Joely Richardson

Joely Kim Richardson (born 9 January 1965)[1] is an English actress, known for her role as Julia McNamara in the FX drama series Nip/Tuck (2003–10), and Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime series The Tudors (2010). She has also appeared in films such as 101 Dalmatians (1996), Event Horizon (1997), The Patriot (2000), Return to Me (2000), Anonymous (2011), the Hollywood film adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), the remake of Endless Love (2014), and the thriller Red Sparrow (2018). Richardson also recently starred as a supernaturally powered mutant and British government agent on the Starz series Rook (2019). She was the younger sister of actress Natasha Richardson (d.2009).

Joely Richardson
Richardson at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Joely Kim Richardson 9 January 1965 Marylebone, London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1968, 1984–present
Spouse(s)	Tim Bevan ​ ​ (m. 1992; div. 2001)​
Children	Daisy Bevan
Parent(s)	Tony Richardson Vanessa Redgrave
Family	Redgrave

Early life

Joely Kim Richardson was born in Marylebone, London, to the theatrical Redgrave family, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson, and the granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, Lady Redgrave.[lower-alpha 1] Actress Natasha Richardson (1963–2009) was her sister, and through her, she is the sister-in-law of actor Liam Neeson, and the aunt of Micheál and Daniel Neeson. She is the niece of actors Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave and cousin of actress Jemma Redgrave, who is five days younger than Richardson. Joely appeared as an extra at the age of three in the 1968 version of The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father.

Richardson and her sister Natasha's early education began at the independent St Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith.[2] At age 14 Richardson moved to boarding school at the independent Harry Hopman Tennis School in Tampa, Florida. In 1983, she graduated from the Thacher School in Ojai, California, then returned to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[3]

Career

Possessing an early ambition to become a professional tennis player, she spent two years at a tennis academy in Florida. Richardson then turned to acting. In 1985, she portrayed, by flashbacks, the younger version of the leading character played by her mother in the film Wetherby. After a leading role in Peter Greenaway's cult success Drowning by Numbers (1988), her first major role in front of a mass audience was as Joanna Farley in a 1989 television episode of Poirot, based on Agatha Christie's detective series. In a 1989 episode of Jim Henson's The Storyteller, she was cast as a princess. She portrayed a teacher on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the 1989 Channel 4 serial Behaving Badly and fictional Finnish Princess Anna (with "a voice like a tuba") in the 1991 screen comedy King Ralph.

A year later she appeared in Shining Through alongside her future brother-in-law, Liam Neeson, with both actors playing Nazis.

In 1993, Richardson appeared in the BBC's Lady Chatterley opposite Sean Bean. In 1996, she played fashion designer Anita Campbell-Green in the Disney live-action remake of the animated 101 Dalmatians opposite Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. In 1998, in the television drama The Echo, she played Amanda Powell. The next year, she played in the science fiction horror film Event Horizon as Lieutenant Starck, executive officer of the research and rescue ship Lewis and Clark, sent to rescue crew of the long-lost experimental ship Event Horizon.

One year later, Richardson appeared opposite Mel Gibson in the film The Patriot, an American film set in the American Revolution. Also in 2000, she appeared opposite Hugh Laurie in Maybe Baby, Ben Elton's film adaptation of his book Inconceivable. She was cast in the 2001 film The Affair of the Necklace after director Charles Shyer noticed her resemblance to doomed 18th century French Queen Marie Antoinette.

In 2003, Richardson took on the role of Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck, based on the lives of two plastic surgeons in Miami. Her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, appeared in several episodes, playing her character's mother.

In 2005, Richardson starred in Lies My Mother Told Me, based on a true story about a murderous con artist. In 2007, she played the mother in The Last Mimzy with Timothy Hutton and Chris O'Neil. She also starred in the television drama Wallis & Edward, playing the lead role of Wallis Simpson, lover of Edward, Prince of Wales.

In 2009–10, Richardson appeared as Catherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII, in the fourth (and final) season of Showtime's hit period drama The Tudors. The role reunited her with her former husband Tim Bevan, who was part of the show's production team.

Joely joined the cast of TV series Titanic: Blood and Steel in which she played the role of Countess Markievicz.[4] In 2015 she co-starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the zombie thriller film Maggie.[5]

Charity

Richardson is an Ambassador for The Children's Trust, the UK's leading charity for children with brain injury and neurodisability.[6]

Personal life

Richardson is divorced from film producer Tim Bevan. The couple have a daughter, Daisy Bevan (b. 1992), who is also an actress.

Richardson had an affair with theatre producer Archie Stirling, resulting in the failure of Stirling's marriage to Diana Rigg in 1990.[7]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	The Charge of the Light Brigade	Extra	Uncredited
1985	Wetherby	Young Jean Travers
1987	Body Contact	Dominique
1988	Drowning by Numbers	Cissie Colpitts 3
1989	A proposito di quella strana ragazza	Giovanna Serafin (Maria)	aka About That Foreign Girl in English
1991	King Ralph	Princess Anna
1992	Rebecca's Daughters	Rhiannon
	Shining Through	Margrete Von Eberstein
1994	Sister My Sister	Christine Papin
1995	I'll Do Anything	Cathy Breslow
1996	Loch Ness	Laura McFetridge
	101 Dalmatians	Anita Campbell-Green-Dearly
	Hollow Reed	Hannah
1997	Event Horizon	Lt. Starck
1998	Under Heaven	Eleanor Dunston
	Wrestling with Alligators	Claire
	The Tribe	Emily
2000	Maybe Baby	Lucy Bell
	Return to Me	Elizabeth Rueland
	The Patriot	Charlotte Selton
2001	The Affair of the Necklace	Marie-Antoinette
2004	Fallen Angel	Katherine Wentworth
2004	The Fever	Woman at 30
2007	The Last Mimzy	Jo Wilder
	The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey	Susan McDowel
2011	Anonymous	Young Queen Elizabeth I
	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Anita Vanger/Harriet Vanger
2012	Red Lights	Monica Handsen
	Thanks for Sharing	Katie
2013	The Devil's Violinist	Ethel Langham
2014	Vampire Academy	Queen Tatiana Ivashkov
	Endless Love	Ann Butterfield
	Maggie	Caroline Vogel
2015	Papa: Hemingway in Cuba	Mary Hemingway
2016	Snowden	Janine Gibson
	Fallen	Sophia Bliss
2017	The Hatton Garden Job	Erzebet Zslondos
	The Time of Their Lives	Lucy
2018	Red Sparrow	Nina
	In Darkness	Alix
	The Aspern Papers	Miss Tina
	Surviving Christmas with the Relatives	Lyla
2019	Color Out of Space	Theresa Gardner
2020	The Turning	Darla

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	The Storyteller	Princess	Episode: "The Three Ravens"
1989	Behaving Badly	Serafina	4 episodes
	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Joanna Farley	Episode: "The Dream"
1993	Lady Chatterley	Lady Chatterley	4 episodes
2003–2010	Nip/Tuck	Julia McNamara	Main role, 72 episodes
2003	Fallen Angel	Katherine Wentworth	Television movie
2005	Lies My Mother Told Me	Laren Sims	Television movie
	Wallis & Edward	Wallis, Duchess of Windsor	Television movie
2006	Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America	Dr. Iris Varnack	Television movie
2007	Freezing	Rachel	Episode: "1.1"
2009	The Day of the Triffids	Jo Playton	2 episodes
2010	The Tudors	Queen Catherine Parr	Main role (season 4), 5 episodes
2012	Titanic: Blood and Steel	Countess Markievicz	Episode: "Stained Steel"
2017	Emerald City	Glinda	Main role
2019	The Rook	Lady Farrier/King	Main role; 8 episode miniseries
2020	The Blacklist	Cassandra Bianchi	Episode: "Cornelius Ruck (No. 155)"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result	Refs
1999	Independent Spirit Award	Best Supporting Female	Under Heaven	Nominated
2004	Golden Globe Award	Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama	Nip/Tuck	Nominated
	Satellite Award	Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama	Nip/Tuck	Nominated
2005	Golden Globe Award	Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama	Nip/Tuck	Nominated
	Satellite Award	Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama	Nip/Tuck	Nominated

Notes

1. In his autobiography, Tony Richardson notes that Kim was the original chosen name in honour of the actress Kim Stanley, but at the last minute they copied Natasha's swimming teacher who named her daughter Joely. It was actually a misspelling of the French jolie.

References

1. "UPI Almanac for Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020". United Press International. 9 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020. … actor Joely Richardson in 1965 (age 55)
2. Singh, Anita (19 March 2009). "Natasha Richardson skiing accident in Canada: profile of actress". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
3. Rosen, Marjorie (23 March 1992). "Family Way". People. 37 (11). Retrieved 19 March 2009.
4. "Joely Richardson Joins 'Titanic: Blood and Steel'". IFTN. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
5. "Joely Richardson Joins 'Maggie '". DC. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
6. https://www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/about/ambassadors
7. Farndale, Nigel (6 July 2008). "Diana Rigg: her story". The Daily Telegraph (London).

External links

• Joely Richardson at IMDb