Early life

Evans, the daughter of educators and the granddaughter of a coal miner, was born in New Jersey to British parents, David and Janet Evans. She was raised in Bristol, England, along with her two British-born brothers, Anthony and Philip. She graduated from University College London with a 2:1 in French and Italian.

Career

After graduation, she moved to Paris' Cours Florent. She gained work in French television, with her breakthrough role as French student Susan in the popular French sitcom, Elisa Top Modele, which ran for 18 months. Next, she went to Italy to play "Nathalie", in the 1998 Italian mini-series Le ragazze di Piazza di Spagna. Her first English-speaking role was in the Highlander episode 'Patient Number 7'. After making her first film, Monsieur Naphtali (1999), Oscar-winning director Claude Lelouch cast Evans as Macha in Une pour toutes (1999), alongside Sami Naceri and Anne Parillaud.

In 1999, Disney cast Evans alongside Glenn Close, Gérard Depardieu and her future husband, Ioan Gruffudd, in 102 Dalmatians. Her mother died at age 59, the day before Evans's final screen test for the role, which introduced her to British viewers.

After appearing in Blackball, she moved to Los Angeles in 2003. She has since appeared in both television and film, such as The Mentalist, Brothers & Sisters, Lost, Grimm, and a turn as the villainous Esther on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals.

Personal life

Evans first met actor Ioan Gruffudd during the filming of 102 Dalmatians, while she was in her eight-year relationship with Olivier Widmaier Picasso, a grandson of painter Pablo Picasso. She lived with Picasso in Paris, and they became engaged but later broke up.

Gruffudd stated on the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that she and Evans became engaged on New Year's Day 2006 after Evans gave him an ultimatum, declaring that after 7 years together she wasn't going to hang around any longer unless she was his wife. They married on 14 September 2007 in Mexico. The couple resides in Los Angeles, California and has two children.

Select filmography

• Liars All (2012) .... Sandra
• Dangerous Parking (2007) .... Etta
• Hollywood Dreams (2006) .... Vida
• The Christmas Card (2006) .... Faith Spelman
• Fascination (2004) .... Kelly Vance
• Blackball (2003) .... Kerry Speight
• The Abduction Club (2002) .... Catherine Kennedy
• Ma femme s'appelle Maurice (2001) .... Emmanuelle
• 102 Dalmatians (2000) .... Chloe Simon
• Une pour toutes (1999) .... Macha Desachy

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014-15	The Originals	Esther	3 episodes
2012	Grimm	Mia Gaudot
2011-12	The Vampire Diaries	Esther	6 episodes
2009	Lost	Younger Eloise Hawking
2006	The Christmas Card	Faith Spelman
2003	CSI: Miami	Leslie Warner
2001	Best of Both Worlds	Diane Sullivan
1998	Au cœur de la loi	Muriel Highsmith	Episode: "En vert et contre tous"
1998	H	Sabri's Girlfriend	Episode: "Une belle maman"
1998	Le Ragazze di Piazza di Spagna	Nathalie
1997	Highlander: The Series	Kyra	Episode: "Patient Number 7"
1996	Elisa top modèle	aka Elisa
1996	Strangers	Charlotte	Episode: "Crash"

Other Media

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	MegaRace 2 - Videogame	Co-host of the racing show MegaRace 2; her name was different each time it was mentioned.

Charities

Alice Evans supports the following charitable cause: AIDS.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]