Jennifer Ehle

Jennifer Anne Ehle (Template:IPAc-en; born December 29, 1969)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is an American and British actress. The daughter of writer John Ehle and English actress Rosemary Harris, Ehle started her career acting on stage in the United Kingdom, with the Edinburgh Festival, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the National Theatre. She earned a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play and a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing. She reunited with Stoppard acting in his play The Coast of Utopia (2007), earning a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She appeared on Broadway in the J.T. Rogers play Oslo, earning a second Tony nomination for Best Actress.

Ehle is also known for her film performances, including The King's Speech (2010), Contagion (2011), Zero Dark Thirty (2012), A Little Chaos (2014), Fifty Shades of Grey (2015), Little Men (2016), Fifty Shades Darker (2017), Fifty Shades Freed (2018), Saint Maud (2019) and She Said (2022). She has also appeared in various television programs, including NBC's The Blacklist (2014–2015), the Hulu limited series The Looming Tower (2016), the Showtime miniseries The Comey Rule (2020), and the CBS legal drama The Good Fight (2022). She received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice (1995). She starred in the 2023 Amazon Prime miniseries Dead Ringers.<ref name="Dead Ringers">Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life and education

Ehle was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. Her ancestry includes Romanian (from a maternal great-grandmother) and, paternally, German and English.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="harris1">Rosemary Harris and the Picture: Madonna of the Slaughtered Jews. Nmia.com. Retrieved on February 8, 2013. Template:Webarchive</ref>

Ehle appeared as a toddler in a 1973 Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, in which her mother played Blanche DuBois.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She spent her childhood in the UK and the US, attending several schools, including Interlochen Arts Academy. She was mainly raised in Asheville, North Carolina. Her drama training was split between the North Carolina School of the Arts<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

1990s

Ehle made her professional debut as Calypso in The Camomile Lawn (released in 1992), a television adaptation of Mary Wesley's book of the same name, in which she and her mother played the same character at different ages.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The director, Peter Hall, then cast her as Elmire in his 1991 production of Tartuffe, for which she won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards.<ref>http://www.geocities.ws.dwan_y/tartuffe.htmlTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref name=lees />

One of Ehle's first notable roles was as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice co-starring Colin Firth, for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. The same year, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and gained her first major feature film role in Paradise Road (1997).<ref name="TheAge">Template:Cite news</ref> She also appeared in supporting roles in Brian Gilbert's Wilde (1997) and István Szabó's Sunshine (1999).

2000s

In 2000, Ehle made her Broadway debut as Annie in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, winning the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> That following year, Ehle appeared again on Broadway in the revival of Noël Coward's Design for Living co-starring with Dominic West and Alan Cumming.<ref name="ibdb.com">Template:Cite web</ref>

After a hiatus, Ehle returned to the London stage in 2005 in The Philadelphia Story at the Old Vic opposite Kevin Spacey. The following year, she played Lady Macbeth in Macbeth with Liev Schreiber, as part of the Shakespeare in the Park.<ref name="ibdb.com"/>

Ehle returned to Broadway portraying three characters in Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia triptych, which ran from October 2006 until May 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ehle starred alongside Billy Crudup, Martha Plimpton, and Ethan Hawke. Theatre critic Ben Brantley of The New York Times praised her performance as "memorable".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For her performance ,she received her second Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

In August 2009, it was announced that Ehle would play the character of Catelyn Stark in the pilot of HBO's Game of Thrones, an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy book series. Ehle filmed the pilot episode, but decided it was too soon to return to work after the birth of her daughter and she did not return to the production when HBO commissioned a full season. Northern Irish actress Michelle Fairley replaced her.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2010s

In 2010, Ehle starred alongside John Lithgow in the production of Mr. & Mrs. Fitch presented by Second Stage Theatre in New York City.<ref>"Tony Winners Lithgow and Ehle Are 'MR. & MRS. FITCH' For Second Stage Theatre" Template:Webarchive August 19, 2009, Broadway World</ref> Since 2010, Ehle has appeared in the films The King's Speech (where she reunited with her Pride and Prejudice co-star Colin Firth), Steven Soderbergh's Contagion (2011), George Clooney's The Ides of March (2011), Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty (2012), Alan Rickman's A Little Chaos (2015), Terence Davies's A Quiet Passion (2016), and Ira Sachs's Little Men (2016). She also appeared in the television series A Gifted Man (2011–2012).

In 2017, Ehle appeared on stage in Oslo, which won the Tony Award for Best Play. She was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for her work.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2018, she appeared in the Hulu limited series The Looming Tower as Ambassador Barbara Bodine. The series also starred Jeff Daniels, Bill Camp, Peter Sarsgaard, and Michael Stuhlbarg.

2020s

In 2020, Ehle reunited with Jeff Daniels in the limited series The Comey Rule which premiered on Showtime. Daniels and Ehle portrayed former FBI Director James Comey and his wife Patrice, respectively. In 2022 she also appeared in a variety of television projects including the Apple TV+ series Suspicion as Amy, the Showtime legal drama The Good Fight as Judge Ashley Burnett, and the Paramount+ western series 1923 as Sister Mary.

Also in 2022, Ehle received positive reviews for her supporting role in the MeToo investigative drama She Said, portraying Laura Madden. TIME film critic Stephanie Zacharek described her as "superb" and Justin Chang writing for NPR declared her performance "quietly heartbreaking".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She also returned to the stage as Gertrude in the Park Avenue Armory production of Hamlet in New York. Ehle received positive reviews as a last minute replacement for Lia Williams.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Ehle starred as Rebecca Parker in the 2023 thriller miniseries Dead Ringers. The series won a Peabody Award "for aptly packaging a bold adaptation of this twinned-body horror classic within the continued nightmarish world of women’s reproductive health care in the United States."<ref name="Dead Ringers"/>

In 2024, Ehle appeared in four episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime as Meredith Bonner, the Police Chief of Westbrook, Pennsylvania, who assists Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) with the search for a serial killer.

Personal life

Ehle was married to writer Michael Ryan from 2001<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref>to 2025.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They have two children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Acting credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Backbeat	Cynthia Powell
1997	Paradise Road	Rosemary Leighton-Jones
	Wilde	Constance Lloyd Wilde
1998	Bedrooms and Hallways	Sally
1999	Sunshine	Valerie Sonnenschein
	This Year's Love	Sophie
2002	Possession	Christabel LaMotte
2005	The River King	Betsy Chase
2006	Alpha Male	Alice Ferris
2008	Pride and Glory	Abby Tierney
	Before the Rains	Laura Moores
2009	The Greatest	Joan
2010	Template:Sortname	Myrtle Logue
2011	Template:Sortname	Cindy Morris
	Contagion	Ally Hextall
	Template:Sortname	Brooklyn Ice House Bartender
2012	Zero Dark Thirty	Jessica Karley
2014	RoboCop	Liz Kline
	Black or White	Carol Anderson
	The Forger	Kim Cutter
	A Little Chaos	Madame De Montespan
2015	Advantageous	Isa Cryer
	Fifty Shades of Grey	Carla Wilks
	Spooks: The Greater Good	Geraldine Maltby
2016	Little Men	Kathy Jardine
	The Fundamentals of Caring	Elsa
	A Quiet Passion	Vinnie Dickinson
2017	Fifty Shades Darker	Carla Wilks	Unrated edition only
	I Kill Giants	Mrs. Thorson
	Detroit	Morgue Doctor	Uncredited
	Wetlands	Kate Sheehan
2018	The Miseducation of Cameron Post	Dr. Lydia Marsh
	Monster	Maureen O'Brien
	Fifty Shades Freed	Carla Wilks
	Vox Lux	Josie the Publicist
	Take Point	Agent Mackenzie
2019	The Wolf Hour	Margot
	Run This Town	Judith
	The Professor and the Madman	Ada Murray
	Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies	Tina
	Saint Maud	Amanda Kohl
2021	John and the Hole	Anna Shay
2022	She Said	Laura Madden
2025	East of Wall	Tracey
	Our Hero, Balthazar
	In Transit	Ilse
TBA	Lone Wolf		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	The Camomile Lawn	Calypso	Miniseries, 5 episodes
	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	Zita of Austria	Episode: "Austria, March 1917"
1993	The Maitlands	Phyllis	BBC TV production
	Self Catering	'Meryl'	TV movie
	Rik Mayall Presents: Micky Love	Tamsin	Miniseries, 6 episodes
1995	Pride and Prejudice	Elizabeth Bennet	Miniseries, 6 episodes
1996	Beyond Reason	Penny McAllister	TV movie
1997	Melissa	Melissa	Miniseries, 5 episodes
2008	Template:Sortname	Lorraine Morrissey	TV movie
2011–12	Template:Sortname	Anna Paul	16 episodes
2013	Low Winter Sun	Susan	Episode: "Ann Arbor"
2014–15	The Blacklist	Madeline Pratt	2 episodes
2018	The Looming Tower	Ambassador Barbara Bodine	3 episodes
2020	The Comey Rule	Patrice Comey	Miniseries
2022	Suspicion	Amy	Episode: "Be the Gray Man"
	The Good Fight	Judge Ashley Burnett	Episode: "The End of Ginni"
2022–23	1923	Sister Mary	4 episodes
2023	Dead Ringers	Rebecca Parker	5 episodes
2023–24	Lioness	Mason	7 episodes
2024	Law & Order: Organized Crime	Chief Meredith Bonner	4 episodes
2026	The Vampire Lestat	Gabriella de Lioncourt	TBA

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Notes
1989	1959 Pink Thunderbird		Edinburgh Festival	<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
	Laundry and Bourbon			<ref name=":0" />
1991	Tartuffe	Elmire	Peter Hall Company	<ref name=":0" />
1992	Breaking the Code	Pat Green	Triumph Productions Tour	<ref name=":0" />
1995–96	Richard III	Lady Anne	Royal Shakespeare Company	<ref name=":0" />
	Painter of Dishonour	Serafina		<ref name=":0" />
	Template:Sortname	Amanda		<ref name=":0" />
1999	Template:Sortname	Annie	Donmar Warehouse	<ref name=":0" />
	Summerfolk	Varvara Mikhailovna	National Theatre	<ref name=":0" />
2000	Template:Sortname	Annie	Albery Theatre	<ref name=":0" />
			Barrymore Theatre	<ref name=":0" />
2001	Design for Living	Gilda	American Airlines Theater	<ref name=":0" />
2005	Template:Sortname	Tracy Lord	The Old Vic	<ref name=":0" />
2006	Macbeth	Lady Macbeth	Delacorte Theater	<ref name=":0" />
	Template:Sortname: Voyage	Liubov Bakunin	Vivian Beaumont Theater	<ref name=":0" />
	Template:Sortname: Shipwrecked	Natalie Herzen		<ref name=":0" />
2007	Template:Sortname: Salvage	Malwida von Meysenbug		<ref name=":0" />
2010	Mr. and Mrs. Fitch	Mrs. Fitch	Second Stage Theatre	<ref name=":0" />
2017	Oslo	Mona Juul	Vivian Beaumont Theater	<ref name=":0" />
2022	Hamlet	Gertrude	Park Avenue Armory	<ref name=":0" />

Awards and nominations

Tony Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
2000	Best Actress in a Play	The Real Thing	Template:Win
2007	Best Featured Actress in a Play	The Coast of Utopia	Template:Win
2017	Best Actress in a Play	Oslo	Template:Nom

BAFTA Awards

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
1996	Best Actress (TV)	Pride & Prejudice	Template:Won
1998	Best Supporting Actress (Film)	Wilde	Template:Nom

Screen Actors Guild Award

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
2010	Best Cast in a Motion Picture	The King's Speech	Template:Win

Laurence Olivier Award

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
2000	Best Actress	The Real Thing	Template:Nom

Outer Critics Circle Award

Year	Category	Nominated work	Result
2000	Best Actress – Play	The Real Thing	Template:Nom
2007	Best Featured Actress – Play	The Coast of Utopia	Template:Nom

Other award wins:

• 1991: Ian Charleson Award, Second Prize – as Orgon's wife in Tartuffe with the Peter Hall Company<ref name=lees>Lees, Caroline. "Classic recipes for success". Sunday Times. 9 February 1992</ref>
• 1992: Radio Times Award Best Newcomer – The Camomile Lawn (TV)
• 2000: Variety Club Award – The Real Thing (play)

Other award nominations:

• 2000: Genie Award nomination – Sunshine

See also

• List of American film actresses

External links

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