Jennifer Ehle

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Jennifer Ehle (pronounced /ˈiːliː/; born December 29, 1969) is a two-time Tony Award-winning British-American actress of stage and screen. She is probably best known for her starring role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 mini-series Pride and Prejudice.

Biography

Early life

Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle, Ehle made her stage debut as a toddler in A Streetcar Named Desire, in which her mother played Blanche Dubois. She spent her childhood between the UK and America, attending 18 different schools including the Interlochen Arts Academy. Her drama training was split between the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Career

In 1992, Peter Hall cast her in an adaptation of The Camomile Lawn, a novel by Mary Wesley, in which she and her mother played the same character at different ages. This story, produced by UK's Channel 4, was a five part mini-series about lives and loves of a family of cousins from 1939 to the present.

Her performance as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice gained her a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award. After a stint with the Royal Shakespeare Company, she gained her first major feature film role in Paradise Road. She continued pursuing a career both on stage and screen, winning critical acclaim and a Best Performance by a Leading Actress Tony Award for her 2000 Broadway debut in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing. Her mother was also nominated for the same award that year for Waiting in the Wings. After a hiatus, she returned to the stage in 2005 in The Philadelphia Story at the Old Vic opposite Kevin Spacey. The following year she played Lady Macbeth in Macbeth as part of the Shakespeare in the Park. She won her second Tony award for portraying three characters in Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia triptych, which ran from October 2006 until May 2007.

Her most recent films include Before the Rains, an Indian-US co-production directed by Santosh Sivan, and Pride and Glory with Edward Norton and Colin Farrell. In 2008 she was featured in a CBS telefilm, The Russell Girl.

Ehle played a character in István Szabó's movie Sunshine, and her mother Rosemary Harris played the older version of the character.

Personal life

Ehle dated actors Toby Stephens, from The Camomile Lawn, and Colin Firth, Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. She is now married to the writer Michael Ryan and they have two children, George and Talulah. They currently reside in upstate New York.

Awards and nominations

Awards

• 1991: Ian Charleson Award – Tartuffe (play)
• 1992: Radio Times Award Best Newcomer – The Camomile Lawn (TV)
• 1996: BAFTA TV Award – Pride and Prejudice
• 2000: Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play – The Real Thing (play)
• 2000: Variety Club Award – The Real Thing (play)
• 2001: Golden Satellite Award – Sunshine
• 2007: Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play – The Coast of Utopia (play)

Nominations

• 1997: BAFTA Film Award – Wilde
• 2000: Outer Critics Circle Award – The Real Thing (play)
• 2000: Genie Award nomination – Sunshine
• 2000: Laurence Olivier Theatre Award – The Real Thing (play)
• 2007: Outer Critics Circle – The Coast of Utopia (play)

Work

Filmography

• Pride and Glory (2008) as Abby Tierney
• The Russell Girl (2008) as Lorraine Morrissey
• Before the Rains as Laura (2008) (Malayalam Film - India)
• Alpha Male (2006) as Alice Ferris
• Melissa (2006)as Melissa
• The River King (2005) as Betsy Chase
• Possession (2002) as Christabel LaMotte
• Sunshine (1999) as Valerie Sonnenschein
• This Year's Love (1999) as Sophie
• Bedrooms and Hallways (1998) as Sally
• Paradise Road (1997) as Rosemary Leighton-Jones
• Wilde (1997) as Constance Lloyd Wilde
• Backbeat (1994) as Cynthia Powell

Television

• Pride and Prejudice (1995) as Elizabeth Bennet
• The Camomile Lawn (1992) as Young Calypso

Theatre

• The Coast of Utopia (November 2006-May 2007) Vivian Beaumont Theater
  • Voyage- Liubov Bakunin (opened November 2006)
  • Shipwrecked- Natalie Herzen (opened December 2006)
  • Salvage- Malwida von Meysenbug (opened February 2007)
• Macbeth (June 2006) Delacorte Theater,Shakespeare in the Park- Lady Macbeth
• The Philadelphia Story (May 3-July 23, 2005) Old Vic - Tracy Lord
• Design for Livin (February 2001) American Airlines Theatre/Roundabout Theatre Company - Gilda
• The Real Thing (March 29-August 2000) Barrymore Theater - Annie
• The Real Thing (January 13-March 18, 2000) Albery Theatre - Annie
• Summerfolk (September & October 1999) National Theatre - Varvara Mikhailovna
• The Real Thing (June & July 1999) Donmar Warehouse - Annie
• Richard III (1995-96) Royal Shakespeare Company - Lady Anne
• Painter of Dishonour (1995-96) Royal Shakespeare Company - Serafina
• The Relapse (1995-96) Royal Shakespeare Company - Amanda
• Breaking the Code (1992) Triumph Productions tour - Pat Green
• Tartuffe (1991) Peter Hall Company - Elmire
• 1959 Pink Thunderbird Edinburgh Festival
• Laundry and Bourbon Edinburgh Festival

References

External links

• Jennifer Ehle at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jennifer Ehle at the Internet Movie Database