Horror Crush: Sienna Guillory

In the second part of the first ever Horror Crush Database, I promised you that more Crush inductees would be coming. Well, spurred on by the release of the recent and quite enjoyable Resident Evil movie, I have for you the first of this new batch. It's the beautiful British actress Sienna Guillory!

Guillory was born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, on March 18, 1975. She is the daughter of American folk guitarist Isaac Guillory and English model Tina Thompson. Her parents eventually moved to Fulham, London, and later Norfolk, while Guillory briefly lived in Mexico with cousins at age 10 so she could learn Spanish. She attended Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk, where she took part in various school productions. At 14, she had a horse named The Night Porter, or “Porty,” after the Italian film The Night Porter. She was a huge fan of the film's leading lady, Charlotte Rampling, who horror fans will know from movies such as Orca: The Killer Whale.

In 1997, Guillory was signed to Select Model Management. She worked as a model while pursuing her acting career, which began in 1993 when she made her acting debut in the made-for-TV movie Riders, based on the novel by Jilly Cooper. As a model, she worked for Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, and Paul Smith, while also appearing on the covers of several fashion magazines. By 1999, she had become the face of a Hugo Boss fragrance campaign.

Her first foray into horror came with 2001's Superstition. While I have never seen this supernatural horror/thriller, it did give her the chance to work on a movie featuring Charlotte Rampling, the actress we discussed above who she had been a fan of since she was young.

In 2004, she got her first major Hollywood role in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. It's the movie I first saw her in and what ultimately earned her this induction. A sequel to the hugely successful first action/sci-fi/horror movie and an adaptation of the popular survival-horror video game franchise, Apocalypse picks up where the first film left off, with the zombie plague spreading throughout Raccoon City. The evil Umbrella Corporation attempts to contain and cover up the outbreak, while the surviving Alice (Milla Jovovich) battles her way through the city alongside the other survivors—including her friend who, in the last film, was transformed into the monstrous Nemesis.

Over the years and multiple viewings, this one has become one of my favorites in the long-running film franchise. I actually now prefer it to the first flick, and that's largely thanks to Guillory's portrayal of Jill Valentine, one of the main characters from the video game series itself. She is an example of perfect casting. Not only does she really look like Jill, but Guillory studied the way the character moved and behaved in Resident Evil 3 to prepare for the role. The movie really comes alive anytime she's onscreen. And it is a shame that the following films in the series didn't push this further, as her character was really screwed over in the future installments.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened when Jill returned in Resident Evil: Afterlife. The fourth entry in the franchise, Afterlife came out in 2010 and takes place immediately after Resident Evil: Extinction, which did not feature Guillory. For most of the movie, Jill isn't around either, until the mid-credits scene reveals that she has been brainwashed by Umbrella and sets her up as the main villain of the next installment.

That terrible idea comes to fruition in the next one, Resident Evil: Retribution (2012). Jill battles Alice in a brutal fight, and I genuinely hate that the writers decided to turn her into a villain. It's probably one of the worst ideas in a franchise that has had plenty of them. At least Retribution is slightly better than the previous movie, but neither is actually any good. The fact that Jill doesn't even get her story resolved in the next and final film, the oh-so-imaginatively named The Final Chapter, makes matters even worse.

Jill should have played a much bigger role, fought alongside Alice, or, even better, gotten her own spinoff. But alas, we got this shit sandwich. At least Guillory still shines and does her best with the subpar material she was given.

Between the second and fourth Resident Evil movies, she starred in another genre film, Silence Becomes You (2005). Alicia Silverstone is one of her co-stars in this one, which gives Guillory another interesting connection to an actress I really like. And, despite being a fan of both ladies, I have not seen this one. The reviews are not very kind to it, to say the least. But maybe they're wrong? Maybe?

In 2021, Guillory returned to genre material with A Banquet. She plays Holly, a mother who must deal with her teenage daughter Betsey (Jessica Alexander) developing an inexplicable and horrifying eating disorder. The film itself may be slow-paced, but it is also deeply unsettling and the kind of movie that stays with you. Guillory and Alexander both give amazing, powerful performances in this British dramatic horror film.

In 2016, she appeared in the psychological horror movie Don't Hang Up. Like Superstition, I haven't seen this one either. However, I have at least heard of it. As the title would suggest, the movie involves phone calls, specifically prank calls that take a very sinister turn.

In 2023, she appeared in The Meg 2: The Trench. So while Jessica McNamee did not return, we did get another Crush in the form of Guillory. The film itself is only really fun during the final act, which is filled with giant sharks and giant tentacles, prehistoric reptiles, and a cute, ass-kicking doggy. But, like the first movie, you'll forget most of it once it's over. In fact, while writing this, I said to myself, “Oh yeah! Guillory was indeed in this!”

That brings us to her latest genre outing, the 2026 mystery-horror-thriller One of Us. It deals with members of a family who begin dying one by one at a funeral, while the youngest member of the family searches for the stranger in their midst. The film premiered at the Manchester Film Festival on March 28, 2026, and has since played at least one other festival, but a wide release has been harder to pin down. A UK digital release is currently listed for November 7.

Guillory is one of the film's principal cast members alongside Kit Connor and Douglas Henshall, so at the very least we know she has a substantial role. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to actually see it soon!

Diving into Guillory's filmography, we realize that she has a deeper body of horror work than we may have originally realized. But, even if we only took her performance as Jill Valentine into account, she more than deserves to be in the database. And so, I am happy to welcome this beautiful Brit to the Horror Crushes! 

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