Olivia Williams

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Olivia Williams
Olivia Williams, September 2008
Born	Olivia Haigh Williams 26 July 1968 (1968-07-26) (age 41) Camden Town, London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present
Spouse(s)	Rhashan Stone (2003–present)

Olivia Haigh Williams (born 26 July 1968) is an English film, stage and television actress who has appeared in British and American films. As of 2009 she stars in the Joss Whedon sci-fi drama Dollhouse.

Early life

Williams was born in Camden Town, London, England. Both her parents are barristers. She graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge with a degree in English literature, then studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years and spent three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company.^[1]

Career

After graduation, Williams worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in both Stratford-upon-Avon and London and in 1995 toured the United States in a production of Shakespeare's Richard III starring Ian McKellen. Her first significant appearance before the cameras was as Jane Fairfax in the British TV film Emma (1996), based on Jane Austen's 1816 novel.^[1]

Williams made her film debut in 1997's The Postman, after doing a screen test for Kevin Costner.^[1] She later won the lead role of Rosemary Cross in Wes Anderson's Rushmore (1998).^[2] She then starred as Bruce Willis' wife in the blockbuster The Sixth Sense (1999). Since then, Williams has appeared in several British films, including Lucky Break (2001) and The Heart of Me (2002), for which she won the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress. She also played Mrs. Darling in the latest film adaptation of Peter Pan. Williams was uncredited for her role as Dr. Moira MacTaggert in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand. On TV, Williams portrayed British author Jane Austen in Miss Austen Regrets (2008) and was cast as Adelle DeWitt in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, on Fox for the 2009-2010 season.^[3]

In 2000 she wrote and read the short story The Significance Of Hair for BBC Radio.

Selected works

Film

Television

Theatre

Personal life

On 2 November 2003, Williams married American stage actor and playwright Rhashan Stone. The couple have two children, Esmé Ruby (born 6 April 2004) and Roxana May (born 7 April 2007).

Williams practises Bikram Yoga and rides a bicycle to sets when working on films. After filming The Postman, she spent time in Bolivia studying spectacled bears in the rainforest.^[7][8] Since 2006, she has written occasional travel reports for the "Independent Traveller" section of the British newspaper The Independent on Sunday.

Notes

Further reading

• "Getting personal with Olivia Williams". The Guardian. 1999-08-17. http://film.guardian.co.uk/Feature_Story/feature_story/0,,74553,00.html. 
• Matheou, Demetrios (1999-08-20). "Olivia in La-La land : For years she was a jobbing actor in regional theatre. Then Olivia Williams got the call from Kevin Costner. She's never looked back". The Guardian. http://film.guardian.co.uk/Feature_Story/interview/0,,75019,00.html. 
• Brett, Anwar (2003-04-23). "Olivia Williams : The Heart of Me". bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/04/23/olivia_williams_the_heart_of_me_interview.shtml. 
• Tennant, Laura (2003-04-25). "Olivia Williams : Growing up in public". The Independent. http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/features/article116513.ece. 

External links

• Olivia Williams at the Internet Movie Database