Rebecca Alie Romijn is an American actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men films, and for her recurring role as Alexis Meade on the television series Ugly Betty. Romijn was born in Berkeley, California, United States. Her mother, Elizabeth , is a Community College teacher of English as a Second Language and textbook author, and her father, Jaap Romijn, is a custom furniture maker. Her father is a native of Barneveld, the Netherlands, and her mother is an American of half Dutch descent; she met Romijn's father while staying in the Netherlands... on a teen-age exchange program. Romijn's maternal grandfather, Dr. Henry Bernard Kuizenga, was a Presbyterian minister and seminary professor. When questioned about always being glamourous and beautiful on the Ellen Show, Romijn revealed that as a child in her early teens she was in fact an insecure 'drama geek', and as a result of her growth spurt she suffered from scoliosis and was constantly in pain.
more