Rebecca Alie Romijn, who was born on November 6, 1972 in Berkeley, California, previously studied music at University of California, Santa Cruz, before moving to Paris to involve herself in fashion modeling. She modeled for the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated, as well as working with Victoria’s Secret. She is also a fixture on the annual lists of the most beautiful women of a number of publications.
In 1998, Rebecca Romjin became the host of MTV's House of Style and took on the big screen upon leaving the show after two years. Another television appearance of hers was being a guest on the animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
In 2000, she got her first major movie role, as Mystique in the film X-Men. She reprised her role on its 2003 sequel, X2: X-Men United and 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand.
Her first leading role was in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale in 2002, after which she starred in movies such as the action film Rollerball with Chris Klein and Jean Reno and 2004’s thriller The Punisher with Thomas Jane and John Travolta. She was also in the Nick Hamm-directed horror Godsend in 2004. She returned to television to appear on The WB's short-lived series, Pepper Dennis.
Early 2007 saw Romijn joining the cast of ABC's Ugly Betty as Alexis Meade. Her character is that of a transsexual forced to undergo masculine activities by his stubborn parents. Because of the gravity of his parents’ refusal to see him transformed as a woman, he faked his own death and underwent a sex change. She revealed this later to her brother, Daniel, who is the head of MODE magazine, the company she wants to steal from him.
Romjin was also given roles in episodes of Carpoolers, where she guest-starred as the ex-wife of the character Laird who is played by real life husband Jerry O'Connell. She also lent her voice to the animated series Drawn Together. In 2008, she was cast as Jennifer in the film Lake City.
Spouse: John Stamos (1998-2005)
Jerry O'Connell (2007-)
During her marriage to John Stamos Rebecca changed her name to Rebecca Romijn-Stamos both personally and professionallly. Following her divorce she removed the Stamos part.
Unlike the X-Men comic book series Mystique as played by Rebecca is naked in her normal blue mutant form.
In X2- X: Men United she appears as herself in one scene only and described it on the DVD as the best time she had on X2 jokingly because she didn't have to go through the long make up sessions needed for her character which have taken 6 - 8 hours to complete.
On Ugly Betty she played Alexis Meade, a male-to-female transsexual and the sibling of lead character Daniel Meade.
In November 2007, Romijn made a guest appearance on the TV show Carpoolers, where she played the ex-wife of the character Laird, played by her real-life husband Jerry O'Connell.
Her surname Romijn is said differently compared with the USA and the proper Dutch pronunciation (pronounced "Ro-MANE" in the USA — its proper Dutch pronunciation is [ro:'m?in].
Romijn was asked by Elle magazine in April 2002 whether making Femme Fatale had given her any new ideas about her sexuality. She said, "You know, in my early twenties I wondered if I was interested in women and so I kind of, well ... did my homework. [Grins] And it turns out I'm pretty straight".