Rosamund Pike
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike<ref name=Brady>Template:Cite news</ref> (born 1979)Template:Efn is an English actress and producer. Known for her portrayals of complex and morally ambiguous women in psychological thrillers,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> her accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and two British Academy Awards.
A graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, Pike drew early recognition from her work in stage productions, including Romeo and Juliet at the National Youth Theatre, before her professional debut as Bond girl Miranda Frost in Die Another Day (2002). Supporting roles in the period dramas Pride & Prejudice (2005), An Education (2009) and Made in Dagenham (2010) were followed by further mainstream film credits including Johnny English Reborn (2011), Wrath of the Titans (2012), Jack Reacher (2012) and The World's End (2013). For her portrayal of Amy Dunne in the psychological thriller Gone Girl (2014), Pike earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Pike's career further progressed with her portrayals of Ruth Williams Khama in the biopic A United Kingdom (2016) and Marie Colvin in the war film A Private War (2018), and she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her leading role in the black comedy I Care a Lot (2020). During this period, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress for her role in the comedy miniseries State of the Union (2019). After starring as Moiraine Damodred in the Amazon Prime Video fantasy series The Wheel of Time, she received renewed acclaim and awards nominations for her performance in the satirical thriller Saltburn (2023). For producing the Netflix science fiction series 3 Body Problem (2024), Pike earned a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. In 2025, she returned to the stage for the first time in 15 years with her performance in the Royal National Theatre production Inter Alia.
Early life and education
Pike was born in 1979 in Hammersmith, London,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the only child of opera singers Julian Pike and Caroline Friend.<ref name=Brady/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She attended Badminton School in Bristol. While appearing as Juliet in a production of Romeo and Juliet at the National Youth Theatre, she was scouted by an agent, Dallas Smith ("the most genuine and long-lasting relationship in my professional life"),<ref name="harpersbazaar/rosamund-cover-interview"/> who helped her embark upon a professional career. After being turned down by every stage school to which she applied, she gained a place to read English literature at Wadham College, Oxford. She graduated with an upper second-class honours degree in 2001, having taken a year off to pursue her acting career, gaining stage experience in David Hare's Skylight, Arthur Miller's All My Sons, and several plays by William Shakespeare.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Career
1998–2013: Early roles and breakthrough
While she was still at Oxford, Pike acted in and directed various plays, including one by Simon Chesterman who was then a graduate student.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She made appearances on British television shows, including A Rather English Marriage (1998),<ref name="Rosamund"/> Wives and Daughters (1999) and the miniseries Love in a Cold Climate (2001). She appeared as Sarah Beaumont in an episode of the series Foyle's War. After graduating, she was offered a role as a Bond girl and MI6 agent assigned to aid James Bond in Die Another Day, and appeared in the show Bond Girls Are Forever and, shortly afterwards, the BAFTA tribute to the James Bond film series. She was the first Bond girl to have attended Oxford.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Pike played Elizabeth Malet in The Libertine (2004), co-starring Johnny Depp,<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref> which won her the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the same year, she portrayed Rose in Promised Land, a film about Israel,<ref name="Rosamund">Template:Cite web</ref> and starred as scientist Samantha Grimm in film Doom, based upon the Doom video game series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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In 2005, she appeared as Jane, the elder sister of Elizabeth (played by Keira Knightley), in Pride & Prejudice. Pike starred in the film adaptation of Anne Michaels' novel Fugitive Pieces. She starred as a successful attorney in the film Fracture, opposite Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Pike was a judge at the Costa Book Awards in 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her stage credits include Hitchcock Blonde by Terry Johnson and Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, both in London's West End, and Gas Light at London's Old Vic Theatre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2009, she played the title character in Madame De Sade during the Donmar's West End season.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2010, she appeared in the British film Made in Dagenham and in the Canadian film Barney's Version in which she plays Miriam. That same year, she starred in a production of Hedda Gabler on a UK tour. Pike recorded voicework for a lead role in the film Jackboots on Whitehall (2010) and lent her voice to a series of James Bond audio books, narrating The Spy Who Loved Me.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also in 2010, Pike voiced the character Pussy Galore in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Fleming's Goldfinger. In 2011, she played the character Kate Sumner in the Bond spoof film Johnny English Reborn, playing a psychologist and English's love interest. The film is a sequel to the 2003 film Johnny English.
In 2012, she played the role of Queen Andromeda in the fantasy epic Wrath of the Titans. She replaced Alexa Davalos, who had played the role in Clash of the Titans and had dropped out due to a scheduling conflict.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Taking the role in Wrath of the Titans meant she had to drop out of consideration for a role in Man of Steel.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Although the film was not well received by critics, it grossed over $300 million and critics considered her performance to be one of the film's highlights.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She starred as Helen Rodin, the female lead alongside Tom Cruise in the thriller Jack Reacher, an adaptation of the novel One Shot by Lee Child. The film opened to positive critical reception and grossed over $218 million.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following year she had a supporting role in The World's End (2013).
2014–present: Gone Girl and other roles
Pike starred in the David Fincher-directed psychological thriller Gone Girl (2014), a film adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel of the same name.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Playing opposite Ben Affleck, Pike was cast as Amy Dunne, a woman who goes missing on her fifth wedding anniversary. According to Fincher, Pike was his first choice for the role because he wanted someone who was not widely known, Pike having not appeared in any major leading role prior to the film's commencement, and because he found her enigmatic and could not easily read her.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The film was a box office hit, earning over $356 million in global ticket sales.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The movie premiered at the 52nd New York Film Festival where the film and Pike's performance both earned widespread acclaim from critics.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair wrote that the film is "Smartly shot, detailed ... and performed" and called Pike's portrayal "a star-makingly good performance, spellbinding in its operatic mix of tones and temperatures."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said that she "is powerful and commanding ... Physically and emotionally, Pike looks to have immersed herself in this profoundly calculating character, and the results are impressive." For her performance, she received numerous nominations including the Academy Award for Best Actress, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role.
From 2015, she voiced Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in the remake of Thunderbirds Are Go produced by ITV in conjunction with Weta Workshop. In February 2016, she starred in the music video for "Voodoo in My Blood" by Massive Attack, directly inspired by the subway scene with Isabelle Adjani in the film Possession (1981) directed by Andrzej Żuławski.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2017, she took the role of The Woman in the short film The Human Voice, written and directed by Patrick Kennedy and based on the play La voix humaine by Jean Cocteau, for which she won Best Actress at the Oxford International Film Festival.
In 2018, Pike was cast as war correspondent Marie Colvin in A Private War, directed by Matthew Heineman and based on "Marie Colvin's Private War", a Vanity Fair article by Marie Brenner. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. In 2019, she was cast in the role of Moiraine in Amazon Prime Video's adaptation of Robert Jordan's fantasy epic The Wheel of Time,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which was released in November 2021. Her other films include the thriller The Informer and the biopic Radioactive; in the latter, she played Marie Curie.
In 2021, Pike starred as con artist Marla Grayson in the crime thriller I Care a Lot, directed by J Blakeson and co-starring Peter Dinklage, Eiza González and Dianne Wiest. Her performance received universal acclaim; David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter said "Pike brings crisp efficiency and dead-eyed amorality to a legal conservator",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and ABC News journalist Peter Travers wrote that "Pike makes a feast of the role".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At the 78th Golden Globe Awards, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2021, Pike starred in and executive produced the eight episode historical fiction podcast Edith!. The scripted podcast dramatises a period during the Woodrow Wilson presidency when Wilson was incapacitated by a stroke and First Lady Edith Wilson took the reins of power while he recovered. Clark Gregg plays the role of President Wilson and Esther Povitsky portrays Trudy Grayson, the First Lady's best friend.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021, Pike narrated the audiobook of Paula Hawkins' novel, A Slow Fire Burning. She also voiced an audiobook of The Eye of the World, the first book in the Wheel of Time series. In July 2022 it was announced that she would also voice audiobook versions of The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn.<ref name= "Wheel of Time audiobooks">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2022, it was announced that Pike would star in Emerald Fennell's second feature film, Saltburn.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Pike is an executive producer on the Netflix series 3 Body Problem based on the novel The Three-Body Problem.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In November 2023 Pike began filming on Hallow Road<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> by Babak Anvari. In April 2024 it was revealed Pike had joined the cast of In the Grey<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> by Guy Ritchie. In May 2024 it was announced Pike had joined the cast of Now You See Me: Now You Don't.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In September 2024 it was announced Pike would star as the lead in the Netflix series Thumblite,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> centred on Silicon Valley. In October Pike was cast alongside Sacha Baron Cohen in the Netflix film Ladies First<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> by Thea Sharrock. Pike made her Royal National Theatre debut in summer 2025 in the play Inter Alia by Suzie Miller.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
Relationships
While at Oxford, Pike was in a relationship for two years with Simon Woods.<ref name=guardian20090524>Template:Cite news</ref> They later played the lovers Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley in Pride & Prejudice. She then became engaged to the director of that production, Joe Wright; their engagement ended in 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Since December 2009, Pike has been in a relationship with businessman Robie Uniacke, 18 years older.<ref name="praguemorning/rosamund"/> In 2015, when they visited China to promote Gone Girl, Pike mentioned that Uniacke had given her a Chinese name Template:Lang (traditional Chinese: 裴淳華, Template:Lang-zh, IPA: Template:IPAc-cmn),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and, that, being admirers of Chinese culture, they would like the media to use this as her Chinese name rather than using the transliteration of her English name.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The couple have two sons, who are both fluent in Mandarin.<ref>In a webcast from Prague, on the Graham Norton Show (BBC1), first broadcast on 19 February 2021, Pike noted that her sons both speak Mandarin fluently.</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Uniacke, Pike and their two sons have relocated to Prague for the duration of filming of The Wheel of Time TV series,<ref name="praguemorning/rosamund">Template:Cite news</ref> returning to London during off-work time.<ref name="harpersbazaar/rosamund-cover-interview">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Hogan-2023">Template:Cite news</ref>
Activism
In 2015, Pike signed an open letter for which the ONE Campaign had been collecting signatures; the letter was addressed to Angela Merkel and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women, as they would serve as the head of the Group of Seven (G7) and the African Union (AU), respectively, which would start to set the priorities for development funding in preparation for a United Nations (UN) summit in September 2015, which was intended to establish new development goals for the next generation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2021, Pike invested in and served as creative director for the psychedelic-inspired meditation app Lumenate, which purports to guide the user into an altered state of consciousness with flashing lights.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Also in 2021, Pike became the first ambassador for Mines Advisory Group, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning NGO that assists people affected by landmines, unexploded ordnance and small arms and light weapons.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Primary source inline
In a 2023 interview with The Guardian, Pike expressed a belief that "we're all being conned by the wellness industry" and "this idea that it's no longer enough to be healthy and we have to be 'well' is something that needs to be interrogated". She said "it's so seductive because it's in pursuit of things that people are ashamed to want" and called it "really dangerous".<ref name="Hogan-2023"/>
Acting credits
Film
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Template:Sortname | Celia | Television film |
| 1999 | Wives and Daughters | Lady Harriet Cumnor | 3 episodes |
| 2000 | Trial & Retribution | Lucy | Episode: "Trial and Retribution IV (Part 1)" |
| 2001 | Love in a Cold Climate | Fanny | 2 episodes |
| 2002 | Bond Girls Are Forever | Herself | Documentary |
| Foyle's War | Sarah Beaumont | Episode: "The German Woman" | |
| 2008 | The Tower | Olivia Wynn | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2009 | Freefall | Anna | Television film |
| 2011 | Women in Love | Gudrun Brangwen | 2 episodes |
| 2015–2020 | Thunderbirds Are Go | Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward / Captain Ridley O'Bannon (voices) |
39 episodes<ref name=parker>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |
| 2018 | Watership Down | The Black Rabbit of Inlé (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | State of the Union | Louise | 10 episodes |
| 2019–2024 | Moominvalley | Moominmamma (voice) | Main cast |
| 2019–2021 | Archibald's Next Big Thing | Narrator (voice) | |
| 2020 | Thomas & Friends<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Duchess (voice) | Episode: "Thomas and the Royal Engine" |
| The Windsors: A Royal Dynasty | Narrator (voice) | 2 episodes<ref>Template:Citation</ref> | |
| 2021–2025 | The Wheel of Time | Moiraine Damodred | Main cast; also producer |
| 2024 | 3 Body Problem | Template:Mdash | Executive producer only |
Stage
| Year | Title | Role | Theatre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Hitchcock Blonde | The Blonde | Royal Court Theatre |
| 2006 | Summer and Smoke | Alma Winemiller | Nottingham Playhouse |
| 2007 | Gas Light | Bella Manningham | The Old Vic, London (2007) |
| 2009 | Madame de Sade | Madame de Sade | Wyndham's Theatre |
| 2010 | Hedda Gabler | Hedda Gabler | |
| 2025 | Inter Alia | Jessica Parks | Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre (23 July - 13 September 2025)
Wyndham's Theatre, West End (19 March – 20 June 2026) |
Music videos
| Year | Artist | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Massive Attack feat. Young Fathers | Voodoo in My Blood |
Podcasts
| Year | Podcast | Episode | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Edith! | All Episodes | First Lady Edith Wilson | Main role; also executive producer<ref>Template:Citation</ref> |
| 2023 | People Who Knew Me | All Episodes<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Connie Prynne/Emily Morris | |
| Mother, Neighbor, Russian Spy | All Episodes<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Narrator |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Evidence 111<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Mrs. Keswille (voice) | English version of a Czech video game |
Audiobooks
- Restless (novel) (2007) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN
- The Magician's Apprentice (Abridged) (2009) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN
- The Bolter (2009) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN
- The Spy Who Loved Me (novel) (Unabridged) (2014) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN
- The Hours (novel) A BBC Radio 4 Full-cast Dramatisation (Abridged) (2018) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN
- Pride and Prejudice (Unabridged) (2015) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Sense and Sensibility (Unabridged) (2018) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- A Slow Fire Burning (2021) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Eye of the World (Unabridged) (2021) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN
- The Great Hunt (Unabridged) (2022) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN
- Origins of The Wheel of Time: The Legends and Mythologies that Inspired Robert Jordan (2021) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN
- The Dragon Reborn (Unabridged) (2023) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN<ref name="Wheel of Time audiobooks" />
- The Shadow Rising (Unabridged) (2024) Template:ISBN Template:ASIN<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Accolades
See also
- List of British actors
- List of Academy Award winners and nominees from Great Britain
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of Primetime Emmy Award winners
- List of Golden Globe winners
Notes
References
External links
- 1979 births
- 20th-century British actresses
- 21st-century British actresses
- Actors from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
- Actresses from London
- Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford
- Audiobook narrators
- Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
- English film actresses
- English radio actresses
- English Shakespearean actresses
- English stage actresses
- English television actresses
- English voice actresses
- Living people
- National Youth Theatre members
- People educated at Badminton School
- People from Hammersmith
- Primetime Emmy Award winners
- WFTV Award winners