Olivia Haigh Williams is an English film, stage and television actress who has appeared
in British and American films and television series.
Early life Williams was born in Camden Town, London.
Both of her parents are barristers.
Williams was educated at South Hampstead High School, an independent school for girls in
Hampstead in North London, followed by Newnham College at the University of Cambridge, from
which she graduated with a degree in English literature.
She then studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years and spent
three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Career After graduation, Williams worked with the
Royal Shakespeare Company in both Stratford-upon-Avon and London.
In 1995, she 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, based on Jane Austen's 1816 novel.
Williams made her film debut in 1997's The Postman, after doing a screen test for Kevin
Costner.
She later won the lead role of Rosemary Cross in Wes Anderson's Rushmore.
She then starred as Bruce Willis' wife in the blockbuster The Sixth Sense, a film she
would later parody during her brief appearance in the British sitcom Spaced.
Since then, Williams has appeared in several British films, including Lucky Break, The
Heart of Me, for which she won the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress, and
An Education.
She played Mrs. Darling in the 2003 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 and was cast
as Adelle DeWitt in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, which ran on Fox from 2009 to 2010.
In 2010, she won acclaim for her performance as Ruth Lang in Roman Polanski's The Ghost
Writer, winning the National Society of Film Critics Award, London Critics Circle Film
Award for best supporting actress and was runner-up for best supporting actress at the
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2010.
In Hanna, she played Rachel, a bohemian mother travelling across North Africa and Europe,
who comes into contact with the eponymous teen assassin, who is on the run.
The film starred Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, and was a critical and
sleeper hit.
In July 2013, Williams joined the production of David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, which
is described as a dark comic look at Hollywood excess.
In 2000, Williams wrote the short story "The Significance Of Hair" for BBC Radio, and read
it on the air.
Personal life Williams had a seven-year relationship and
then engagement to the actor Jonathan Cake which ended two weeks before their planned
wedding.
In 2003, she married the actor and playwright Rhashan Stone, with whom she has two daughters.
After filming The Postman, she spent time in Bolivia studying spectacled bears in the
rainforest.
Since 2006, she has written occasional travel reports for the "Independent Traveller" section
of the British newspaper The Independent on Sunday.
Selected works
Film Television
Theatre Awards and nominations
2001 – Lucky Break Nominated — Empire Award for Best Actress
2002 – The Heart of Me Won – British Independent Film Award for
Best Actress 2009 – An Education
Nominated — London Film Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actress of the YearNominated
— Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2010 – The Ghost Writer Won – London Film Critics Circle Award for
British Supporting Actress of the YearWon – National Society of Film Critics Award
for Best Supporting ActressNominated — Empire Award for Best ActressNominated — Los Angeles
Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
Notes
Further reading "My Story - Olivia Williams".
London: The Independent on Sunday.
1998-09-06.
"Getting personal with Olivia Williams".
London: The Guardian.
1999-08-17.
Matheou, Demetrios.
"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".
London: The Guardian.
Brett, Anwar.
"Olivia Williams: The Heart of Me".
bbc.co.uk.
Tennant, Laura.
"Olivia Williams: Growing up in public".
London: The Independent.
External links Olivia Williams at the Internet Movie Database