91Èȱ¬

Paloma Baeza is best known for starring in the period drama Far from the Madding Crowd (ITV, 1998) as Bathsheba Everdene, an independent heroine who captures the hearts of three men.

She also featured in The Project (91Èȱ¬ One, 2003), Rebel Heart (91Èȱ¬ One, 2001) and The Way We Live Now (91Èȱ¬ One, 2001) and had parts in Anna Karenina (Channel 4, 2000) and A Knight in Camelot (1998).

Her big screen work includes Sunshine (2007) and the 1999 independent film Sunburn. She has appeared on stage in London, including Navy Pier (2000, Soho Theatre) and The Flight Into Egypt (1996, Hampstead Theatre).

Baeza was born in 1975 in London, England and grew up in her father's native Mexico. Returning to England at age nine, she began acting at school and went on to study English and Performing Arts at Bristol University.

Baeza has directed two productions: a television film called The Window (2006) and the television drama Watchmen (2001), co-written with her friend and fellow actor Cillian Murphy. Watchmen was shortlisted for the Turner Classic Movie Short Film Award.

Talking about the experience of directing Watchmen, she has said "I won't give up acting, but the skills of acting and directing complement one another brilliantly... I've learnt a lot about acting through directing and writing, and I think I'm a better actor now because you see the process as a whole rather than just the part you play in it."

She lists her biggest career achievements as the short films she has directed and her greatest personal achievements as "my two lovely children".

Baeza's partner is Alex Garland, the screenwriter and novelist who wrote the films 28 Days Later and Sunshine and the books Tesseract and The Beach.