Jennifer Ehle

Jennifer Anne Ehle (/ˈli/; born December 29, 1969) is an American actress, the daughter of English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle.

Jennifer Ehle
Ehle in 2016
Born
Jennifer Anne Ehle[1][2]

(1969-12-29) December 29, 1969
OccupationActress
Years active1991–present
Known forPride and Prejudice
Spouse
Michael Ryan
(m. 2001)
Children2
Parents
  • John Ehle (father)
  • Rosemary Harris (mother)

She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice. For her work on Broadway, she won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Real Thing, and the 2007 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Coast of Utopia.

Early life and education

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) and, paternally, German and English.[3][4]

Ehle appeared as a toddler in a 1973 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, in which her mother played Blanche DuBois.[5] She spent her childhood in both the UK and the US, attending several different schools including Interlochen Arts Academy. She was raised largely in Asheville, North Carolina. Her drama training was split between the North Carolina School of the Arts[6] and the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.[7]

Career

1990s

Ehle made her West End debut as Elmire in the 1991 Peter Hall Company production of Tartuffe, for which she won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards.[8][9] Hall then cast her as Calypso in The Camomile Lawn (1992), a television adaptation of Mary Wesley's book of the same name, in which she and her mother played the same character at different ages.[10]

One of Ehle's first notable roles was as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice co-starring Colin Firth, for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. The same year, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and gained her first major feature film role in Paradise Road (1997).[11] She also appeared in supporting roles in Brian Gilbert's Wilde (1997) and István Szabó's Sunshine (1999).

2000s

In 2000, Ehle made her Broadway debut to great critical acclaim as Annie in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, winning the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. Her mother, Rosemary Harris, was also nominated for the same award that year for Waiting in the Wings.[12] That following year, Ehle appeared again on Broadway in the revival of Noël Coward's Design for Living co-starring with Dominic West and Alan Cumming.[13]

After a hiatus, Ehle returned to the London stage in 2005 in The Philadelphia Story at the Old Vic opposite Kevin Spacey. The following year, she played Lady Macbeth in Macbeth with Liev Schreiber, as part of the Shakespeare in the Park.[13]

Ehle returned to Broadway portraying three characters in Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia triptych, which ran from October 2006 until May 2007.[14] Ehle starred alongside Billy Crudup, Martha Plimpton, and Ethan Hawke. Theatre critic Ben Brantley of The New York Times praised her performance as "memorable".[15] For her performance she received her second Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

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 decided it was too soon to return to work after the birth of her daughter. She was replaced by Northern Irish actress Michelle Fairley.[16][17]

2010s

In 2010, Ehle starred alongside John Lithgow in the production of Mr. & Mrs. Fitch presented by Second Stage Theatre in New York City.[18] Since 2010, Ehle has appeared in the critically acclaimed films The King's Speech (where she reunited with her Pride and Prejudice co-star Colin Firth), Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (2011), George Clooney's The Ides of March (2011), Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Alan Rickman's A Little Chaos (2015), Terence Davies's A Quiet Passion (2016), and Ira Sachs's Little Men (2016).

Television credits include A Gifted Man (2011–2012) and The Looming Tower (2018).

In 2017, Ehle appeared on stage in the critically acclaimed Oslo, which won the Tony Award for Best Play. She herself was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for her work.[19] In 2018, she appeared in the Hulu limited series, The Looming Tower as Ambassador Barbara Bodine. The series also starred Jeff Daniels, Bill Camp, Peter Sarsgaard, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

2020s

In 2020, Ehle reunited with Jeff Daniels in the limited series The Comey Rule which premiered on Showtime. Daniels and Ehle portrayed Former FBI Director James Comey and his wife Patrice, respectively.

Personal life

Ehle married writer Michael Ryan on November 29, 2001,[20] and they have two children.[21]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1994BackbeatCynthia Powell
1997Paradise RoadRosemary Leighton-Jones
1997WildeConstance Lloyd Wilde
1998Bedrooms and HallwaysSally
1999SunshineValerie Sonnenschein
1999This Year's LoveSophie
2002PossessionChristabel LaMotte
2005 The River King Betsy Chase
2006Alpha MaleAlice Ferris
2008Pride and GloryAbby Tierney
2008Before the RainsLauraMalayalam-language film
2009The GreatestJoan
2010The King's SpeechMyrtle Logue
2011The Ides of MarchCindy Morris
2011ContagionAlly Hextall
2011The Adjustment BureauBrooklyn Ice House Bartender
2012Zero Dark ThirtyJessica
2014RoboCopLiz Kline
2014Black or WhiteCarol Anderson
2014The ForgerKim Cutter
2014A Little ChaosMadame De Montespan
2015AdvantageousIsa Cryer
2015Fifty Shades of GreyCarla Wilks
2015Spooks: The Greater GoodGeraldine Maltby
2016Little MenKathy Jardine
2016The Fundamentals of CaringElsa
2016A Quiet PassionVinnie Dickinson
2017Fifty Shades DarkerCarla WilksUnrated edition
2017DetroitMorgue DoctorUncredited
2017I Kill GiantsMrs. Thorson
2017WetlandsKate Sheehan
2018The Miseducation of Cameron PostDr. Lydia Marsh
2018MonsterMaureen O'Brien
2018Fifty Shades FreedCarla Wilks
2018Vox LuxJosie the Publicist
2018Take PointAgent MackenzieKorean film
2019The Wolf HourMargot
2019Run This TownJudith
2019The Professor and the MadmanAda Murray
2019Beneath the Blue Suburban SkiesTina
2019Saint MaudAmanda Kohl
2021John and the HoleAnna
2022She SaidPost-production

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1992The Camomile LawnCalypsoMiniseries, 5 episodes
1992The Young Indiana Jones ChroniclesEmpress Zita of AustriaEpisode: "Austria, March 1917"
1993The MaitlandsPhyllisBBC TV production
1993Self Catering'Meryl'TV movie
1993Rik Mayall Presents: Micky LoveTamsinMiniseries, 6 episodes
1995Pride and PrejudiceElizabeth BennetMiniseries, 6 episodes
1996Beyond ReasonPenny McAllisterTV movie
1997MelissaMelissaMiniseries, 5 episodes
2008The Russell GirlLorraine MorrisseyTV movie
2011–12A Gifted ManAnna Paul16 episodes
2013Low Winter SunSusanEpisode: "Ann Arbor"
2014–15The BlacklistMadeline Pratt2 episodes
2018The Looming TowerAmbassador Barbara Bodine3 episodes
2020The Comey RulePatrice ComeyMiniseries
2022SuspicionAmyEpisode: "Be the Gray Man"
TBADead RingersRebeccaUpcoming series

Theatre

YearTitleRoleVenue
1959 Pink ThunderbirdEdinburgh Festival
Laundry and Bourbon
1991TartuffeElmirePeter Hall Company
1992Breaking the CodePat GreenTriumph Productions Tour
1995–96Richard IIILady AnneRoyal Shakespeare Company
1995–96Painter of DishonourSerafina
1995–96The RelapseAmanda
1999The Real ThingAnnieDonmar Warehouse
1999SummerfolkVarvara MikhailovnaNational Theatre
2000The Real ThingAnnieAlbery Theatre
Barrymore Theatre
2001Design for LivingGildaRoundabout Theatre Company's
American Airlines Theater
2005The Philadelphia StoryTracy LordThe Old Vic, London
2006MacbethLady MacbethShakespeare in the Park's
Delacorte Theater
2006The Coast of Utopia: VoyageLiubov BakuninVivian Beaumont Theater
2006The Coast of Utopia: ShipwreckedNatalie HerzenVivian Beaumont Theater
2007The Coast of Utopia: SalvageMalwida von Meysenbug
2010Mr. and Mrs. FitchMrs. FitchSecond Stage Theatre
2017OsloMona JuulVivian Beaumont Theatre
2022HamletGertrudePark Avenue Armory

Awards and nominations

Tony Awards

Year Category Nominated work Result
2000 Best Actress in a Play The Real Thing Won
2007 Best Featured Actress in a Play The Coast of Utopia Won
2017 Best Actress in a Play Oslo Nominated

BAFTA Awards

Year Category Nominated work Result
1996 Best Actress (TV) Pride & Prejudice Won
1998 Best Supporting Actress (Film) Wilde Nominated

Screen Actors Guild Award

Year Category Nominated work Result
2010 Best Cast in a Motion Picture The King's Speech Won

Laurence Olivier Award

Year Category Nominated work Result
2000 Best Actress The Real Thing Nominated

Outer Critics Circle Award

Year Category Nominated work Result
2000 Best Actress – Play The Real Thing Nominated
2007 Best Featured Actress – Play The Coast of Utopia Nominated

Other award wins:

  • 1991: Ian Charleson Award, Second Prize – as Orgon's wife in Tartuffe with the Peter Hall Company[9]
  • 1992: Radio Times Award Best Newcomer The Camomile Lawn (TV)
  • 2000: Variety Club Award The Real Thing (play)

Other award nominations:

  • 2000: Genie Award nomination Sunshine

References

  1. Colby, Vineta; Wilson, H. W. (1991). World Authors, 1980–1985. google.ca. ISBN 9780824207977. Archived from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  2. "Performing Arts". google.ca. 1970. Archived from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  3. "Ehle family". freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com. 2013. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
  4. Rosemary Harris and the Picture: Madonna of the Slaughtered Jews. Nmia.com. Retrieved on February 8, 2013. Archived July 6, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  5. "Jennifer Ehle". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on July 2, 2018. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  6. "Drama – Home Page". uncsa.edu. Archived from the original on January 6, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  7. "High Profile Alumni". cssd.ac.uk. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  8. http://www.geocities.ws.dwan_y/tartuffe.html%5B%5D
  9. Lees, Caroline. "Classic recipes for success". Sunday Times. 9 February 1992
  10. Dave Kehr (June 16, 2000). "AT THE MOVIES; A Resemblance? It's Only Natural". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 9, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
  11. "What Lizzie did next". The Age. Melbourne. April 23, 2005. Archived from the original on March 4, 2010. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
  12. Doug Feiden (June 5, 2000). "'Kiss Me Kate' is big Tony winner 'Copenhagen' and 'Contact' also honored". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  13. "Design for Living – Broadway Play – 2001 Revival | IBDB". Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  14. "Coast of Utopia". Playbill. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  15. Brantley, Ben (February 19, 2007). "Those Storm-Tossed Revolutionaries Reach Port". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 23, 2020. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  16. "Fairley to replace Ehle in HBO's 'Thrones'". The Hollywood Reporter. October 14, 2010. Archived from the original on April 1, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  17. Jace Lacob (September 22, 2011). "A Gifted Man's Leading Lady". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  18. "Tony Winners Lithgow and Ehle Are 'MR. & MRS. FITCH' For Second Stage Theatre" Archived February 8, 2021, at the Wayback Machine August 19, 2009, Broadway World
  19. "Oslo, Starring Tony Winners Jefferson Mays and Jennifer Ehle, Begins Broadway Run". Archived from the original on March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  20. "Jennifer Ehle – Biography". Yahoo! Movies. January 15, 2014.
  21. Moore, Suzanne (December 20, 2011). "Celebrities' Christmas memories". The Guardian. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
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