Take a look back at the women who went toe-to-to with James Bond in the late ’90s and early 2000s

Pierce Brosnan and Famke Janssen in 1995’s ‘GoldenEye’. PHOTO: KEITH HAMSHERE/GETTY

When it comes to actors who have played James Bond, Sean Connery unquestionably eclipses all others, while Daniel Craig’s 21st Century update is probably most recognizable to newer fans of the super spy franchise.

But from 1995 to 2002, Irish actor Pierce Brosnan played 007 with characteristic panache — and tangled with plenty of the requisite “Bond Girls” in the process.

And what would a Bond film be without Bond Girls? Brosnan’s 007 may have had a license to kill, but the women he faced off with definitely had a license to thrill!

Some of the biggest actresses in Hollywood either cut their teeth or burnished their stardom in Brosnan’s four Bond flicks. Here’s a look back at who they played and where they are today.

Izabella Scorupco as Natalya Simonova

Izabella Scorupco in 1995’s ‘GoldenEye’ and now.GETTY (2)

Already a successful model, actress and pop singer in Europe, Izabella Scorupco made her Hollywood debut in 1995’s GoldenEye, the first of Pierce Brosnan’s Bond films.

Described as the first “computer geek” Bond Girl, the Polish-Swedish actress played Natalya Simonova, a Russian programmer who survives a deadly attack on the Serbian facility where she works.

She later teams up with 007, gallivanting from Russia to Cuba as they try to stop the dastardly Janus crime syndicate from using the film’s titular satellite weapon to wreak havoc.

After the success of GoldenEye, Scorupco went on to appear in a number of American action and horror films: 2000’s Vertical Limit opposite Chris O’Donnell; 2002’s Reign of Fire with Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale; and 2004’s Exorcist: The Beginning. Her 2011 duet with Swedish singer Peter Jöback was her first foray into music since the early ’90s, and the following year, she delved back into the modeling world, hosting the first season of Sweden’s Next Top Model.

Most recently, Scorupco starred in the Swedish drama series Barracuda Queens, which premiered on Netflix last year and has been renewed for a second season slated to debut in 2025. She also recently appeared in an ad for Swedish cosmetics retailer Kicks.

Scorupco is the mother of two children, a daughter, Julia from her first marriage to Swedish hockey player Mariusz Czerkawski, and a son, Jakob, from her second marriage to American Jeffrey Raymond. She married her third husband, Karl Rosengren, in 2019.

Famke Janssen in 1995’s ‘GoldenEye’ and now.GETTY (2)

Famke Janssen’s Russian assassin Xenia Onatopp is a Bond villainess in the grand tradition: an alluring femme fatale with a cheekily suggestive name.

And let’s not forget her signature move: dispatching her enemies by crushing their ribs between her thighs! All of which made her more than a match for Pierce Brosnan’s 007 in 1995’s GoldenEye.

The Dutch actress went on to rack up an impressive number of supporting roles in the late ’90s, before scoring the role for which she is perhaps best known: mutant psychic Jean Grey in the X-Men franchise.

Janssen also appeared opposite Liam Neeson in the Taken films, while appearing in memorable guest and recurring roles on hit TV series like Nip/Tuck and How to Get Away with Murder.

She starred in the Netflix horror series Hemlock Grove from 2013 to 2015, and her character in NBC’s The Blacklist got her own short-lived spinoff, The Blacklist: Redemption, in 2017.

Last year, she returned to Netflix, starring in the psychological thriller Locked In. Her latest film, the action-comedy Boy Kills World, hit theaters in April.

Jansson was married to writer/director Tod Williams from 1995 to 2000.

Teri Hatcher as Paris Carver

Teri Hatcher in 1997’s ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ and now.GETTY (2)

In Pierce Brosnan’s second outing as 007, Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond is tasked with investigating Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), a media baron aiming to provoke a war between China and the U.K. Of course, that means seducing Carver’s wife — and Bond’s ex — Paris, played by Teri Hatcher.

Following the cancellation of her ABC superhero series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman after its fourth season, and her turn in Tomorrow Never Dies, Hatcher’s career cooled down a bit.

But, ever the comeback queen, she returned to ABC in 2004, starring in the hit primetime soap Desperate Housewives, which aired for eight seasons.

The series earned Hatcher three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe before ending in 2012.

She’s also voiced animated characters in films like Coraline (2009) and Disney’s Planes franchise, and appeared in guest roles on The CW’s Superman-adjacent series Smallville and Supergirl.

In recent years, she’s starred in several Hallmark TV movies, most recently in last year’s Christmas at the Chalet.

Hatcher was married to fellow actor Jon Tenney from 1994 to 2003. They have one daughter, 26-year-old screenwriter and director Emerson Tenney.

Michelle Yeoh as Colonel Wai Lin

Michelle Yeoh in 1997’s ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ and now.GETTY (2)

Having already established herself as a major action star in Hong Kong, Malaysian-born actress Michelle Yeoh reportedly wanted to perform all her own stunts as Colonel Wai Lin, a Chinese security agent who teams up with Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Director Roger Spottisoode nixed that idea, but Yeoh still got to perform all her own fight scenes, leading Brosnan to describe her as a “female Bond.”

While Yeoh was offered many roles immediately following Tomorrow Never Dies, she told PEOPLE in 2023 that she didn’t work for almost two years because she refused to play stereotypical characters.

She next starred in director Ang Lee’s 2000 international blockbuster Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and went on to star in director Rob Marshall’s 2005 adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha, director Danny Boyle’s sci-fi flick Sunshine (2007), and opposite Brendan Fraser and Jet Li in 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Her star has only continued to rise in recent years. She appeared in the first three seasons of Paramount+’s Star Trek: Discovery, and the streamer is reportedly developing a feature film built around her character.

A string of roles in blockbusters like 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians and 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings culminated in her starring role in 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Yeoh’s performance in the mind-bending sci-fi dramedy earned her a ton of awards, including an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role, making her the first actor of Asian descent and only the second woman of color to ever win the award.

Last year, he appeared in director Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice, and she’ll be seen next in the highly anticipated big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked later this year.

Yeoh married long-time partner Scuderia Ferrari CEO Jean Todt in 2023.

Sophie Marceau as Elektra King

Sophie Marceau in 1999’s ‘The World Is Not Enough’ and now.GETTY (2)

In his third Bond film, 1999’s The World Is Not Enough, Brosnan’s 007 is tasked with protecting French actress Sophie Marceau’s Elektra King, the daughter of a British oil tycoon who is assassinated by a former KGB agent turned terrorist. But as her name suggests, Elektra has her own shadowy agenda.

Marceau was already a star in Europe and had appeared in Hollywood films Braveheart (1995) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999) when she took on Bond in The World Is Not Enough. But since then, she has worked primarily in her native France.

In 2002, she directed her first feature film, the French drama Speak to Me of Love, and went on to direct two more French films, 2007’s Trivial (La disparue de Deauville) and 2018’s Mme Mills.

She’s been described as “the French people’s favorite actress” and is also widely recognized in Asia, both for her film performances and for appearing in advertising campaigns.

The English translation of her semi-autobiographical novel Telling Lies was published in 2001, and in 2003, France’s Ministry of Culture made her an Officer in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in recognition of her contributions to the arts.

Marceau has two children, a son with Polish director Andrzej Żuławski born in 1995, and a daughter with American producer Jim Lemley born in 2002.

Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones

Denise Richards in 1999’s ‘The World is Not Enough’ and now.GETTY (2)

While Sophie Marceau was praised for her performance in The World Is Not Enough, Denise Richards took a critical drubbing as Dr. Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist who teams up with Bond to defeat the film’s villains.

Before her turn as a Bond Girl, Richards got her start as a teen model, moving into acting with small roles on Saved by the Bell, Married…with Children, Beverly Hills, 90210 and Seinfeld.

She gained greater fame appearing in films like Starship Troopers, Wild Things and Drop Dead Gorgeous, while her 1994 low-budget horror comedy Tammy and the T-Rex has gone on to become a cult classic.

While her work in the 2000s has primarily been in B-movies, she did have a small role in the beloved holiday rom com Love Actually.

She starred in a short-lived E! reality series, Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, and spoofed her own image as a vacant sex symbol in a 2012 episode of 30 Rock.

More recently, she has made frequent appearances on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, joining the show’s main cast in its ninth and 10th seasons, and appearing on The Bold and the Beautiful from 2019 to 2022. Richard currently stars opposite Wesley Snipes and Kelsey Grammer in the series Paper Empire. The show is reportedly filming its third season in Saudi Arabia, despite its first two seasons not having aired.

Richards married Charlie Sheen in 2002. The couple had a turbulent relationship and divorced in 2006.

They are reportedly now on friendly terms, having appeared together in Madea’s Witness Protection (2012) and FX’s Anger Management.

Richards is the mother of three children, two from her marriage to Sheen, and a daughter she welcomed by adoption as a single parent. She married fellow actor Aaron Phypers in 2018.

Rosamund Pike as Miranda Frost

Rosamund Pike in 2002’s ‘Die Another Day’ and now.GETTY (2)

Prior to her breakthrough role as double agent Miranda Frost in Die Another Day, Brosnan’s final Bond film, Rosamund Pike appeared in a handful of British TV series, including Love in a Cold Climate.

She’s gone on to win acclaim for her performances in several Academy Award-nominated films, including director Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice and 2009’s An Education.

In 2014, she wowed audiences and critics in director David Fincher’s film adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel Gone Girl, earning Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress.

In 2021, she won her first Golden Globe for her riveting performance in the dark comedy I Care a Lot, and scored another Golden Globe nod this year for her role in Emerald Fennel’s deviously polarizing Saltburn.

She is set to star opposite Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhall and Eliza González in director Guy Ritchie’s In the Grey, due out next January.

Pike was engaged to Wright, her Pride & Prejudice director, but the couple broke off their engagement in 2008. She has been in a relationship with businessman Robie Uniacke since 2009. The couple have two sons.

Halle Berry as Jinx Johnson

Halle Berry in 2002’s ‘Die Another Day’ and now.SHUTTERSTOCK; GETTY

With a formidable foe like Rosamund Pike’s Miranda Frost in the mix, it’s a good thing Brosnan’s Bond has Jinx Johnson, an NSA agent played by Halle Berry, on his side in Die Another Day.

A bona fide superstar in 2002, Berry had already risen to Hollywood’s A-list with roles in comedies like Boomerang, B*A*P*S and Bulworth, as well as dramatic turns in Losing Isaiah.

She won Golden Globe and Emmy awards for her starring role in Introducing Dorothy Dandridge in 2000, and had sharpened her action movie skills as Storm in X-Men.

Berry’s performance in 2001’s Monster’s Ball earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the first woman of color and the only Black woman ever to win the award.

She went on to reprise her X-Men role in several sequels, but hit a sour note with her starring role in the universally panned Catwoman. On TV, she starred in two seasons of the CBS sci-fi series Extant.

More recently, she directed and starred in the film Bruised, and is set to star in the upcoming horror-thriller Never Let Go.

Berry was previously married to pro-baseball player David Justice from 1993 to 1997, and to musician and actor Eric Benét from 2001 to 2005.

Berry is the mother of two children, a daughter with French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry and a son with ex-husband Olivier Martinez. She has been in a relationship with musician Van Hunt since 2020.