Jennifer Ehle

The attractive, strawberry blonde daughter of novelist John Ehle and actress Rosemary Harris, North Carolina-born Jennifer Ehle shuttled between the USA and the UK (following her mother's frequent career moves) before making her acting debut as the tempestuous Calypso in the British TV drama, "The Chamomile Lawn" (1992), directed by Sir Peter Hall. She followed that quickly with an appearance on American TV as the Empress Zita in the "Austria, March 1917" episode of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" (ABC, 1992). Her first movie role came in the small part of Cynthia Powell (John Lennon's first wife) in "Backbeat" (1993). But Ehle attracted major critical and audience attention as well as a BAFTA Award as Best Television Actress for her intelligent rendering of Elizabeth Bennet in "Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice'" (BBC, 1995), which aired in the USA on A&E.

Ehle landed her first substantial supporting feature role in Bruce Beresford's ensemble historical drama "Paradise Road" (1997), co-starring with Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Cate Blanchett and Julianna Margulies as a female prisoner of war during WWII. She garnered further attention for her moving portrayal of Oscar Wilde's wife Constance opposite Stephen Fry in "Wilde" (1997). Ehle shone as the headstrong Valerie, who formed the center of Istvan Szabo's epic "Sunshine" (1999; released in USA in 2000), a role she shared with her mother (who assumed the part in the later scenes when the character was aged). She has also acted in several "Alan Bleasedale Presents" on British television including "A Casual Affair" (1995), as the slain wife of an army officer and more recently in the mystery thriller "Melissa" (1997). On stage, Ehle has performed in a West End production of "Tartuffe" and as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company in such roles as Lady Anne in "Richard III", Amanda in "The Relapse" and Sarafina in "The Painter of Dishonour" and won a 2000 Tony Award for her role as an actress who falls in love with a playwright in the revival of Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing".