Emily Mortimer

Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer[1] (born 1 December 1971) is an English actress and screenwriter. She began acting in stage productions and has since appeared in several film and television roles. In 2003, she won an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Lovely and Amazing. She is also known for playing the role of Mackenzie McHale in the HBO series The Newsroom, and as the voice actress of Sophie in the English-language version of Howl's Moving Castle (2004). Mortimer also stars in Scream 3 (2000), Match Point (2005), Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Chaos Theory (2008), Harry Brown (2009), Shutter Island (2010), Hugo (2011), and Mary Poppins Returns (2018).

Emily Mortimer
Mortimer at the 32nd Goya Awards.
Born	Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer (1971-12-01) 1 December 1971 Hammersmith, London, England
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Alma mater	Lincoln College, Oxford
Occupation	Actress, screenwriter
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Alessandro Nivola ( m. 2003)
Children	2
Parent(s)	Sir John Mortimer Penelope Gollop

Early life and education

Mortimer was born in Hammersmith, London, England,[2] to dramatist and barrister Sir John Mortimer, and his second wife, Penelope (née Gollop). She has a younger sister, Rosie;[3] 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 relationship with actress Wendy Craig.[4]

Mortimer studied at St Paul's Girls' School in west London[5] where she appeared in several pupil productions. She then went on to the University of Oxford, where she read Russian[3] at Lincoln College and performed in several plays. Before becoming an actress, Mortimer wrote a column for the Daily Telegraph and was screenwriter for an adaptation of Lorna Sage's memoir, Bad Blood.[6][7]

Career

Mortimer performed in several plays while studying at University of Oxford. While acting in a student production, she was spotted by a producer who later cast her in the lead in a television adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin (1995).[8] Subsequent television roles included Sharpe's Sword (1995) and Coming Home (1998). She followed this with the 1996 television film Lord of Misrule, directed by Guy Jenkin and filmed in Fowey, Cornwall.[9]

Also in 1996, Mortimer appeared in her first feature film opposite Val Kilmer in The Ghost and the Darkness, and in the coming-of-age story, The Last of the High Kings.[9]

Mortimer at a film premiere in September 2007

In 1998 she appeared as Kat Ashley in Elizabeth, and played Miss Flynn in the television mini series Cider with Rosie, which was adapted for television by her father. In 1999, she played three roles: she was the "Perfect Girl" dropped by Hugh Grant in Notting Hill; Esther in the television mini series Noah's Ark; and Angelina, the star of the film within a film in Scream 3.

Mortimer at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

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.[8]

In 2003, Mortimer appeared in Stephen Fry's film Bright Young Things. In 2004, Mortimer played the female lead in the film Dear Frankie. In 2005, she played a major role as the oblivious spouse of Jonathan Rhys Meyers's adulterer in Woody Allen's Match Point, as well as voiced 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 appeared in The Pink Panther in 2006 and in its 2009 sequel. In the last three episodes of the first season of 30 Rock, she played Phoebe, the mysterious 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 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 titular character. Also in 2011, she 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[10] for Sky Living, along with her longtime friend, actress and comedian Dolly Wells.[11][12]

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 village of Turville in the Chilterns, Buckinghamshire, on 3 January 2003.[13] Mortimer gave birth to their first child, Samuel John Nivola on 26 September 2003 and their second child, May Rose Nivola, in 2010. They live with their two children[14] in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.[15] Mortimer became an American citizen, for tax reasons, circa 2010.[16]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	The Ghost and the Darkness	Helena Patterson
	The Last of the High Kings	Romy Thomas
1997	The Saint	Woman on Plane
1998	Elizabeth	Kat Ashley
	Killing Joe		Short film
1999	Notting Hill	Will's "Perfect Girl"
2000	Scream 3	Angelina Tyler
	Love's Labour's Lost	Katherine
	The Miracle Maker	Mary of Nazareth	Voice role
	Disney's The Kid	Amy
2001	Lovely and Amazing	Elizabeth Marks
	The 51st State	Dakota Parker
2003	A Foreign Affair	Angela Beck
	Nobody Needs to Know	Emily
	The Sleeping Dictionary	Cecil
	Bright Young Things	Nina Blount
	Young Adam	Cathie Dimly
2004	Dear Frankie	Lizzie
	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	Lars and the Real Girl	Karin
	Chaos Theory	Susan Allen
2008	Transsiberian	Jessie
	Redbelt	Laura Black
2009	The Pink Panther 2	Nicole Durant
	Harry Brown	DI Alice Frampton
	City Island	Molly Charlesworth
2010	Shutter Island	Rachel Solando
	Leonie	Leonie Gilmour
2011	Cars 2	Holley Shiftwell	Voice role
	Our Idiot Brother	Liz
	Hugo	Lisette
2014	Rio, I Love You	Dorothy	Segment: "La Fortuna"
2015	Ten Thousand Saints	Di Urbanski
2016	Spectral	CIA Officer Fran Madison
2017	The Sense of an Ending	Sarah Ford
	The Party	Jinny
	The Bookshop	Florence Green
2018	Write When You Get Work	Nan Noble
	To Dust	N/A	Producer
	Head Full of Honey	Sarah
	Mary Poppins Returns	Jane Banks
2019	Good Posture	Julia Price
	Phil	Alicia
	Mary	Sarah
2020	Relic	Kay
TBA	With/In		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Under the Hammer	Angela	Episode: "The Virgin of Vitebsk"
	Blue Heelers	Kelly	Episode: "Skin Deep"
1995	Sharpe's Sword	Lass	Television movie
	The Glass Virgin	Annabella Lagrange	3 episodes
	Screen Two	Amanda Ellis	Episode: "A Very Open Prison"
1996	Lord of Misrule	Emma	Movie
	Ruth Rendell Mysteries	Elvira	Episode: "Heartstones"
	Silent Witness	Fran	2 episodes
	Jack and Jeremy's Real Lives	Tilly	Episode: "Aristocrats"
	No Bananas	Una	6 episodes
1997	Midsomer Murders	Katherine Lacey	Episode: "The Killings at Badger's Drift"
	A Dance to the Music of Time	Polly Duport	Episode: "Post War"
1998	Cider with Rosie	Miss Flynn	Movie
	Coming Home	Judith Dunbar	Movie
1999	Noah's Ark	Esther	3 episodes
2002	Jeffrey Archer: The Truth	Diana, Princess of Wales	Movie
2007	30 Rock	Phoebe	3 episodes
2012–14	The Newsroom	Mackenzie McHale	25 episodes
2014–15	Doll & Em	Emily	12 episodes; also creator and writer
TBA	The Pursuit of Love	The Bolter	Upcoming series; also writer and director

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2011	Cars 2: The Video Game	Holley Shiftwell (voice)
2012	Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure
2013	Disney Infinity
2014	Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, Cars: Fast as Lightning
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0[17]

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
2003	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress	Lovely & Amazing	Nominated
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Supporting Female		Won
	Satellite Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Comedy or Musical		Nominated
2004	Empire Awards	Best British Actress	Young Adam	Nominated
	London Film Critics' Circle	British Supporting Actress of the Year		Nominated
2005		British Actress of the Year	Dear Frankie	Nominated
2007	Detroit Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actress	Lars and the Real Girl	Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical		Nominated
2009	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	Transsiberian	Nominated
2018	Goya Awards	Best Actress	The Bookshop	Nominated

References

1. A Voyage Round John Mortimer, Penguin Books, 2008, Valerie Grove
2. Profile, familysearch.org; accessed 13 January 2016.
3. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/07/emily-mortimer-interview-martin-scorsese
4. Walker, Tim; Eden, Richard (13 September 2004). "Mortimer's joy at son with Wendy Craig". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
5. GQ, September 2005, p. 212
6. Stadlen, Matthew (29 June 2015). "The kind of movies I'm in, you're lucky if your mum sees it". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
7. Merritt, Stephanie (2 December 2001). "Interview: Emily Mortimer". the Guardian. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
8. Woman on the verge, Guardian.co.uk; retrieved 14 April 2012.
9. "Emily Mortimer". IMDb. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
10. "Doll & Em". Sky Living.
11. Kemp, Stuart (23 January 2013). "Emily Mortimer to Write and Star in 'Doll & Em' for Sky Living". The Hollywood Reporter.
12. Sarah Jane Griffiths (18 February 2014). "Doll and Em: Friendship, family and film stars". BBC News. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
13. "Get Reading". Retrieved 18 December 2016.
14. Helena de Bertodano (24 July 2011). "Emily Mortimer interview: 'I hope my kids don't look like my father'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
15. Vincentelli, Elizabeth (16 November 2013). "Alessandro Nivola: My Brooklyn". New York Post. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
16. Wood, Gabby. ""Sometimes I think this is so undignified"". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited.
17. Avalanche Software. Disney Infinity 3.0. Scene: Closing credits, 5:39 in, Featuring the Voice Talents of.

External links

• Emily Mortimer on IMDb
• Emily Mortimer at Rotten Tomatoes