Famke Janssen is dressed for her photoshoot at the Covent Garden hotel exactly as her character Betty would in the new Netflix crime drama Amsterdam Empire—wearing a lacy, floral, tailored mini dress with long school socks. Is the look sexy in a sardonic way, or is it irony expressed through fashion? We often discuss objectification, patriarchal beauty standards, and the collateral damage of sexism. With a 30-year career spanning over 60 films and a background in modeling, Janssen has plenty to talk about.
It feels almost inappropriate to mention how stunning she looks—her face as flawless and sculpted at 60 as it was nearly 30 years ago in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. If she were a man, I’d say so without hesitation. She attributes her appearance to clean living: “People often assume I’ve had work done, but I haven’t. We shame women into getting procedures, then shame them when they do. I support everyone’s choices, but it’s just not for me.”
“I look strong, I am strong. I come from a background of strong women,” she adds.
Amsterdam Empire marks her first production in her home country, the Netherlands, and her first time acting in Dutch. Though roles have come up before—partly because both her sisters, Marjolein Beumer (an actor) and Antoinette Beumer (a director), are in the industry—nothing felt right until now. “Then Netflix approached me with this pitch: it’s The War of the Roses meets The Sopranos,” she explains. In a way, that fits: Jacob Derwig plays Jack, the kingpin of a cannabis empire that’s legal on the surface but not underneath. He kicks off the series by leaving Betty, a former pop star and stunning beauty who refuses to go down without a fight.
This represents a new era for Netflix—when they produce a show in a different country, it feels authentic to that place. Amsterdam Empire is original and template-free, with exhilaratingly blunt dialogue. It’s raunchy yet so frank and un-euphemistic that even a divorce scene playing out in a strip club on a giant penis-shaped bronco doesn’t feel remotely sexual.
At its heart, the show explores a subtle shift in allegiance. Betty starts as an eccentric cast aside, while Jack is the romantic hero with a new love interest. Yet she’s the one who steadily wins over the audience. “We know nothing about Betty,” Janssen notes, “but we know everything about Jack. So I said, ‘It’s not a fair fight.’ Betty has no child, no family, no friends. She has to steal her dog, and she has her husband. When I read the character, I thought, ‘I’ll do what I can to make her well-rounded. If it’s not on the page, I’ll put it in my acting.'” In many ways, it’s the role she was born to play—”I’ve made a career out of playing underwritten women.”
Janssen was born in Amstelveen, near Amsterdam, into a tough upbringing that she describes honestly without sugarcoating. “From a young age, we were left to fend for ourselves,” she recalls. “There was a lot going on, a lot of drama. I realized if I didn’t look after myself, things wouldn’t end well.” Considered the intellectual sister, she wasn’t encouraged toward creative pursuits and ended up studying economics after a science teacher told her class, “Oh, girls don’t…””I don’t understand science.” That one comment derailed several years of my life, all to prove that man wrong.
She began working at a young age, taking any job available—delivering newspapers, working in bars and shops—”anything to earn my own money and gain my independence.” At 17, she left home to become a model. “It was only after leaving the Netherlands and coming to the U.S. that I learned to dream and create what I wanted. The culture was completely different; here, I felt I had permission.”
Reflecting on her modeling days, she notes, “I was very aware of the stereotypes of being a model-turned-actor-turned-Bond girl.” In photos from that era, like a swimwear shoot with Elle Macpherson that captures the essence of the 80s, there’s a cultural contradiction. The models had a powerful presence, robust and strong, yet there was an unspoken expectation that they should be seen and not heard.
“For me,” she says, “that’s been the biggest challenge because I am strong—I look it and I am it. I come from a line of strong women. I won’t pretend to be less intelligent in front of a male producer or director to get what I want. But I know that some might take that approach because if you’re too assertive, you risk being labeled and missing out on opportunities.”
To distance herself from her modeling past and pursue acting, Janssen enrolled at Columbia University in New York, studying creative writing and literature with a minor in film studies. She didn’t land her first acting role until she was 28, and then came GoldenEye in 1995 when she was 30. The role of Xenia Onatopp wasn’t an obvious fit. “I was very aware of the stigma around being a Bond girl and found the term demeaning. But I thought, ‘I have nothing to lose; I’m going all in.’ So I contributed many ideas that ended up in the film, aiming to create a memorable character rather than just playing her as written.”
Onatopp has been widely analyzed, not only for revitalizing the Bond girl archetype—shifting from passive damsels to women who could overpower with their strength—but also for the feminist implications of her dominance and sadism, themes that sparked intense debate. Was she always intended to be a woman who derived pleasure from overpowering men?
“I added a lot that wasn’t in the script,” Janssen explains. “Like her orgasmic reactions. Having grown up watching Bond films with my dad, I always saw them as comedies, tongue-in-cheek. I wanted to make this character unforgettable and went for it, even though it could have easily failed. I’m not sure where I found the confidence.”
The role was undeniably a success, but it led to typecasting. “After that, the offers were for any woman with a gun, just standing around. With my name, Famke Janssen, and having played a Russian, Xenia Onatopp, they didn’t know what to do with me except cast me as a foreign villain.”
That wasn’t what she wanted, so she fought for a different path, eventually landing a smaller role in the 1997 neo-noir film.In the film “City of Industry,” starring Harvey Keitel, I played an American woman working in a supermarket, broke and living in a run-down house. It was tough to land that role because Harvey initially saw me as this glamorous, well-traveled person due to my background. He didn’t see the real me, just that image. So, I showed up to the audition dressed like a checkout girl, hoping he’d look past appearances and give me a chance because the part was intriguing.
After “GoldenEye,” I chose to take on smaller, unconventional roles in indie or breakout films, often working with respected directors like Robert Altman in “The Gingerbread Man” and Woody Allen in “Celebrity,” both in 1998. I wanted to use that momentum to break away from typecasting, earn less, avoid fame, and build a reputation as a versatile actor who could handle diverse characters.
I have positive things to say about Woody Allen, which might seem outdated given the allegations against him (which he denies). I expected him to direct actors to mimic his style, as many of his leads do, but he was hands-off. He’d say little and let actors do their thing; if he didn’t like it, he’d replace them without hesitation. It felt a bit authoritarian, but not tyrannical—Soon-Yi seemed to have more influence. (Soon-Yi was Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, and Allen left Farrow for her in 1992, a situation many found disturbing due to their age gap and the family dynamics, compounded by unproven allegations of abuse on both sides.) I mention this because I speak my mind without worrying how it sounds.
Having been a model in the late ’80s and an actor in the ’90s, I’ve witnessed a lot, including how people enable misconduct. Harvey Weinstein, for instance, couldn’t have persisted without enablers. I worked on his films but wasn’t harassed—I think my height, outspokenness, and resistance to such behavior deterred it. I’m not blaming victims; I was just fortunate to avoid it.
Of course, you didn’t have to experience assault to be affected by the sexism of that time. When Jon Favreau said in an interview that it’s rare to find someone both beautiful and funny, it was brushed off as a casual remark. Looking back at eras like the 1920s and ’30s, it’s just how things were.The brilliant women in screwball comedies were truly geniuses. Many people overlook the pervasive sexism in our daily lives, often taking things for granted when we really shouldn’t.
In 2000, she took on the role of Dr. Jean Grey in X-Men, a part that would continue for years, though later only as a cameo. “Before X-Men, everything in superhero films—from production design to costumes to the acting—felt overly glossy and unrealistic. X-Men changed that, and I’m proud to have been part of it. It also opened up many opportunities for me.”
She adds, “At the end of the day, this is a business. I’d love to focus only on my favorite projects with my preferred directors and actors, but that’s not how it works. Unless I stay relevant—which I’ve tested by keeping out of the press as much as I have—I won’t get roles.”
She avoids social media, finding it somewhat inappropriate. “I wasn’t going to follow what many others, especially women, seem to do: posting revealing photos on Instagram and seeking attention. That’s just not me.” She believes, perhaps correctly, that she’d be more in demand with a higher profile. But on the other hand, if we had known over the past 30 years how candid she is, we might have been constantly asking for her opinions on everything.
Amsterdam Empire is available to stream on Netflix. This article was edited on November 5, 2025, to remove some text for editorial reasons.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs based on the statement I always felt that the term Bond girl was quite demeaning says Famke Janssen discussing her career drive and working with Woody Allen
General Beginner Questions
Q1 Who is Famke Janssen
A She is a Dutch actress best known for playing Dr Jean GreyPhoenix in the XMen films and the villain Xenia Onatopp in the James Bond movie GoldenEye
Q2 What is a Bond girl
A Its a common term for the female characters both allies and villains who appear in James Bond films
Q3 Why does Famke Janssen find the term Bond girl demeaning
A She feels it reduces complex often powerful female characters to a simplistic label defined only by their relationship to the male hero James Bond
Q4 What role did she play in a Bond film
A She played Xenia Onatopp a deadly and seductive assassin for a terrorist syndicate in GoldenEye
Q5 Did she have a positive experience making the Bond movie despite her feelings about the term
A Yes she has spoken about the role being a major career breakthrough and a fun character to play even though she critiques the label applied to it
Advanced Deeper Questions
Q6 Whats the main problem with the Bond girl label according to this perspective
A The main problem is that its dismissive It groups diverse characters with their own motivations skills and storylines into a single often sexualized category undermining their individuality and agency
Q7 Has the film industry moved away from using terms like Bond girl
A Yes there has been a shift The producers and modern Bond films now more commonly use terms like Bond women or refer to the characters by their actual names to show more respect
Q8 How does her criticism of Bond girl relate to her comments about her career drive
