Date of Birth

10 December 1983, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name

Liliane Rudabet Gloria Elsveta Sobieski

Nickname

Lee

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

Liliane Rudabet Gloria Elsveta Sobieski was born June 10, 1983 in New York City, New York. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Sobieski (née Salomon), a writer, and Jean Sobieski, a painter who has also acted. She has a younger brother, Robert. Her father, born in France, is of Polish and Swiss descent, while her mother is of three quarters Ashkenazi Jewish and one quarter Dutch, ancestry.

Sobieski caught the attention of a casting agent who noticed her while he was scouting the cafeteria of a New York City private school. Leelee's first major audition was for a role in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994). She ended up losing the role to Kirsten Dunst, but that didn't stop her. At age 11 she co-starred in the TV movie Reunion (1994) with Marlo Thomas and a year later starred in A Horse for Danny (1995). In 1998 Leelee starring opposite Elijah Wood in Deep Impact (1998). The film, which was one of the summer's biggest hits, garnered Leelee great reviews and brought her to the attention of many casting directors. Next up was Joan of Arc (1999), which she shot in the Czech Republic and for which she received an Emmy nomination. While working on Joan of Arc (1999), she was also shooting a film with Tom Cruise, Eyes Wide Shut (1999). The film, shot under strict secrecy by the notoriously reclusive Stanley Kubrick, had Leelee cast as a teenage nymphet who tempts Cruise's character. While shooting the film she developed a friendship with Stanley Kubrick and was heartbroken when he died soon after its completion.

Leelee went on to star with other big names: Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed (1999); Diane Lane in The Glass House (2001) and Josh Hartnett & Chris Klein in Here on Earth (2000).

Leelee married fashion designer Adam Kimmel in 2010. The couple has two children.

Trivia

• Discovered by a casting director in her New York City school cafeteria.
• Enjoys painting, ceramics, poetry, martial arts, and horseback riding.
• Her father is Jean Sobieski, a New York City painter, and her mother, Elizabeth Sobieski, is a writer.
• Has a younger brother, Roby Sobieski, born 1988.
• Collects locks of hair from major stars appearing with her in films. Tom Cruise declined her request when filming Eyes Wide Shut (1999).
• Bears such an uncanny resemblance to actress Helen Hunt that many people believe she is Hunt's younger sister. The two are not related.
• Is fluent in French.
• Australian band Primitive Whore perform a song titled "Why Leelee won't Love Me".
• Her father, Jean Sobieski, is a French-born painter. Her mother, Elizabeth Sobieski (née Salomon), is an American-born writer. Leelee's father is of Polish and Swiss descent. Leelee's maternal grandfather was from a Russian Jewish family, while Leelee's maternal grandmother was of Belarusian Jewish/Lithuanian Jewish descent (on her own father's side), and of Dutch descent (on her own mother's side).
• In 2001, she matriculated with the class of 2005 at Brown University, but she has since taken time off to advance her career. She remains a popular topic of conversation of Brown students.
• Youngest actress ever to portray Joan of Arc in a movie (Joan of Arc (1999)) and, because of that, the one who is the closest to the real age of the historical figure at the time the story takes place.
• Her father, Jean Sobieski, lived with French singer Dalida in Paris in the '60s.
• Spent part of her childhood on a ranch in France.
• Gave birth to her 1st child at age 26, a daughter named Louisanna Ray Kimmel on December 15, 2009. Child's father is her fiancé (now 2nd husband), Adam Kimmel.
• Returned to work 6 months after giving birth to her daughter Louisianna in order to film her guest appearance on Drop Dead Diva (2009).
• (August 31, 2010) Married for the 2nd time her boyfriend of 19 months and father of her 8-month-old daughter, Louisanna, Adam Kimmel following a 13-month-long engagement.
• Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 31, a son named Martin Kimmel in July 2014. Child's father is her 2nd husband, Adam Kimmel.
• Retired from full-time acting in 2012, to focus on raising her kids and to pursue her passion of art.

Quotes

• Honestly, ever since I've been married, the part of a job as an actress where you have to kiss other people, I find totally bizarre.
• I'm open to whatever is meant to be, it will be.
• I did try to get a few of those teen high-school movies, but they just didn't like me. I guess I wasn't a certain type.
• I was being honest - I have nothing to hide. All I do, all the time, with everybody, is tell them what I am thinking, what I am feeling.
• I'm a hopeless romantic with a dirty mind.
• I think people really don't like cops so much; they're kind of rude to them or treat them like they can't see them.
• I text my girlfriends. I look at Facebook. I check my e-mail. If I'm away from the news cycle more than a few hours, I feel out of touch.
• I live in New York and it's the greatest city, but sometimes I want to move to the place with the porch and the lemonade and the farm.
• I heard someone say the other day that they thought it was sexier to call someone their fiancé instead of their husband or wife.
• I go short and sweet on the engagement. I did have a longish engagement, but I think short and sweet is best.
• Sometimes, taking a job is like going to a shrink or something, where you get to know yourself better.
• If only I could find a guy who wasn't in his 70s to talk to me about white cranes, I'd be madly in love.
• I, like many people, am constantly on my phone.
• I've never scratched, or punched, or slapped anybody in my real life.
• I've never played anybody like a cop before.
• Now when I see something beautiful or funny or sweet, sometimes I reach for my camera, but other times I think, 'I need to let this moment exist. I don't have to capture everything. I just want to experience it.'
• I think when you're doing a lead role, there is so much more pressure. If you fail, not only do you fail, but everybody else fails, too. As opposed to when it's a supporting role and it's only you that sucked.
• I guess because it feels more open, but I think being married is way sexier, because it's really like your soul partner in a permanent fashion, and then you strive for it to be something permanent, and that type of commitment and trust, if you can achieve it, is so good for the soul.
• I always get scared of traffic cops when I'm driving, like I freak out even when I'm not doing anything wrong. I still think they're going to pull me over and arrest me.
• When I had my daughter, Louisanna, two and a half years ago, I started recording every funny or sweet thing she said or did on my phone.
• This girl at 17 really led an army, this girl at 19 really burned at the stake by her own choice. And you sit there and you want to figure out why did she make these choices? How did she live such a life?