Lara Croft

Lady Lara Croft is a British archaeologist, adventurer and treasure hunter. She was born on February 14, 1968 in Wimbledon, London, where she was also raised. From age 3 to 11 she had private tutoring. From age 11 to 16 Lara attended the Wimbledon High School for Girls.

In 1984, after finishing High School, Lara requested to accompany renowned archaeologist Werner von Croy, whom she had previously met when he'd lectured at her school, on an expedition to Cambodia, to search for the Iris. Her parents agreed and it was her first of many expeditions around the globe.

After her expedition she resumed her studies, attending Gordonstoun Boarding School, in Scotland, where she discovered her love for climbing, water sports, horse back riding and archery. Lara was used to the security of an aristocratic background. Predictably she rebelled against the more confining aspects of her upbringing but the mountains of Scotland gave her an unprecedented degree of freedom. Later, she finished her education at a Swiss finishing school where she developed an interest in firearms by charming her way onto the Swiss Armed Forces training range where she proved to be a natural and qualified marksman class. She also started to feel drawn to fast vehicles and any form of extreme sports.

After finishing her education in 1989, at the age of 21, Lara went on a skiing trip, but on her way home her plane crashed in the Himalayas and Lara had to survive in the wilderness alone. This event had a big influence on her character and unable to stand the claustrophobic suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society, she realized that she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone. As a result she did not marry the Earl of Farrington, as intended, but was instead disowned by her parents.

She then moved into a manor house in Surrey left to her by her aunt. She started financing her trips by selling travel and history books. Terrifying dangers became an accepted part of her life from then on. In the following years she has combated ancient mythical forces and outgunned heavily armed opponents while always emerging with the prize.

Even though Lara prefers to work and live alone for the most part, after her most recent escapade involving the murder of her old friend and mentor Werner von Croy in 2003 and her being accused of it, her good friend Zip, whom she had worked with before, decided to stay at her mansion to cheer her up and has since become her technical assistant and is therefore the only person next to Lara's faithful butler Winston Smith to live at Croft Manor.