Alice Evans

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Alice Evans

Alice Jane Evans (born 2 August 1971 in Bristol, England) is an English actress, to David Evans, a professor of Applied Mathematics at Bristol University and Janet Evans, a teacher of English Literature.

At first, Alice was not widely known as an English actress. Her first beginnings started when she gained a degree in French and Italian from University College, London, and then moved to Paris where she studied acting at the Cours Florent.

Career

Her first acting jobs were mainly in French television but also in the very successful Italian mini-series Ragazze di Piazza di Spagna as Nathalie, a French student who is forced to come to grips with the realities of life when she finds out she is pregnant by a man she is not supposed to be with. This was quite a challenging role for Alice as it was in Italian, but she had to loop the entire film later on because her own accent in Italian sounded too British and not French enough.

Her first big break came when her first feature, Monsieur Naphtali was brought to the attention of Oscar-winning director Claude Lelouch, who invited her to audition for a film he was writing, Une pour toutes and after a few callbacks, they cast her in one of the three lead roles. Amongst highly acclaimed French actresses such as Anne Parillaud and Marianne Denicourt, Evans played Macha, one of three actresses who after a failed production of Chekov's Three Sisters invent a scheme to swindle wealthy men out of money and eventually end up making the film of the story of their lives. The film was a critical, if not commercial success.

Alice in fact didn't act in her mother tongue, English, until 1999 when Disney cast her as the lead in 102 Dalmatians alongside Glenn Close, Gerard Depardieu and Ioan Gruffudd.

Later, in 2000 Alice shot Best of Both Worlds for the BBC, in which she played Diane, an air stewardess who is a wife and mother, who begins a relationship with a man in Italy, where she flies three times a week and eventually marries him and embarks on a double life. The series was written by acclaimed writer Paul Abbott and Alice received glowing reviews for her performance.

In 2002 she was cast by Mel Smith as the lead in Blackball alongside James Cromwell and Vince Vaughn The film was a commercial and critical flop and other commercially unsuccessful British and European films followed.

In the USA, she has worked in both film, Four Corners of Suburbia and television CSI: Miami , The Chris Isaak Show although she still continues to work in the UK, most recently alongside Alistair McGowan in a new series for BBC1 and with Billy Boyd and Eva Birthistle in the Independent feature Save Angel Hope.

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A happy couple: Alice Evans and Ioan Gruffudd

Private Life

While in Paris, Alice was in an eight-year relationship with Oliver Picasso, the grandson of the famous painter, Pablo Picasso. She was engaged to Picasso during the filming of 102 Dalmations, but later broke it off with him when he failed to commit any further.

102 Dalmations was the big break into the mainstream media Alice was looking for, but it was overshadowed by a personal tragedy. Her mother Janet, who was only 59, suffered a fatal heart attack whilst out walking her dog, less than 24 hours before Alice's final screen test for the role. Alice never told her mother about the test and was hoping to surprise her if she won the role. Coincidentally, the actor she first met a few hours earlier after losing her mother was to become her closest friend and confidante. Alice became very close to Ioan Gruffudd during the shoot and they became a confirmed couple in late 2000.

After many commercial flops in the UK, both Alice and Ioan moved to West Hollywood in 2003.

While remaining a strong couple for five years, Gruffudd finally popped the question to Alice on New Years Eve in 2005 with a diamond engagement ring hidden in a mojito cocktail. She accepted his marriage proposal, but according to reports it took Alice an hour to reply.

Evans says, "It took me an hour to say yes. We were in a bar. I'd had a few and I was on a bit of a rant about the state of the world. I could see Ioan going whiter and whiter. I said, "Do you fancy another?", then looked down and I was like, "Oh my God!" "He said, "How could you miss it? It's about the size of an aeroplane." [1]

References

• Contactmusic.com - GRUFFUDD TO MARRY EVANS article
• Contactmusic.com FANTASTIC FOUR - GRUFFUDD TO WED LONG-TERM LOVER

External Links

• IMDB profile - Alice Evans