Nathalie Cook (or Natalie Cook or Natalie Clarke, born in 1976 in Berkshire, England) is a British model^[1][2]. She was the original Lara Croft model^[1]. At the time, her role was to embody a virtual heroine - powerful, fearless, and sexy^[3] - the iconic protagonist of the Tomb Raider video game.^[4] She began her modelling career after finishing secondary school. Originally from Berkshire, she and three other models were recruited by publisher Eidos to embody the features of a completely virtual heroine in the very first Tomb Raider, presented at the ECTS show in London in 1996^[5].

Nathalie Cook was the first official model who helped establish the legend of the game Tomb Raider at ECTS in 1996, together with Katie Price^[6] and another model. The models were tasked with engaging the crowds by embodying Lara’s adventurer persona: Cook recalls being instructed “to just run around, pretend to sort of shoot people to entertain attendees]^[6]. She and her colleagues brandished Lara’s trademark dual pistols (as props) and performed action poses.^[6]. Beyond live appearances, Cook also portrayed Lara Croft in at least one of the game’s early advertisements.

She starred in a live-action Tomb Raider promotional commercial filmed in 1996, which involved an overnight shoot at a derelict warehouse set^[6]. After her period of public visibility as Lara Croft, Cook withdrew from promotional work and maintained a private life. In a later interview, she stated that she undertook “a couple of high-profile” projects following Tomb Raider before leaving modelling to raise her four children, describing herself as a full-time mother^[6].