Jennifer Ehle
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
The attractive, strawberry blonde daughter of novelist John Ehle and actress Rosemary Harris, North Carolina-born Jennifer Ehle shuttled between the USA and the UK (following her mother's frequent career moves) before making her acting debut as the tempestuous Calypso in the British TV drama, "The Camomile Lawn" (1992), directed by Sir Peter Hall. She followed that quickly with an appearance on American TV as the Empress Zita in the "Austria, March 1917" episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" (ABC, 1992). Her first movie role came in the small part of Cynthia Powell (John Lennon's first wife) in "Backbeat" (1993). But Ehle attracted major critical and audience attention as well as a BAFTA Award as Best Television Actress for her intelligent rendering of Elizabeth Bennet in "Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'" (BBC, 1995), which aired in the USA on A&E.
Ehle landed her first substantial supporting feature role in Bruce Beresford's ensemble historical drama "Paradise Road" (1997), co-starring with Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Cate Blanchett and Julianna Margulies as a female prisoner of war during WWII. She garnered further attention for her moving portrayal of Oscar Wilde's wife Constance opposite Stephen Fry in "Wilde" (1997). Ehle shone as the headstrong Valerie, who formed the center of Istvan Szabo's epic "Sunshine" (1999; released in USA in 2000), a role she shared with her mother (who assumed the part in the later scenes when the character was aged). She has also acted in several "Alan Bleasedale Presents" on British television including "A Casual Affair" (1995), as the slain wife of an army officer and more recently in the mystery thriller "Melissa" (1997). On stage, Ehle has performed in a West End production of "Tartuffe" and as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company in such roles as Lady Anne in "Richard III," Amanda in "The Relapse" and Sarafina in "The Painter of Dishonour" and won a 2000 Tony Award for her role as an actress who falls in love with a playwright in the revival of Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing."
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Special Thanks (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1973
Made her stage debut as a toddler in Broadway revival of "A Streetcar Named Desire," in which her mother (Rosemary Harris) played Blanche Dubois
1992
Made U.S. TV debut on an episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" (ABC)
1992
Made acting debut in an adaptation of "The Camomile Lawn"
1993
Portrayed Cynthia Lennon in feature film debut "Backbeat"
1995
Cast as Elizabeth Bennet opposite Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy in BBC television adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"
1997
Played title role on British TV drama "Melissa" (Channel 4)
1997
Had first substantial supporting film role in "Paradise Road"
1997
Co-starred opposite Stephen Fry in "Wilde" as Constance Wilde, the author's wife
1999
Headlined the London stage revival of Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing"
1999
Portrayed a young incarnation of Valerie (her mother Rosemary Harris played the older version) in István Szabó's "Sunshine"
2000
Reprised role of Annie for the Broadway staging of "The Real Thing"
2001
Co-starred with Alan Cumming and Dominic West in Broadway revival of Noel Coward's "Design for Living"
2002
Cast as a 19th-century poet in "Possession"
2003
Featured in the thriller "Gothika"
2005
Returned to the stage in "The Philadelphia Story" opposite Kevin Spacey
2006
Portrayed three characters in Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia" at the Vivian Beaumont Theater
2006
Played Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth" as part of the Shakespeare in the Park
2008
Featured in CBS movie "The Russell Girl"
2010
Played Myrtle Logue, wife of King George VI's (Colin Firth) speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) in Tom Hooper's "The King's Speech"
2011
Joined ensemble cast for Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion"
2011
Co-starred with Patrick Wilson on CBS drama "A Gifted Man"
2011
Landed bit role in action thriller "The Adjustment Bureau"
2011
Cast in "The Ides of March" with George Clooney, who also directed, co-wrote, and produced
2012
Featured opposite Jessica Chastain in Kathryn Bigelow directed "Zero Dark Thirty," based on the hunt for Osama bin Laden
Family
Companions
