Born into a musical family, Pike studied English Literature at Oxford (Wadham College). She started acting very early, and during her college years appeared in various student productions (David Hare's Skylight, Arthur Miller's All My Sons, and several plays by Shakespeare). Before graduating from Oxford, she played Fanny in the remake of Love in a Cold Climate (2001), a BBC mini-series based on two Nancy Mitford novels (The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate). Pike became known to a wider audience with her role as "Bond girl" Miranda Frost in Die Another Day (2002).