Early life and education

Mortimer was born in Hammersmith, London, England, to Sir John Mortimer, QC (a lawyer and writer who created the TV series Rumpole of the Bailey), and his second wife, Penelope (née Gollop). She has a younger sister, Rosie; two older half-siblings, Sally Silverman and Jeremy, by her father's first marriage, to author Penelope Fletcher; and a half-brother, Ross Bentley, by her father's extramarital relationship with actress Wendy Craig.

Mortimer studied at St Paul's Girls' School in west London, where she appeared in several pupil productions. She then went on to Oxford University, where she read Russian at Lincoln College and performed in several plays. Before becoming an actress, Mortimer wrote a column for the Daily Telegraph, and was screenwriter for an adaptation of Lorna Sage's memoir, Bad Blood.

Career

Mortimer performed in several plays while studying at Oxford University, and while acting in a student production she was spotted by a producer who later cast her in the lead in a television adaptation of Dame Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin (1995). Subsequent television roles included Sharpe's Sword and Coming Home. She followed this with the 1996 television film, Lord of Misrule, directed by Guy Jenkin and filmed in Fowey, Cornwall.

Her first feature film role was opposite Val Kilmer in The Ghost and the Darkness, also in 1996. She appeared in the Irish coming-of-age story The Last of the High Kings, also released in 1996.

In 1998 she appeared as Kat Ashley in Elizabeth, and played Miss Flynn in the TV mini-series Cider with Rosie, which was adapted for television by her father. In 1999, she played three roles that raised her profile outside the UK: She was the "Perfect Girl" dropped by Hugh Grant in Notting Hill; Esther in the US TV mini-series Noah's Ark; and Angelina, the star of the film-within-a-film in Scream 3.

In 2000, Mortimer was cast as Katherine in Kenneth Branagh's musical adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost, where she met actor and future husband Alessandro Nivola. She took on her biggest role in an American film to date, playing opposite Bruce Willis in Disney's The Kid. In 2002, she had a major role in The 51st State (also known as Formula 51), starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle.

In 2003, Mortimer appeared in Stephen Fry's film Bright Young Things. In 2004, Mortimer played the female lead in the film Dear Frankie. In 2005, she played a major role as the oblivious spouse of Jonathan Rhys Meyers's adulterer in Woody Allen's Match Point, as well as voiced young Sophie in the English-dubbed version of Howl's Moving Castle. In 2007 she played a supporting role in Lars and the Real Girl as the supportive sister-in-law of Ryan Gosling's title character. She appeared in The Pink Panther in 2006 and in its 2009 sequel. In the last three episodes of the first season of 30 Rock, she played Phoebe, the mysterious love interest of Alec Baldwin's character, Jack Donaghy.

Mortimer played an aspiring actress opposite Andy García in City Island (2009) and as Rachel Solando in Martin Scorsese's 2010 film Shutter Island. She played Leonie Gilmour in Leonie, released in the autumn of 2010. In 2011, she had a role in Our Idiot Brother as Liz, the sister of Paul Rudd's character. In 2011, she also started work with the acclaimed screenwriter and producer Aaron Sorkin as Mackenzie McHale in HBO's The Newsroom. In January 2013 it was announced that Mortimer would be co-creating and starring in the comedy series Doll & Em for Sky Living, along with her longtime friend, actress and comedian Dolly Wells.

Personal life

In 2000, Mortimer met American actor Alessandro Nivola, while both were starring in Love's Labour's Lost. The couple married in the Chilterns, Buckinghamshire, on 3 January 2003. A Mexican punk band performed at their wedding. They have two children. Mortimer holds dual citizenship for both the U.S. and the U.K.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	The Ghost and the Darkness	Helana Patterson
1996	The Last of the High Kings	Romy Thomas
1997	The Saint	Woman on Plane
1998	Elizabeth	Kat Ashley
1998	Killing Joe		Short film
1999	Notting Hill	Will's "Perfect Girl"
2000	Scream 3	Angelina Tyler
2000	Love's Labour's Lost	Katherine
2000	The Miracle Maker	Mary of Nazareth	Voice role
2000	Disney's The Kid	Amy
2001	Lovely and Amazing	Elizabeth Marks
2001	The 51st State	Dakota Parker
2003	A Foreign Affair	Angela Beck
2003	Nobody Needs to Know	Emily
2003	The Sleeping Dictionary	Cecil
2003	Bright Young Things	Nina Blount
2003	Young Adam	Cathie Dimly
2004	Dear Frankie	Lizzie
2004	Howl's Moving Castle	Young Sophie (voice)	English dub
2005	Match Point	Chloe Hewett Wilton
2006	Paris, je t'aime	Frances	Segment: "Père-Lachaise"
2006	The Pink Panther	Nicole Durant
2007	Lars and the Real Girl	Karin
2007	Chaos Theory	Susan Allen
2008	Transsiberian	Jessie
2008	Redbelt	Laura Black
2009	The Pink Panther 2	Nicole Durant
2009	Harry Brown	Detective Inspector Alice Frampton
2009	City Island	Molly Charlesworth
2010	Shutter Island	Rachel Solando
2010	Leonie	Leonie Gilmour
2011	Cars 2	Holley Shiftwell	Voice role
2011	Our Idiot Brother	Liz
2011	Hugo	Lisette
2014	Rio, I Love You	Dorothy	Segment: "La Fortuna"
2015	Ten Thousand Saints	Di
2016	Spectral		In post-production
2016	The Sense of an Ending		In post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Under the Hammer	Angela	Episode: "The Virgin of Vitebsk"
1994	Blue Heelers	Kelly	Episode: "Skin Deep"
1995	Sharpe's Sword	Lass	Television movie
1995	The Glass Virgin	Annabella Lagrange	3 episodes
1995	Screen Two	Amanda Ellis	Episode: "A Very Open Prison"
1996	Lord of Misrule	Emma	Movie
1996	Ruth Rendell Mysteries	Elvira	Episode: "Heartstones"
1996	Silent Witness	Fran	2 episodes
1996	Jack and Jeremy's Real Lives	Tilly	Episode: "Aristocrats"
1996	No Bananas	Una	6 episodes
1997	Midsomer Murders	Katherine Lacey	Episode: "The Killings at Badger's Drift"
1997	A Dance to the Music of Time	Polly Duport	Episode: "Post War"
1998	Cider with Rosie	Miss Flynn	Movie
1998	Coming Home	Judith Dunbar	Movie
1999	Noah's Ark	Esther	3 episodes
2002	Jeffrey Archer: The Truth	Diana, Princess of Wales	Movie
2007	30 Rock	Phoebe	3 episodes
2012-14	The Newsroom	Mackenzie McHale	25 episodes
2014-15	Doll & Em	Emily	12 episodes; also creator and writer

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2011	Cars 2: The Video Game	Holley Shiftwell (voice)
2012	Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure
2013	Disney Infinity
2014	Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes
2015	Disney Infinity 3.0

Awards and nominations

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Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
2003	Chicago Film Critics Association	Best Supporting Actress	Lovely & Amazing	Nominated
	Independent Spirit Awards	Best Supporting Female		Won
	Satellite Awards	Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, Comedy or Musical		Nominated
	DVD Exclusive Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a DVD Premiere Movie	The Sleeping Dictionary	Nominated
2004	Empire Awards	Best British Actress	Young Adam	Nominated
	London Film Critics' Circle	British Supporting Actress of the Year		Nominated
2005		British Actress of the Year	Dear Frankie	Nominated
	European Film Awards	Best Actress		Nominated
2007	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Supporting Actress	Lars and the Real Girl	Nominated
	Detroit Film Critics Society	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical		Nominated
2009	Saturn Awards	Best Actress	Transsiberian	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]