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Emily Mortimer

 
Actor: Emily Mortimer
 
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '90s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Comedy Drama, Drama
  • Career Highlights: Redbelt, Match Point, Howl's Moving Castle
  • First Major Screen Credit: Sharpe's Sword (1994)

Biography

An attractive and talented actress who is as comfortable in historical dramas as in modern day thrillers and comedies, Emily Mortimer was born in Great Britain in 1971. Mortimer's father is author John Mortimer, best known for his series of Rumpole of the Bailey mystery novels, and she seems to have absorbed her father's literary influence -- before her career as an actress took off, Mortimer wrote a column for the London Telegraph, and she's served as screenwriter for an screen adaptation of Lorna Sage's book Bad Blood. Mortimer was a student at the prestigious St. Paul's Girls School when she first developed an interest in acting, appearing in several student productions. After graduating from St. Paul's, she moved on to Oxford, where she majored in Russian. Mortimer found time to perform in several plays while studying at Oxford, and while acting in a student production she impressed a producer who cast her in a supporting role in a television adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin in 1995. Several more television roles followed, including the British TV movie Sharpe's Sword, before she won her first film role, playing the wife of John Patterson (Val Kilmer) in 1996's The Ghost and the Darkness. Mortimer had a much showier role in the Irish coming-of-age story The Last of the High Kings, released later the same year, and in 1998, Mortimer played Miss Flynn in the TV miniseries Cider With Rosie, which was adapted for television by her father, John Mortimer. Also in 1998, Mortimer appeared as Kat Ashley in the international hit Elizabeth, and in 1999, she enjoyed three showy roles that raised her profile outside the U.K.: She was the ill-fated "Perfect Girl" dropped by Hugh Grant in Notting Hill, appeared as Esther in the American TV miniseries Noah's Ark, and was Angelina, the star of the film-within-a-film, in the upscale slasher flick Scream 3. In 2000, Mortimer was cast as Katherine in Kenneth Branagh's ill-fated musical adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost, but the experience had a happy ending for her -- she met actor Alessandro Nivola, and the two soon fell in love and have been together ever since. That same year, Mortimer took on her biggest role in an American film to date, playing opposite Bruce Willis in The Kid, and 2002 promised to be a big year for her, with major roles in two major releases -- The 51st State, starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson, and a key supporting character in John Woo's war drama Windtalkers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Emily Mortimer
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Emily Mortimer

Mortimer at a film premiere in September 2007
Born 1 December 1971 (1971-12-01) (age 37)
London, England, UK
Occupation Actress
Years active 1995–present
Spouse(s) Alessandro Nivola (2003 – present), 1 child

Emily Mortimer (born 1 December 1971) is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3 (2000) and Match Point (2005).

Contents

Early life

Mortimer was born in Finsbury Park, London,[1] England, the daughter of Sir John Mortimer QC (lawyer and dramatist famous for Rumpole of the Bailey) and his second wife Penelope (née Gollop).[2] She has a younger sister, Rosie; two older siblings — Sally Silverman and Jeremy — by her father's first marriage to author Penelope Fletcher, and a half brother, Ross Bentley by her father's liaision with actress Wendy Craig.[3] Her maternal grandfather was a pig farmer.[4]

Mortimer studied at St Paul's Girls' School, where she appeared in several student productions. After St. Paul's, she moved on to Lincoln College, Oxford, where she read Russian, and performed in several plays. Before becoming an actress, Mortimer wrote a column for the Daily Telegraph, and was also screenwriter for a screen adaptation of Lorna Sage's memoir, Bad Blood.

Career

Mortimer performed in several plays while studying at Oxford University, and while acting in a student production she was spotted by a producer who later cast her in a supporting role in a television adaptation of Dame Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin (1995). Subsequent television roles included Sharpe's Sword. Her first film role was opposite Val Kilmer in 1996's The Ghost and the Darkness. Mortimer was then in the Irish coming-of-age story The Last of the High Kings, released later the same year. In 1998 she appeared as Kat Ashley in Elizabeth, and played Miss Flynn in the TV mini-series Cider with Rosie, which was adapted for television by her father.

In 1999, she played three roles that raised her profile outside the UK: She was the ill-fated "Perfect Girl" dropped by Hugh Grant in Notting Hill, appeared as Esther in the American TV mini-series Noah's Ark, and was Angelina, the star of the film-within-a-film, in the upscale slasher flick Scream 3.

In 2000, Mortimer was cast as Katherine in Kenneth Branagh's musical adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost, where she met actor and future husband Alessandro Nivola. Mortimer changed her prim image in favor of a more provocative one when she appeared full-frontally nude in the 2001 film Lovely and Amazing. She took on her biggest role in an American film to date, playing opposite Bruce Willis in Disney's The Kid. In 2002, she had a major role in The 51st State (also known as Formula 51), starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle, and was a supporting character in John Woo's war drama Windtalkers.

In 2004, Mortimer appeared in the movie Dear Frankie. In 2005, she played a major role as the oblivious spouse of an adulterous Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Woody Allen's Match Point, as well as voicing young Sophie in the English-dubbed version of Howl's Moving Castle. In 2007 she played a supporting role in Lars and the Real Girl as the supportive sister-in-law of Ryan Gosling's title character. She also appeared in The Pink Panther in 2006 and in its 2009 sequel, as the love interest of Inspector Clouseau (Steve Martin). In the last three episodes of 30 Rock's first season, she played Phoebe, a love interest of Alec Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy.

Mortimer will play one of the lead characters in Martin Scorsese's 2009 film Shutter Island.

Personal life

In 2000, Mortimer met American actor Alessandro Nivola, while both were starring in Love's Labour's Lost. The couple married in Chiltern, Buckinghamshire, on 3 January 2003. A Mexican punk band performed at their wedding. Mortimer gave birth to their son, Samuel John, in Westminster, London,[5] on 23 September 2003.

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1995 Sharpe's Sword Lass TV
The Glass Virgin Annabella Lagrange TV miniseries
1996 The Ghost and the Darkness Helana Patterson
Midsomer Murders: The Killings at Badger's Drift Catherine Lacey
The Last of the High Kings Romy Thomas
Silent Witness Fran Episodes "Long Days, Short Nights" parts 1 and 2
1998 Coming Home Judith Dunbar TV
Cider with Rosie Miss Flynn TV
Elizabeth Kat Ashley
Killing Joe
1999 Notting Hill Perfect Girl
2000 Scream 3 Angelina Tyler
Love's Labour's Lost Katherine
Disney's The Kid Amy
2001 Lovely and Amazing Elizabeth Marks
The 51st State aka Formula 51 Dakota Parker
2002 Jeffrey Archer: The Truth Diana, Princess of Wales TV
2003 A Foreign Affair Angela Beck
Nobody Needs to Know Emily
The Sleeping Dictionary Cecil
Bright Young Things Nina Blount
Young Adam Cathie Dimly
2004 Dear Frankie Lizzie
Howl's Moving Castle Young Sophie Voice
2005 Match Point Chloe Hewett Wilton
2006 Paris, je t'aime Frances Segmant Père-Lachaise
The Pink Panther Nicole Durant
2007 30 Rock Phoebe Episodes "Corporate Crush", "Cleveland" and "Hiatus"
Lars and the Real Girl Karin
Chaos Theory Susan Allen
2008 Transsiberian Jessie
Redbelt Laura Black
2009 The Pink Panther 2 Nicole Durant
Shutter Island Rachel Solando

References

  1. ^ "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". Interview with Jay Leno. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1221328/. Retrieved on 2008-03-17. 
  2. ^ Rumpole creator Sir John Mortimer dies, aged 85" Daily Mail, 16 January 2009] says her maiden name is Gallop. In this Guardian obituary for the first wife, the maiden name of the second wife is Gollop. The Daily Mail article mentions that Sir John Mortimer had two children by his first marriage which ended in 1972 (1971 per his Wikipedia article), and two by his second marriage.
  3. ^ "Mortimer's joy at son with Wendy Craig". Daily Telegraph. 13 September 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1471554/Mortimer%27s-joy-at-son-with-Wendy-Craig.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-23. 
  4. ^ Cavendish, Lucy A bohemian hunter, Evening Standard (30 July 2003)
  5. ^ Marriages and Births England and Wales 1984-2006

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Emily Mortimer" Read more

 

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