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Olivia Williams
Olivia Williams, September 2008
Born	Olivia Haigh Williams 26 July 1968 (1968-07-26) (age 41) Camden Town, London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present
Spouse(s)	Rhashan Stone (2003–present)

Olivia Haigh Williams (born 26 July 1968) is an English film, stage and television actress who has appeared in British and American films.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Selected works 3.1 Film 3.2 Television 3.3 Theatre 4 Personal life 5 Notes 6 Further reading 7 External links

Early life

Williams was born in Camden Town, London, England. Both her parents are barristers. She graduated from Newnham College, Cambridge with a degree in English literature, then studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years and spent three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company.¹

Career

After graduation, Williams worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in both Stratford-upon-Avon and London and in 1995 toured the United States in a production of Shakespeare's Richard III starring Ian McKellen. Her first significant appearance before the cameras was as Jane Fairfax in the British TV film Emma (1996), based on Jane Austen's 1816 novel.¹

Williams made her film debut in 1997's The Postman, after doing a screen test for Kevin Costner.¹ She later won the lead role of Rosemary Cross in Wes Anderson's Rushmore (1998).² She then starred as Bruce Willis' wife in the blockbuster The Sixth Sense (1999). Since then, Williams has appeared in several British films, including Lucky Break (2001) and The Heart of Me (2002), for which she won the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress. She also played Mrs. Darling in the latest film adaptation of Peter Pan. Williams was uncredited for her role as Dr. Moira MacTaggert in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand. On TV, Williams portrayed British author Jane Austen in Miss Austen Regrets (2008) and was cast as Adelle DeWitt in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, on Fox for the 2009-2010 season.³

In 2000 she wrote and read the short story The Significance Of Hair for BBC Radio.

Selected works

Film

Year	Film	Role	Awards and nominations
1997	Beck	Karen Quinn
	Gaston's War	Nicky
	The Postman	Abby
1998	Rushmore	Rosemary Cross
1999	The Sixth Sense	Anna Crowe
2000	Four Dogs Playing Poker	Audrey
	Born Romantic	Eleanor
	Dead Babies aka Mood Swingers	Diana
2001	The Body	Sharon Golban
	A Knight's Tale	Phillipa Chaucer	Uncredited
	Lucky Break	Annabel Sweep/Lady Hamilton in show	Best Actress, Empire Awards (2002) (nominated)
	The Man from Elysian Fields	Andrea
2002	The Heart of Me	Madeleine	Best Actress, British Independent Film Awards (2003)
	Below	Claire
2003	To Kill a King	Lady Anne Fairfax
	Peter Pan	Mrs. Darling
2005	Valiant	Victoria	voice
	Tara Road	Ria
	Mockingbird	Mother
2006	X-Men: The Last Stand	Moira MacTaggert	Uncredited
2008	Flashbacks of a Fool	Grace Scott
	Broken Lines	Zoe
2009	An Education	Miss Stubbs	Best British Supporting Actress of the Year, London Film Critics' Circle (Nominated)
2010	The Ghost	Ruth Lang
	Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll	Betty Dury

Television

Year(s) of appearance	Film or series	Role	Awards and nominations
1992 (1 episode)	Van der Valk (1972–1973, 1977, 1991–1992) "Still Waters"	Irene Kortman
1992 (1 episode)	The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987–2000) "The Speaker of Mandarin"	Jennifer Norris
1996	Emma	Jane Fairfax
1998 (2 episodes)	Friends (1994–2004) "The One with Ross's Wedding: Part 1" and "The One with Ross's Wedding: Part 2"	Felicity - one of the bridesmaids
2000	Jason and the Argonauts	Hera
2001 (1 episode)	Spaced (1999, 2001) "Help"	Knocked-down Cyclist
2004	Agatha Christie – A Life in Pictures	Agatha Christie
2006	Krakatoa – The Last Days	Johanna Beijerinck
2007	Damage	Michelle Cahill
2008	Miss Austen Regrets	Jane Austen
2009	Dollhouse	Adelle DeWitt

Theatre

Year(s) of appearance	Production	Role	Awards and nominations
1995	Richard III (c. 1591) by William Shakespeare
2003	Love's Labour's Lost (c. 1595–1596)4 by William Shakespeare Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London	The Princess
2003	The Hotel in Amsterdam (first performed 1968)5 by John Osborne Donmar Warehouse, London	Annie
2006	The Changeling (1653)6 by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley Cheek by Jowl production at the Barbican Centre, London	Beatrice-Joanna

Personal life

On 2 November 2003, Williams married American stage actor and playwright Rhashan Stone. The couple have two children, Esmé Ruby (born 6 April 2004) and Roxana May (born 7 April 2007).

Williams practises Bikram Yoga and rides a bicycle to sets when working on films. After filming The Postman, she spent time in Bolivia studying spectacled bears in the rainforest.⁷⁸ Since 2006, she has written occasional travel reports for the "Independent Traveller" section of the British newspaper The Independent on Sunday.

Notes

Further reading

• "Getting personal with Olivia Williams". The Guardian. 1999-08-17. http://film.guardian.co.uk/Feature_Story/feature_story/0,,74553,00.html. 
• Matheou, Demetrios (1999-08-20). "Olivia in La-La land : For years she was a jobbing actor in regional theatre. Then Olivia Williams got the call from Kevin Costner. She's never looked back". The Guardian. http://film.guardian.co.uk/Feature_Story/interview/0,,75019,00.html. 
• Brett, Anwar (2003-04-23). "Olivia Williams : The Heart of Me". bbc.co.uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2003/04/23/olivia_williams_the_heart_of_me_interview.shtml. 
• Tennant, Laura (2003-04-25). "Olivia Williams : Growing up in public". The Independent. http://arts.independent.co.uk/film/features/article116513.ece. 

External links

• Olivia Williams at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
NAME	Williams, Olivia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Williams, Olivia Haigh
SHORT DESCRIPTION	British film, stage and television actress
DATE OF BIRTH	26 July 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH	Camden Town, London, England, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH