Emily Mortimer Biography

Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer (born 1 December 1971) is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including 30 Rock, Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, Hugo, Cars 2, Shutter Island, Harry Brown, Our Idiot Brother, and The Newsroom.

Early life

Mortimer was born in Finsbury Park, London England, a daughter of Sir John Mortimer, QC (a lawyer and writer who created Rumpole of the Bailey) and his second wife, Penelope (née Gollop). She has a younger sister, Rosie; two older half-siblings, Sally Silverman and Jeremy, by her father's first marriage, to author Penelope Fletcher; and a half-brother, Ross Bentley, by her father's liaison with actress Wendy Craig.

Mortimer studied at St Paul's Girls' School in west London (she was in the year below actress Rachel Weisz), where she appeared in several pupil productions. She then went on to Oxford University, where she read Russian at Lincoln College and performed in several plays. Before becoming an actress, Mortimer wrote a column for the Daily Telegraph, and was also screenwriter for an adaptation of Lorna Sage's memoir, Bad Blood.

Career

Mortimer performed in several plays while studying at Oxford University, and while acting in a student production she was spotted by a producer who later cast her in the lead in a television adaptation of Dame Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin (1995). Subsequent television roles included Sharpe's Sword and Coming Home. Her first film role was opposite Val Kilmer in 1996's The Ghost and the Darkness. Mortimer was then in the Irish coming-of-age story The Last of the High Kings, released later the same year.

In the 1997 Midsomer Murders pilot episode The Killings at Badger's Drift, she appeared as Katherine Lacey. In 1998 she appeared as Kat Ashley in Elizabeth, and played Miss Flynn in the TV mini-series Cider with Rosie, which was adapted for television by her father.

In 1999, she played three roles that raised her profile outside the UK: She was the "Perfect Girl" dropped by Hugh Grant in Notting Hill, appeared as Esther in the American TV mini-series Noah's Ark, and was Angelina, the star of the film-within-a-film, in the upscale slasher flick Scream 3.

In 2000, Mortimer was cast as Katherine in Kenneth Branagh's musical adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost, where she met actor and future husband Alessandro Nivola. She took on her biggest role in an American film to date, playing opposite Bruce Willis in Disney's The Kid. In 2002, she had a major role in The 51st State (also known as Formula 51), starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle.

In 2003, Mortimer appeared in Stephen Fry's film Bright Young Things. In 2004, Mortimer appeared in the film Dear Frankie. In 2005, she played a major role as the oblivious spouse of an adulterous Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Woody Allen's Match Point, as well as voicing young Sophie in the English-dubbed version of Howl's Moving Castle. In 2007 she played a supporting role in Lars and the Real Girl as the supportive sister-in-law of Ryan Gosling's title character. She also appeared in The Pink Panther in 2006 and in its 2009 sequel, as the love interest of Inspector Clouseau (Steve Martin). In the last three episodes of 30 Rock's first season, she played Phoebe, a love interest of Alec Baldwin's character, Jack Donaghy.

Mortimer played an aspiring actress opposite Andy García in City Island (2009) and as Rachel Solando in Martin Scorsese's 2010 film Shutter Island. She played Leonie Gilmour in the film Leonie, released in the autumn of 2010. In 2011, she had a role in Our Idiot Brother as Liz, the sister of Paul Rudd's character. In the same year, she also started work with the acclaimed screenwriter and producer Aaron Sorkin as Mackenzie McHale in HBO's The Newsroom.

In January 2013 it was announced that Mortimer would be co-creating and starring in the comedy series Doll & Em for Sky Living, along with her long-term friend, actress and comedian Dolly Wells.

Personal life

In 2000, Mortimer met American actor Alessandro Nivola, while both were starring in Love's Labour's Lost. The couple married in the Chilterns, Buckinghamshire, on 3 January 2003. A Mexican punk band performed at their wedding. Mortimer gave birth to their son, Samuel John, in Westminster, London, on 23 September 2003. Their second child, May Rose, was born on 15 January 2010. During the same year, Mortimer naturalised as an American citizen for "cynical reasons" in order to avoid paying inheritance tax in the event of anything happening to her husband. Mortimer is an atheist.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995	Sharpe's Sword	Lass	TV
	The Glass Virgin	Annabella Lagrange	TV miniseries
1996	Heartstones (Ruth Rendell Mysteries)	Elvira	TV
	The Ghost and the Darkness	Helana Patterson
	Midsomer Murders: The Killings at Badger's Drift	Katherine Lacey	TV
	The Last of the High Kings	Romy Thomas
	Silent Witness	Fran	Episodes "Long Days, Short Nights" parts 1 and 2
1997	The Saint	Woman on Plane
1998	Coming Home	Judith Dunbar	TV
	Cider with Rosie	Miss Flynn	TV
	Elizabeth	Kat Ashley
	Killing Joe
1999	Notting Hill	Will's "Perfect Girl"
2000	Scream 3	Angelina Tyler
	Love's Labour's Lost	Katherine
	Disney's The Kid	Amy
2001	Lovely and Amazing	Elizabeth Marks	Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female Nominated "? Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress " Motion Picture
	The 51st State aka Formula 51	Dakota Parker
2002	Jeffrey Archer: The Truth	Diana, Princess of Wales	TV
2003	A Foreign Affair	Angela Beck
	Nobody Needs to Know	Emily
	The Sleeping Dictionary	Cecil	Nominated "? DVD Exclusive Award for Best Supporting Actress in a DVD Premiere Film
	Bright Young Things	Nina Blount
	Young Adam	Cathie Dimly	Nominated "? Empire Award for Best British Actress Nominated "? European Film Award for Best Actress Nominated "? London Critics' Circle Film Award for British Supporting Actress of the Year
2004	Dear Frankie	Lizzie	Nominated "? London Critics' Circle Film Award for British Actress of the Year
	Howl's Moving Castle	Young Sophie	Voice (English dub)
2005	Match Point	Chloe Hewett Wilton
2006	Paris, je t'aime	Frances	Segment Père-Lachaise
	The Pink Panther	Nicole Durant
2007	30 Rock	Phoebe	Episodes "Corporate Crush", "Cleveland" and "Hiatus"
	Lars and the Real Girl	Karin	Nominated "? Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Detroit Film Critics Society for Best Supporting Actress Nominated "? Satellite Award for Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
	Chaos Theory	Susan Allen
2008	Transsiberian	Jessie	Nominated "? Saturn Award for Best Actress
	Redbelt	Laura Black
2009	The Pink Panther 2	Nicole Durant
	Harry Brown	Detective Inspector Alice Frampton
	City Island	Molly Charlesworth
2010	Shutter Island	Rachel Solando
	Leonie	Leonie Gilmour
2011	Cars 2	Holley Shiftwell	Voice
	Our Idiot Brother	Liz
	Hugo	Lisette
2012-present	The Newsroom	Mackenzie McHale	TV
	Robot Chicken	TBA	Voice (Season 6) (TV)