Eliza Bennett

This article is about the British actress. For Jane Austen's heroine, see Elizabeth Bennet.

Eliza Bennett
Eliza Bennett, 2009
Born	Eliza Hope Bennett (1992-03-17) 17 March 1992 Reading, Berkshire, UK
Other names	Eliza Hope Bennett
Occupation	Actress/Singer
Years active	2004–present

Eliza Hope Bennett (born 17 March 1992) is an English actress and singer. Her most notable roles were that of Meggie Folchart in the film Inkheart, Tora in the film Nanny McPhee, Susan in From Time to Time and playing Holly Manson in the West End musical Loserville.

Photograph of Actress Eliza Bennett

Early life

Bennett was born in Reading, Berkshire, England in 1992. Bennett grew up in Reading with her older brother and sister and attended Leighton Park School from 2002 to 2009.

Film career

She started acting at a young age when she appeared in stage productions at school, and landed her first job as Jemima in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium in 2001 at the age of 9. Eliza then landed her first film role playing Princess Arabella in The Prince and Me. In 2005, Eliza then landed one of her biggest films playing Tora in Nanny McPhee (2005), which also starred Colin Firth and Emma Thompson.

Other roles included Nora in Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2006), Young Anne in the 2006 film Victims, Hayley in Supernova 2005 and Emily in The Contractor (2006) with Wesley Snipes.

Then in 2006, she auditioned for the role of Meggie Folchart in the film Inkheart, based on the novel by Cornelia Funke. Bennett beat out hundreds of girls for the coveted part, and in early 2007 was in Italy making the film with Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany and Helen Mirren. After Inkheart, Eliza went on to land the role of Susan in Julian Fellowes film From Time to Time starring Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville and Timothy Spall.

Other roles included Nora in Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2006), Young Anne in the 2006 film Victims, Hayley in Supernova 2005 and Emily in The Contractor (2006) with Wesley Snipes. More recent roles include Kate Anderson in Johannes Roberts thriller film F and the pair then worked together again in horror film Roadkill . In 2012, Eliza portrayed the psychopathic character of Kayleigh in thriller film Confine starring Daisy Lowe and Alfie Allen

In 2012, Eliza then went back to musical theatre when she was cast as Holly in the West End musical Loserville. This was performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, before landing a West End transfer to the Garrick Theatre in 2012.

She is the favourite to play Grace Brisbane, the female lead, in upcoming film Shiver, though the role has not yet been cast.

Music career

Bennett also performed a song for Inkheart's soundtrack, called "My Declaration", originally written and performed by Tom Baxter.

Bennett went on to sing in the West End musical Loserville in 2012.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2004	The Prince and Me	Princess Arabella
2005	Nanny McPhee	Tora Brown
	Supernova	Haley Richardson	TV film
2006	Miss Marple	Nora Johnson	one episode; By The Pricking Of My Thumbs
2007	The Contractor	Emily Day
2008	Inkheart	Meggie Folchart	Credited as Eliza Hope Bennett
2009	From Time to Time	Susan
	Perfect Life	Young Anne
2010	F	Kate Anderson
2011	Roadkill	Hailey
2012	Confine	Kayleigh

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
April 2002	Chitty Chitty Bang Bang	Jemima Potts	at the London Palladium
July 2012	Loserville	Holly	at the West Yorkshire Playhouse
2012–13	Loserville	Holly	at the Garrick Theatre (London West End)

Awards & nominations

Year	Category	Award	Result
2007	Best Young Ensemble in a Feature Film Shared with Thomas Sangster, Raphaël Coleman, Jennifer Rae Daykin, Holly Gibbs & Samuel Honywood.	Young Artist Award	Nominated
2012	Best Supporting Actress for Confine	Wild Rose Independent Film Festival	Won
2012	Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Loserville	Broadwayworld West End Awards	Nominated

External links

• Eliza Bennett at the Internet Movie Database