Jennifer Ehle

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Jennifer Ehle
Born Jennifer Anne Ehle[1][2]
(1969-12-29) December 29, 1969 (age 43)
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
Occupation Actress
Spouse(s) Michael Ryan (2001–present)
Children George Ryan
Talulah Ryan
Parents John Ehle, Rosemary Harris

Jennifer Anne Ehle (/ˈiːliː/; born December 29, 1969) is an American-English actress of stage and screen. She is well known for her BAFTA winning role as Elizabeth Bennet in the successful 1995 mini-series Pride and Prejudice. She has appeared in supporting roles in films such as Wilde (1997), Sunshine (1999), The King's Speech (2010), Contagion (2011), Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and the upcoming film RoboCop (2014). She has also starred in the short-lived American television series A Gifted Man. She is the daughter of actress Rosemary Harris and author John Ehle.

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Early life[edit]

Ehle was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. Her ancestry includes Romanian (from a maternal great-grandmother), English, and German.[3][4][5]

Ehle made her stage debut as a toddler in a 1973 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, in which her mother played Blanche Dubois.[citation needed] She spent her childhood between the UK and US, attending 18 different schools including the Interlochen Arts Academy. She was raised largely in Asheville, North Carolina, which was close by her hometown. Her drama training was split between the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.[citation needed]

Career[edit]

In 1992, Peter Hall cast her as Calypso in a television adaptation of Mary Wesley's novel The Camomile Lawn, in which she and her mother played the same character at different ages.[6] This story, produced by UK's Channel 4, was a five part miniseries about the lives and loves of a family of cousins from 1939 to the present. The two would later reprise this different age portrayal of a character as Valerie in István Szabó's 1999 movie Sunshine.

Her performance as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC 1995 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,[7] she gained her first major feature film role in Paradise Road. She continued pursuing a career both on stage and screen. In 2000, she earned further critical acclaim for her Broadway debut as Annie in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing; winning both a Theatre World Award and the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. Her mother was also nominated for the same award that year for Waiting in the Wings.[8] 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.[9]

Her more recent film work includes 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.

In August 2009, it was announced that Ehle would play the character of Catelyn Stark in the pilot of HBO's Game of Thrones, an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire fantasy book series. Ehle filmed the pilot episode, but when HBO ordered the series, it was announced that she would be replaced by Northern Irish actress Michelle Fairley.[10] Much of the pilot episode was reshot, with Fairley replacing Ehle in all scenes involving Catelyn Stark. Ehle gave up the role for personal reasons, but was and still is an avid fan of the series.[11]

In 2010, Ehle starred alongside John Lithgow in the production of Mr. & Mrs. Fitch presented by Second Stage Theatre.[12] She played Myrtle Logue, wife of King George VI's speech therapist Lionel Logue, in The King's Speech. George VI was played by her Pride and Prejudice co-star, Colin Firth.

In 2011, Ehle played Dr. Ally Hextall in Steven Soderbergh's critically acclaimed Contagion. In the autumn of 2011, Ehle began a co-starring role in the American television series A Gifted Man. Her character is a ghost who visits with her ex-husband and asks him to assist with her low-income clinic.

In 2012, Ehle played CIA officer Jessica in Zero Dark Thirty.

Personal life[edit]

During the filming of Pride and Prejudice, Ehle began a brief relationship with co-star Colin Firth.[13] She married writer Michael Ryan on November 29, 2001, and they have two children: a son, George, born on February 6, 2003, and a daughter, Talulah, born on March 4, 2009.

Work[edit]

Film and television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1992 Camomile Lawn, TheThe Camomile Lawn Young Calypso Mini-series, 5 episodes
1994 Backbeat Cynthia Powell
1995 Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth Bennet Mini-series, 6 episodes
1997 Paradise Road Rosemary Leighton-Jones
1997 Wilde Constance Lloyd Wilde
1997 Melissa Melissa Mini-series, 5 episodes
1998 Bedrooms and Hallways Sally
1999 Sunshine Valerie Sonnenschein
1999 This Year's Love Sophie
2002 Possession Christabel LaMotte
2005 River King, TheThe River King Betsy Chase
2006 Alpha Male Alice Ferris
2008 Pride and Glory Abby Tierney
2008 Russell Girl, TheThe Russell Girl Lorraine Morrissey
2008 Before the Rains Laura Malayalam-language film
2009 The Greatest Joan
2010 King's Speech, TheThe King's Speech Myrtle Logue
2011 Ides of March, TheThe Ides of March Cindy Morris
2011 Contagion Ally Hextall
2011 Adjustment Bureau, TheThe Adjustment Bureau Brooklyn Ice House Bartender
2011 Gifted Man, AA Gifted Man Anna Paul Television series, 16 episodes
2012 Zero Dark Thirty Jessica
2014 RoboCop Liz Kline post production

Theatre[edit]

Year Title Role Company Venue
1959 Pink Thunderbird Edinburgh Festival
Laundry and Bourbon Edinburgh Festival
1991 Tartuffe Elmire Peter Hall Company
1992 Breaking the Code Pat Green Triumph Productions Tour
1995-96 Richard III Lady Anne Royal Shakespeare Company
1995-96 Painter of Dishonour Serafina Royal Shakespeare Company
1995-96 Relapse, TheThe Relapse Amanda Royal Shakespeare Company
1999 Real Thing, TheThe Real Thing Annie Donmar Warehouse
1999 Summerfolk Varvara Mikhailovna National Theatre
2000 Real Thing, TheThe Real Thing Annie Albery Theatre and Barrymore Theater
2001 Design for Livin Gilda Roundabout Theatre Company American Airlines Theater
2005 Philadelphia Story, TheThe Philadelphia Story Tracy Lord The Old Vic, London
2006 Macbeth Lady Macbeth Shakespeare in the Park Delacorte Theater
2006 Coast of Utopia, TheThe Coast of Utopia: Voyage Liubov Bakunin Vivian Beaumont Theater
2006 Coast of Utopia, TheThe Coast of Utopia: Shipwrecked Natalie Herzen Vivian Beaumont Theater
2007 Coast of Utopia, TheThe Coast of Utopia: Salvage Malwida von Meysenbug Vivian Beaumont Theater
2010 Mr. and Mrs. Fitch Second Stage Theatre

Awards and nominations[edit]

Awards
Nominations

References[edit]

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ Rosemary Harris and the Picture: Madonna of the Slaughtered Jews. Nmia.com. Retrieved on 8 February 2013.
  4. ^ Hollywood made in Romania (partea a II-a). eroiiromanieichic.ro (8 December). Retrieved on 8 February 2013.
  5. ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/ehle.htm
  6. ^ Dave Kehr (June 16, 2000). "AT THE MOVIES; A Resemblance? It's Only Natural". New York Times. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
  7. ^ "What Lizzie did next". Melbourne: The Age. April 23, 2005. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
  8. ^ Doug Feiden (5 June 2000). "'Kiss Me Kate' is big Tony winner 'Copenhagen' and 'Contact' also honored". New York: Daily News. Retrieved 7 February 2009. 
  9. ^ "Utopian win for Jennifer Ehle and Tom Stoppard at Tony Awards". London: Daily Mail. 11 June 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2010. 
  10. ^ "Fairley to replace Ehle in HBO's 'Thrones'". The Hollywood Reporter. 14 October 2010. Retrieved 26 February 2011. 
  11. ^ "A Gifted Man’s Leading Lady". http://www.thedailybeast.com. The Daily Beast. 22 September 2011. 
  12. ^ "Tony Winners Lithgow and Ehle Are 'MR. & MRS. FITCH' For Second Stage Theatre" August 19, 2009, Broadway World
  13. ^ Hiscock, John (29 August 2002). "The respect I get is ludicrous". The Daily Telegraph (London). 

External links[edit]

Authority control
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