Early life

Richardson was born in Marylebone, London to the theatrical Redgrave family, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson, and the granddaughter of actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, Lady Redgrave. She is the sister of the late actress Natasha Richardson (1963-2009), and through her, she is the sister-in-law of actor Liam Neeson, and the aunt of Micheál and Daniel Neeson. She was the niece of the late Lynn Redgrave and the late Corin Redgrave and cousin of actress Jemma Redgrave, who is just five days younger than Richardson. Joely Richardson appeared as an extra at the age of three in the 1968 version of The Charge of the Light Brigade, directed by her father.

Richardson and her sister Natasha's early education began in London at the independent St Paul's Girls' School in Hammersmith. At age 14 Richardson moved to boarding school at the independent Harry Hopman Tennis School in Tampa, Florida. In 1983, she graduated from the Thacher School in Ojai, California, then returned to London to study at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

Possessing an early ambition to become a professional tennis player, she spent two years at a tennis academy in Florida. Richardson then turned to acting. In 1985, she portrayed, by flashbacks, the younger version of the leading character played by her mother in the film Wetherby. After a leading role in Peter Greenaway's cult success Drowning by Numbers (1988), her first major role in front of a mass audience was as Joanna Farley in a 1989 television episode of Poirot, based on Agatha Christie's detective series. In a 1989 episode of Jim Henson's The Storyteller, she was cast as a princess. She portrayed a teacher on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the 1989 Channel 4 serial Behaving Badly and fictional Finnish Princess Anna (with "a voice like a tuba") in the 1991 screen comedy King Ralph.

A year later she appeared in Shining Through alongside her future brother-in-law, Liam Neeson, when both played Nazis.

In 1993, Richardson appeared in the BBC's Lady Chatterley opposite Sean Bean. In 1996, she played fashion designer Anita Campbell-Green in the Disney live-action remake of the animated 101 Dalmatians opposite Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. In 1998, in the popular television drama The Echo, she played Amanda Powell. The next year, she played in the science fiction horror film Event Horizon as Lieutenant Starck, executive officer of the research and rescue ship Lewis and Clark, sent to rescue crew of the long-lost experimental ship Event Horizon.

One year later, Richardson appeared opposite Mel Gibson in the film The Patriot, an American film based on the American Revolution. Also in 2000, she appeared opposite Hugh Laurie in Maybe Baby, Ben Elton's film adaptation of his book Inconceivable. She was cast in the 2001 film The Affair of the Necklace after director Charles Shyer noticed her resemblance to doomed 18th century French Queen Marie Antoinette.

In 2003, Richardson took on the role of Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck, based on the lives of two plastic surgeons in Miami. Her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, has appeared in several episodes, playing her character's mother.

In 2005, Richardson starred in Lies My Mother Told Me, based on a true story about a murderous con artist. In 2007, she played the mother in The Last Mimzy with Timothy Hutton and Chris O'Neil. She also starred in the television drama Wallis & Edward, playing the lead role of Wallis Simpson, lover of Edward, Prince of Wales.

In 2009-10, Richardson appeared as Catherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII, in the fourth (and final) season of Showtime's hit period drama The Tudors. The role reunited her with her ex-husband Tim Bevan, who was part of the show's production team.

Joely has recently joined the cast of TV series Titanic - Blood and Steel in which she will play the role of Countess Markievicz. In 2015 she co-starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Zombie thriller film Maggie.

Personal life

Richardson is divorced from film producer Tim Bevan. The couple has a daughter, Daisy Bevan (b. 1992), who is also an actress.

Richardson had an affair with Archie Stirling resulting in the failure of his marriage to Diana Rigg in 1990. (Farndale, Nigel (6 July 2008). "Diana Rigg: Her Story". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 27 May 2014.)

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	The Charge of the Light Brigade	Extra	Uncredited
1985	Wetherby	Young Jean Travers
1987	Body Contact	Dominique
1988	Drowning by Numbers	Cissie Colpitts 3
1989	A proposito di quella strana ragazza	Giovanna Serafin (Maria)	aka About That Foreign Girl in English
1991	King Ralph	Princess Anna of Finland
1992	Rebecca's Daughters	Rhiannon
1992	Shining Through	Margrete Von Eberstein
1994	Sister My Sister	Christine Papin
1995	I'll Do Anything	Cathy Breslow
1996	Loch Ness	Laura McFetridge
1996	101 Dalmatians	Anita Campbell-Green Dearly
1996	Hollow Reed	Hannah
1997	Event Horizon	Lt. Starck
1998	Under Heaven	Eleanor Dunston	Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
1998	Wrestling with Alligators	Claire
1998	The Tribe	Emily
2000	Maybe Baby	Lucy Bell
2000	Return to Me	Elizabeth Rueland
2000	The Patriot	Charlotte Selton
2001	The Affair of the Necklace	Marie-Antoinette
2003	Shoreditch	Butterfly
2004	The Fever	Woman at 30
2007	The Last Mimzy	Jo Wilder
2007	The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey	Susan McDowel
2011	Anonymous	Young Queen Elizabeth I
2011	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	Anita Vanger/Harriet Vanger
2012	Red Lights	Monica Handsen
2012	Thanks for Sharing	Katie
2013	The Devil's Violinist	Ethel Langham
2014	Vampire Academy	Queen Tatiana Ivashkov
2014	Endless Love	Ann Butterfield
2014	Maggie	Caroline Vogel
2016	Snowden		Filming
2016	Fallen	Sophia Bliss

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	The Storyteller	Princess	Episode: "The Three Ravens"
1989	Behaving Badly	Serafina	4 episodes
1989	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Joanna Farley	Episode: "The Dream"
1993	Lady Chatterley	Lady Chatterley	4 episodes
2003-2010	Nip/Tuck	Julia McNamara	100 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama
2003	Fallen Angel	Katherine Wentworth	TV film
2005	Lies My Mother Told Me	Laren Sims	TV film
2005	Wallis & Edward	Wallis, Duchess of Windsor	TV film
2006	Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America	Dr. Iris Varnack	TV film
2007	Freezing	Rachel	Episode: "1.1"
2009	The Day of the Triffids	Jo Playton	2 episodes
2010	The Tudors	Queen Catherine Parr	5 episodes
2012	Titanic: Blood and Steel	Countess Markievicz	Episode: "Stained Steel"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result
1999	Independent Spirit Award	Best Supporting Female	Under Heaven	Nominated
2004	Golden Globe Award	Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama	Nip/Tuck	Nominated
	Satellite Award	Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama		Nominated
2005	Golden Globe Award	Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama		Nominated
	Satellite Award	Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama		Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]