy “For Love or Money” (1993), playing the mistress of a wealthy hotel patron (Anthony Higgins), who leaves her in the care of the hotel’s brash concierge (Fox). Unsuspecting romance and complications ensue. Anwar followed with the little-seen remake of the horror classic “Body Snatchers” (1993), then returned to the small screen with an appearance as the journalist daughter of an Army colonel (Rod Steiger) in the docudrama “In Pursuit of Honor” (HBO, 1995).

In the Quentin Tarantino-inspired comic thriller “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead” (1995), Anwar glided across the screen as the love interest to a retired gangster (Andy Garcia) pulled back into the game by his ex-boss (Christopher Walken). After playing an upper-class English sibling accused alongside her brother (Stephen Dorrf) of murder in “Innocent Lies” (1995), Anwar portrayed a woman with a mysterious past who helps her ex-con ex-lover (real-life longtime companion Craig Sheffer) unearth a hidden treasure in “The Grave” (1996). A leading role in the submarine thriller “Sub Down” (USA, 1997) was followed by “The Ripper” (also 1997), where Anwar played a key witness who fears she is the next victim of Jack the Ripper. Anwar received her first producing credit with “Nevada” (1997), an independently financed character study about a mysterious woman (Amy Brenneman) who swoops into an isolated Nevada town seemingly populated only by women.

Continuing to appear in several films a year, Anwar journeyed to the Czech Republic to film the period comedy “The Manor” (1999), then traveled to Vancouver to play an assistant sexually abused by her lawyer boss (Bill Pullman) in the straight-to-video thriller “The Guilty” (1999). In “My Little Assassin” (Lifetime, 1999), Anwar had the lead role as the real-life Marita Lorenz, daughter of a CIA agent (Reiner Schone) who carries on an affair with Fidel Castro (Joe Mantegna), but is duped into setting up her lover for assassination. Anwar took on all comers in “Kimberly” (Cinemax, 1999), playing a rowing coach who trains four young men for an upcoming competition, only to become impregnated by one of them after sleeping with all four. After small parts in “How to Marry a Billionaire: A Christmas Story” (Fox, 2000) and “Stanley’s Gig” (2000), Anwar was seen in the festival-bound romantic comedy “North Beach” (2000), and costarred in the “Three’s Company”-like indie comedy, “If You Only Knew” (2000).

With a resume chock full of mediocre cable movies and straight-to-video releases, it was only a matter of time that Anwar worked with Rutger Hauer. The inevitable happened with “Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal” (Cinemax, 2001), a cheap thriller about the hijacking of a 747 by the fan of a rock star performing his final show on the flight. In “Flying Virus” (2001), Anwar portrayed a journalist who investigates a scientist (David Naughton) genetically engineering killer bees in the Brazilian rainforest. Returning to series television, Anwar guest-appeared in episodes of “The Practice” (ABC, 1996-2004) and “John Doe” (Fox, 2002-03), then upped her game with a co-starring turn in the revisionist Sherlock Holmes mystery, “A Case of Evil” (USA, 2002). She next starred in “Mary Higgins Clark’s Try to Remember” (2004), playing a homicide detective who returns to the town she fled after her best friend’s murder, only to find that the killer (Diego Wallraff) has been paroled and may be tied to a series of fresh bodies.

As the new millennium was taking shape, Anwar began to make strides in higher-profile projects, particularly in television. She co-starred in “The Librarian 2: Return to King Solomon’s Mines” (TNT, 2006), an action-adventure yarn where she played a brainy archeologist opposite Noah Wyle’s bookish librarian in search of the fabled mines. She then journeyed to 1920’s Egypt to help find the Emerald Tablet from King Tutankhamen’s tomb in “The Curse of King Tut’s Tomb” (Hallmark Channel, 2006). Anwar finally landed a regular series role in “The Tudors” (2007- ), playing Princess Margaret, sister to King Henry VIII (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), in Showtime’s lavish 10-part series depicting the ruthless monarch prior to his infamous split from the Catholic Church. She next starred on the blue sky series, “Burn Notice” (USA, 2007- ), playing a gun-happy former IRA-trained guerilla helping her ex-boyfriend and former spy (Jeffrey Donovan) find out who blacklisted him.