Born in a Virginia suburb of Washington D.C. to a German opera singer and a voice teacher, she grew up on the road with her parents and younger sister. She often performed in the children's chorus of whatever production her mother was in. That singing talent later came in use for her role of an aspiring country singer in The Thing Called Love (1993). Her family moved back to the Washington D.C. area when she was a teenager. She later enrolled in E. Carolina University in North Carolina, USA where she studied acting. Shortly thereafter she moved to New York to pursue a career on the stage. This led to acting in television programs and then feature films. She gave memorable performances in Demolition Man (1993) and Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993) but did not achieve the stardom that seemed inevitable for her until her work in the smash hit Speed (1994). She now ranks as one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood. She replaced Demi Moore in While You Were Sleeping (1995). On People (USA) magazine's '50 Most Beautiful' list. [1999] Owns a house in Austin, Texas where she filmed some scenes in Miss Congeniality (2000).