She Should Have Been a Household Name Already

Gone Girl has already won over critics (believe the hype, it is that good) and come Friday audiences should be just as sickly delighted with David Fincher's big screen take on Gillian Flynn's smash novel. But it won't just be the big plot twists or the film's eyebrow-raising take on marriage and the media that gets people talking. Leading lady Rosamund Pike gives a stunning, Oscar nomination-worthy performance as the missing, mysterious Amy Dunne will have moviegoers buzzing. Not only does Pike prove that she was the perfect choice to play the Amazing Amy, but she brings a whole new depth from the character from the pages of Gone Girl to the screen. Simply put, a star is born.

Then again, the stunning and talented English actress should have had her due long before Gone Girl inevitably turns her into a household name. That's because the 35-year-old star already has an impressive resume that truly kicked into gear when she played a Bond girl in 2002's Die Another Die. Between Bond Girl and Gone Girl, Pike has also played Elizabeth in 2004's The Libertine, Jane Bennet in 2005's Pride & Prejudice, Helen in 2009's An Education, and Andromeda in 2012's Clash of the Titans.

While Pike hasn't had her own leading role before Gone Girl, she has held her own with some of Hollywood's leading men. As an attorney in the 2012 Tom Cruise action/adventure Jack Reacher and the object of both Paddy Considine and Simon Pegg's affections in the 2013 sci-fi comedy The World's End, Pike has proven she can elevate any supporting actress role that comes her way. (Some of Pike's other notable film work includes the 2007 Ryan Gosling thriller Fracture and the 2011 bird-watching farce The Big Year.)

Of course, that makes Pike's jaw-dropping turn in Gone Girl all the more satisfying. Not only because she can carry the weight of a hotly anticipated adaptation, but because it also proves she has more than earned her place to be the top name on a marquee. Pike has supporting roles in two other films this year — What We Did on Our Holiday and Hector and the Search for Happiness — but Gone Girl will be the box office smash that finally turns Pike into the leading lady she's long deserved to be.