Alex Kingston
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox person Alexandra Elizabeth Kingston (born 11 March 1963)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is an English actress. Active from the early 1980s, Kingston became noted for her television work in both Britain and the US in the 1990s, including her regular role as Dr. Elizabeth Corday in the NBC medical drama ER (1997–2004) and her title role in the ITV miniseries The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1996), which earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress.
Kingston's later credits include the recurring role of River Song in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who (2008–2015), Mrs. Bennet in the ITV period-drama fantasy Lost in Austen (2008), Dinah Lance in The CW's superhero fiction drama series Arrow (2013–2016), and Sarah Bishop in A Discovery of Witches (2018–2022).
Early life
Kingston was born and brought up in Epsom, Surrey, to Anthony Kingston, an English butcher and his German wife, Margarethe (née Renneisen).<ref name=Lee>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> Kingston's paternal great-great-grandmother was Jewish, an ancestry Kingston explored on the series Who Do You Think You Are?.<ref name="distant background">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kingston's uncle, her mother's younger brother, is actor Walter Renneisen.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her younger sisters are Susie, who is mentally and physically disabled as a result of being deprived of oxygen at birth,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and Nicola, a former actress who appeared in the 1996 British TV production of The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, in which Kingston starred.Template:Citation needed
Kingston was inspired to pursue acting by one of her teachers at Rosebery School for Girls. Kingston auditioned and performed in the Surrey County Youth Theatre production of Tom Jones as Mrs. Fitzpatrick, alongside Sean Pertwee as Captain Fitzpatrick, and Thwackum played by Tom Davison. She later completed a three-year programme at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to join the Royal Shakespeare Company.Template:Citation needed
Career
1980–2007: Early career and breakthrough with ER
In 1980, Kingston made her television debut in three episodes of the children's drama series Grange Hill, while also appearing as an uncredited extra in the film The Wildcats of St Trinian's.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, she performed on stage in twenty different theatrical productions, working extensively with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Her classic Shakespearean roles included Calpurnia in Julius Caesar (1987), Cordelia in King Lear (1990), Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (1990–1991), Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1992) and Desdemona in Othello (1993).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Around the same time, she had small parts in television shows like A Killing on the Exchange (1987), Hannay (1989), Covington Cross (1992), Soldier Soldier (1993) and Crocodile Shoes (1994), and had guest roles in ITV's long-running police procedural The Bill (1988–1995). In film, she appeared in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) with Helen Mirren, The Infiltrator (1995) with Oliver Platt and Carrington (1995) with Emma Thompson, where she played writer Frances Partridge.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In April 1996, she got her first regular television role as customs officer Katherine Roberts in the ITV crime drama The Knock, appearing in all thirteen episodes of the second series. In December, she played the lead role opposite Daniel Craig in The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders, an ITV adaptation of Daniel Defoe's novel Moll Flanders. She received a nomination for Best Actress for her performance at the following year's British Academy Television Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 1997, Kingston gained North American television fame after being cast as a main character in the long-running medical drama ER. She made her first appearance as British surgeon Elizabeth Corday in the premiere of the fourth season, the Emmy Award-winning live episode "Ambush". Having appeared in the show for just over seven seasons, she left it in October 2004, in the eleventh-season episode "Fear", after her contract was not renewed. Being 41 at the time, she criticised the move as ageism, stating that "apparently, I, according to the producers and the writers, am part of the old fogies who are no longer interesting."<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> Despite that, she said that she was "very proud of the work [she had] done over the past eight years" and "grateful for the professional associations and friendships [she had] made through ER".<ref name=":1" />
The ER role helped propel Kingston's career to new heights, which led to a number of big-screen appearances in films like the Clive Owen neo-noir drama Croupier (1998)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and independent period drama Sweet Land (2005), as well as the crime dramas Essex Boys (2000) and Alpha Dog (2006).<ref name=":0" /> In 2003, she battled Romans as the warrior queen of Britain in ITV's biopic Boudica, which was also released in the USA on PBS under the title Warrior Queen and marked the screen debut of Emily Blunt.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In November 2005, Kingston guest starred as a vacationer whose husband gets kidnapped by a Mexican street gang in an episode of the CBS crime drama Without a Trace, titled "Viuda Negra" and directed by her former ER co-star Paul McCrane. The following year, she returned to the stage after ten years in the West End production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, starring as Nurse Ratched opposite Christian Slater as Randle McMurphy.<ref name="londontheatre.co.uk">Template:Cite web</ref> She then revealed that she auditioned for the role of Lynette Scavo on ABC's Desperate Housewives but was turned away for being too curvy.<ref name="fametastic">Template:Cite news</ref>
2008–2015: Doctor Who and further television and stage work
In 2008, Kingston guest starred as Professor River Song in the fourth series of the BBC's long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who, in the two-part story "Silence in the Library" / "Forest of the Dead", starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor. She thought it was simply a one-off guest role but was delighted to find out that she would be a returning character after the story's writer, Steven Moffat, succeeded Russell T Davies as the Doctor Who showrunner.<ref name="radiotimes">Template:Cite web</ref> She reprised the role in thirteen episodes between 2010 and 2015, appearing on screen opposite two more incarnations of the Doctor played by Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi.<ref name="2015DoctorWhoChristmas" /> Kingston has also portrayed the role in a number of audio dramas from Big Finish Productions, including her solo series The Diary of River Song (2015–2023).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 2008, Kingston took the part of Mrs. Bennet in ITV's acclaimed four-part drama Lost in Austen, based on Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. In October, she appeared in the episode "Art Imitates Life" of the police procedural drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as psychiatrist and grief counsellor Patricia Alwick, who helped the team cope with the recent death of one of their members.
In both 2009 and 2010, Kingston had recurring roles as MI6 agent Fiona Banks in the ABC science fiction drama FlashForward and defence attorney Miranda Pond in the NBC legal drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, in which she reunited with her former ER castmates, Mariska Hargitay and Maria Bello. In spring 2009, Kingston returned to ER itself during its fifteenth and final season for two episodes, "Dream Runner" and the two-hour series finale, "And in the End...".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June, she starred as the lead character Ellie Lagden, one of four former convicts, in the BBC One eight-part drama series Hope Springs.
In the early 2010s, Kingston played a housewife in the five-part supernatural drama Marchlands (2011), an archaeologist in the second series of the revived Upstairs Downstairs (2012)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and an analyst working for a missing persons unit in the four-part crime drama Chasing Shadows (2014).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the US, she appeared in the romantic film Like Crazy (2011) and the Grey's Anatomy spin-off series Private Practice (2011), in the guest role of a psychiatrist writing book reviews.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
She starred in the first season of The CW's superhero drama series Arrow (2013) as Professor Dinah Lance, the mother of Laurel and Sara Lance,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and later reprised the role in a few episodes over the next three seasons.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On stage, she participated in the Donmar Warehouse production of Friedrich Schiller's play Luise Miller (2011), directed by Michael Grandage.
In July 2013, she played Lady Macbeth opposite Kenneth Branagh in the Manchester International Festival's production of Macbeth, which was broadcast live in cinemas worldwide as part of the National Theatre Live programme.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following a nomination for Best Actress at the Manchester Theatre Awards,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> she reprised her role with Branagh at the Park Avenue Armory in June 2014, making her New York stage debut.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Earlier in April, Branagh and Kingston took other classic Shakespearean lead roles in the two-and-a-half-hour adaptation of Antony and Cleopatra, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of its celebration of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2016–present: Recent work
During the late 2010s, she took a prominent role as Sarah Bishop in Sky's fantasy drama A Discovery of Witches (2018–2022), while appearing in shows like Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (2016),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Shoot the Messenger (2016)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and The Widow (2019).<ref name=":0" /> In 2021, she wrote a River Song novel called Doctor Who: The Ruby's Curse for BBC Books,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and reprised the role for pre-recorded elements of the interactive theatrical experience Time Fracture.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2022, she starred as British Prime Minister candidate Audrey Gratz in the Netflix spy miniseries Treason and as the villainous Lucifer in the Oliver Twist-inspired children's television series Dodger, also starring the Ninth Doctor actor, Christopher Eccleston.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In a 2022 interview,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Kingston expressed her enthusiasm for returning to Doctor Who, stating that if offered a role alongside Ncuti Gatwa's Fifteenth Doctor, she would "bite their hand off" to accept the opportunity.
In January 2023, she returned to the Royal Shakespeare Company for the first time since the early nineties in the role of Prospero in The Tempest.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2024, she played Sheila Bellowes opposite former Doctor Who co-star Karen Gillan in the ITV drama Douglas is Cancelled, also written by former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In August 2025, Kingston was announced as a contestant on the upcoming twenty-third series of Strictly Come Dancing,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with one of Strictly Come DancingTemplate:'s professional dancers, Johannes Radebe, becoming his 6th partner.
Personal life
Kingston met English actor Ralph Fiennes while they were both students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. They were together for ten years before marrying in 1993. In 1995, Fiennes began an affair with his Hamlet co-star Francesca Annis and left Kingston the following year. They divorced in 1997.<ref name=Sheldon>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In a 2006 interview, she admitted to considering and nearly attempting suicide after her separation from Fiennes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
At the end of 1998,<ref name="Sheldon"/> Kingston married Florian Haertel, a German writer and freelance journalist, having met him the previous year on a blind date arranged by friends.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They had a daughter, Salome Violetta Haertel, born 28 March 2001.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Kingston and Haertel separated in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October 2009, Haertel sued Kingston for dissolution of the marriage. In 2013, the divorce was finalised.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In September 2012, Kingston appeared on the BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, investigating the lives of her great-grandfather Will Keevil and her four-times great-grandmother, Elizabeth Braham.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In 2015, Kingston married Jonathan Stamp, a television producer, in an Italian ceremony.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Kingston has lived in the United States and moved back to the UK in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite interview</ref> <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2025 Kingston revealed that she had been diagnosed and successfully treated for womb cancer in 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | The Wildcats of St. Trinian's | Schoolgirl | Uncredited |
| 1989 | The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover | Adele | |
| 1994 | A Pin for the Butterfly | Mrs. Solomon | |
| 1995 | Carrington | Frances Partridge | |
| 1996 | Saint-Ex | Chic Party Guest | |
| 1998 | Croupier | Jani de Villiers | |
| 1999 | This Space Between Us | Peternelle | |
| 2000 | Essex Boys | Lisa Locke | |
| 2005 | Sweet Land | Brownie | |
| 2005 | The Poseidon Adventure | Suzanne Harrison | |
| 2006 | Alpha Dog | Tiffany Hartunian | |
| 2007 | Crashing | Diane Freed | |
| 2009 | Sordid Things | Eve Manchester | |
| 2011 | Like Crazy | Jackie | |
| Ghost Phone: Phone Calls from the Dead | Sheila | ||
| 2013 | Bukowski | Katharina Bukowski | Unreleased |
| 2016 | Happily Ever After | Ria | |
| 2018 | Deadpan | Tamara | Short film |
| 2024 | The Killer's Game | Sharon Rabinowitz |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Grange Hill | Jill Harcourt | 3 episodes |
| 1986 | Henry's Leg | Noreen | Miniseries |
| 1987 | A Killing on the Exchange | Ellen | Miniseries |
| 1988–1995 | The Bill | Dr. Howard / Lisa / Maggie Fisher | 4 episodes |
| 1989 | Hannay | Kirsten Larssen | Episode: "The Terrors of the Earth" |
| The Play on One | Daniella | Episode: "These Foolish Things" | |
| 1992 | Covington Cross | Helen | Episode: "Cedric Hits the Road" |
| 1993 | Foreign Affairs | Actress | TV film |
| Soldier Soldier | Ursula Kröhling | Episode: "Camouflage" | |
| 1994 | Woman of the Wolf | Woman (voice) | TV film |
| Crocodile Shoes | Caroline Carrison | 5 episodes | |
| 1995 | The Infiltrator | Anna | TV film |
| 1996 | The Knock | Katherine Roberts | 13 episodes |
| Last of the Czars | Alexandra (voice) | 3 episodes | |
| The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders | Moll Flanders | Miniseries | |
| 1997 | Weapons of Mass Distraction | Verity Graham | TV film |
| 1997–2009 | ER | Dr. Elizabeth Corday | 160 episodes |
| 2003 | Boudica | Boudica | TV film; a.k.a. Warrior Queen |
| 2005 | The Poseidon Adventure | Suzanne Harrison | TV film |
| Without a Trace | Lucy Costin | Episode: "Viuda Negra" | |
| 2008 | Freezing | Serena Wilson | Episode #1.3 |
| Lost in Austen | Mrs. Bennet | Miniseries | |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Patricia Alwick | Episode: "Art Imitates Life" | |
| 2008, 2010–2013, 2015 | Doctor Who | River Song | 15 episodes<ref name="2015DoctorWhoChristmas">Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2009 | Hope Springs | Ellie Lagden | 8 episodes |
| 2009–2010 | FlashForward | Fiona Banks | 3 episodes |
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Miranda Pond | 4 episodes | |
| 2010 | Ben Hur | Ruth | Miniseries |
| 2011 | Private Practice | Dr. Marla Thomkins | 2 episodes |
| Marchlands | Helen Maynard | Miniseries | |
| 2012 | Upstairs Downstairs | Dr. Blanche Mottershead | 5 episodes |
| Who Do You Think You Are? | Herself | Episode: "Alex Kingston" | |
| NCIS | Miranda Pennebaker | Episode: "Gone" | |
| 2013–2016 | Arrow | Dinah Lance | 7 episodes |
| 2014 | Chasing Shadows | Ruth Hattersley | Miniseries<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2015 | American Odyssey | Jennifer Wachtel | 2 episodes |
| 2016, 2021 | Blue Bloods | Commander Sloane Thompson | 2 episodes |
| 2016 | Transformers: Rescue Bots | Quickshadow (voice) | 5 episodes |
| Shoot the Messenger | Mary Foster | 8 episodes | |
| Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life | Naomi Shropshire | Miniseries | |
| Crushed | Cricket Stella | Unaired Hulu pilot<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 2017 | Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero | Vlurgen (voice) | Episode: "Mr. Rippen" |
| 2018–2022 | A Discovery of Witches | Sarah Bishop | 20 episodes |
| 2019 | The Widow | Judith Gray | 8 episodes |
| 2022 | Dodger | Lucifer | 2 episodes |
| Treason | Audrey Gratz | 5 episodes<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| 2024 | Douglas Is Cancelled | Sheila | Main role |
| 2025 | The Chelsea Detective | Ambassador Emily Morgan | Episode: "Deadlock" |
| 2025 | Strictly Come Dancing | Herself | Contestant; Series 23 |
Radio
| Year | Title | Role | Production | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Père Goriot | Delphine / Victorine | BBC Radio 4 | Four-part dramatisation |
| 1994 | John Dollar | Charlotte | BBC Radio 3 | Self-adapted by author Marianne Wiggins |
| 2006 | Rebecca | Narrator | BBC Radio 2 | Abridged eight-part version |
| 2007 | Murder She Thought | BBC Radio 4 | Story: "Dear George" by Cathy Ace | |
| 2014 | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra | BBC Radio 3 | Two-and-a-half-hour adaptation starring Kenneth Branagh |
| 2021 | Nuremberg | Template:Interlanguage link | BBC Radio 4 | Story: "He Pointed to the Sky" by Jonathan Myerson |
Audio
| Year | Title | Role | Production | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Mary Stuart | Mary Stuart | L.A. Theatre Works | Recorded before an audience at the Skirball Cultural Center |
| 2010 | Tartuffe | Elmire | Recorded at The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood | |
| 2012 | The Angel's Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery | Narrator | AudioGO | |
| 2015–2023 | The Diary of River Song | River Song | Big Finish Productions | Series 1–12 |
| 2016 | Five Short Stories by Women | Narrator | L.A. Theatre Works | Story: "Once Upon a Time" |
| 2016–2017 | Doom Coalition | River Song | Big Finish Productions | 5 stories |
| 2017 | Seven | Inez McCormack | L.A. Theatre Works | Recorded before an audience at the James Bridges Theater |
| 2020 | Peter Pan | Narrator | Penguin Audio | |
| 2019 | The Eighth of March | River Song | Big Finish Productions | Story: "Emancipation" |
| Ravenous | Story: "Companion Piece" | |||
| UNIT: The New Series | Story: "The Power of River Song" | |||
| Transference | Sam Ross | Non-Doctor Who eight-part psychological thriller | ||
| The Legacy of Time | River Song | Story: "Lies in Ruins" | ||
| The Other Queen | Narrator | Simon & Schuster Audio | ||
| 2020 | The Lives of Captain Jack | River Song | Big Finish Productions | Story: "R&J" |
| Arkham County | Henrietta | Audible | Original seven-hour drama with Stanley Tucci in the lead role | |
| The Tenth Doctor and River Song | River Song | Big Finish Productions | 3 stories | |
| 2021 | A Narrow Door | Narrator | Orion Books | |
| Doctor Who: The Ruby's Curse | AudioGO | Also writer | ||
| Dalek Universe | River Song | Big Finish Productions | Story: "The First Son" | |
| 2022 | Peladon | Story: "The Poison of Peladon" | ||
| Marple: Twelve New Mysteries | Narrator | HarperAudio | Story: "Evil in Small Places" |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock | River Song (voice) |
Stage work
Awards and nominations
Bibliography
Novels
References
External links
- 1963 births
- Living people
- 20th-century English actresses
- 21st-century English actresses
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
- English expatriate actresses in the United States
- English Shakespearean actresses
- English film actresses
- English people of German descent
- English people of Jewish descent
- English stage actresses
- English television actresses
- English video game actresses
- English voice actresses
- National Youth Theatre members
- Actresses from Epsom
- Royal Shakespeare Company members
- Audiobook narrators