Leelee Sobieski - 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 Entretien avec un vampire (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 Jeanne d'Arc (1999), which she shot in the Czech Republic and for which she received an Emmy nomination. While working on Jeanne d'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 Collège attitude (1999); Diane Lane in La prison de verre (2001) and Josh Hartnett & Chris Klein in Un été sur terre (2000).

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