Sadie Frost (Actor)

Designer Sadie Frost arrives at the Vodafone Live Music Awards. (Photo: Claire Greenway / Getty Images)

One-half of the Britpack's "It-couple" (with husband Jude Law), the lovely, lively blue-eyed Sadie Frost has eschewed Hollywood for the more authentic experience of acting in independent films. The product of a free-wheeling, bohemian childhood, she began her career at the age of three in a Jelly Tots commercial and won a scholarship at the age of 11 to London's Italia Conti Academy, a private theatrical conservatory. Although she made her film debut starring in "A Horse Called Jester" (1980) while still a pre-teen, she dropped out of acting briefly during her rebellious "punk" years, returning to work primarily onstage and in British TV before playing a small role in the feature thriller "Empire State" (1987). She attracted some attention as Gabriel Byrne's sexually active little sister in "Diamond Skulls" (1989), a stylish melodrama about sex and violence among the British aristocracy, and also appeared in Peter Medak's popular crime film "The Krays" (1990), co-starring her then-husband, Gary Kemp.

Frost's work in "Diamond Skulls" helped her land the role of Lucy Westenra, the flirtatious, upper-crust adventuress turned blood-sucking vampire in Francis Ford Coppola's operatic "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992). Sinking her teeth into the vivacious, quirky portrayal of the spooky, tragic vampire victim, Frost won some of the film's best notices, but her compelling performance also helped typecast her as a gothic presence, making it hard for her to find a good follow-up project. Her next three films went largely unnoticed by the movie-going public: the zany Brit comedy "Splitting Heirs" (1993, with Rick Moranis), the gritty crime drama "Shopping" (1994, opposite Law), and the multi-national fairy tale "Magic Hunter" (also 1994). Frost finally hit the jackpot again as the tough American waitress and love object in the dark comedy "A Pyromanic's Love Story" (1995). Disgusted with the type of roles offered, she formed Natural Nylon with fellow actors Law, Jonny Lee Miller, Sean Pertwee and Ewan McGregor, and the production company received its first producing credit on David Cronenberg's "eXistenZ" (1999), starring Law.

Terrible reviews for her work in "Crimetime" (1996) did nothing for Frost's career, and following a small role as one of Max's friends in the acclaimed "Bent" (1997), she appeared in the seafaring mess "Captain Jack" (1998) and the aptly named "Rancid Aluminum" (1999). Reteaming with "The Krays" producers Ray Burdis and Dominic Anciano on their feature writing-directing debut, "Final Cut" (1999), and their follow-up, "Love, Honor and Obey" (2000), offered her the chance to work improvisationally as both projects invited the public to eavesdrop on loosely-scripted hymns to spontaneity featuring talented casts (i.e., Law, Ray Winstone). Whereas "Final Cut" was the worst kind of pretentious self-indulgence in which all of the characters were despicable, "Love, Honor and Obey" (2000) managed to be fun (with its silly costumes and Viagra jokes) as the filmmakers returned to the improvisational comedy which made their reputations on the award-winning BBC2 series "Operation Good Guys". Frost, playing a soap star, made her film singing debut with a karaoke rendition of the 1971 hit "When You Are a King".