Early life

An only child, Burrows was born in London, England. Both her parents are socialists. Her father is an architect and teacher; her mother is a teacher and feminist. She was discovered in Covent Garden by the fashion photographer Beth Boldt. Burrows stands 5' 11" and had a successful modelling career.

Career

Burrows made her film debut in 1993 with a small role in Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father. Her first significant acting roles came in 1995, as an ambitious young Irishwoman in Circle of Friends. She appeared in Ngozi Onwurah's Welcome II The Terrordome. Following this, she starred in the BBC production of Dennis Potter's Karaoke (1996). Subsequently, she appeared in Hotel de Love, Lovelife, Nevada, One Night Stand, and The Matchmaker. In 1999 she appeared in Mike Figgis’ experimental film The Loss of Sexual Innocence, in which she played twins: one raised in England, the other in Italy. Burrows appeared in the thriller film Deep Blue Sea and later played the title role in a film of Miss Julie, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In 1999 she appeared with Stellan Skarsgard in Timecode (2000), a split-screen digital experimental film shot in a single take with no edit. Burrows followed this film with Gangster No. 1, starring opposite Malcolm McDowell, Paul Bettany and David Thewlis. She co-starred alongside Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott in Michael Apted's 1940s drama Enigma. Tom Stoppard adapted the Robert Harris novel of the same name for the screen. Burrows would star in Tempted, an improvised thriller set in New Orleans, opposite Burt Reynolds and Peter Facinelli.

Mike Figgis' ensemble feature Hotel followed, re-uniting Burrows with some colleagues from Timecode, including Salma Hayek and Danny Huston in Venice, where she played the Duchess of Malfi. In 2002, she had a cameo role in Hayek's produced biopic Frida. After that, she dedicated herself to stage work. She was directed by Deborah Warner at the Royal National Theatre in Jeanette Winterson's The Powerbook. The play then toured, visiting the Theatre National Du Chaillot, Paris, and the Teatro Argentina, Rome. Burrows performed in Spanish in The Galindez File, a film written by Basque novelist Vazquez Montalban about a woman seeking the truth about the "disappearance" of a critic of the Dominican dictator Trujillo.

In 2004, she played the part of Andromache in Troy. In January 2005, she created the role of Janey in the world premiere of Earthly Paradise at the Almeida Theatre. The play of a love triangle between Janey Morris; her husband William Morris, the writer and proponent of the Arts and Crafts movement; and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the Pre-Raphaelite painter. Noted theatre critic Nicholas De Jongh said of her performance in The Earthly Paradise that "Burrows takes to the stage like a swan to water ... She deserves no end of watching".

On 30 October 2005, she appeared on stage at the Old Vic theatre in London in a rehearsed reading of the 24-hour play Night Sky, alongside Christopher Eccleston. In 2006, Burrows was the female lead in the New Zealand thriller Perfect Creature. That same year, she worked with Chilean director Raoul Ruiz on Klimt, his cinematic version of the life of Gustav Klimt. In this film she played opposite John Malkovich as the artist’s lover, a woman of many personalities and nationalities.

She performed in Hal Hartley's Fay Grim. Onstage in 2006, Burrows starred opposite David Schwimmer in Neil Labute’s world premiere of Some Girl(s) at the Gielgud theatre, London. She then starred opposite Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler in Mike Binder's Reign Over Me. Burrows played the female lead roles in the Indian film thriller Broken Thread, and in Dangerous Parking, a drama directed by Peter Howitt. On television, Burrows played attorney Lorraine Weller on ABC's Boston Legal (Season 4) from 2007-08. She starred on NBC's 2008 series, My Own Worst Enemy.

In 2008, Burrows starred in the independent film The Guitar, Amy Redford’s directorial debut, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; whilst there, Burrows performed live on guitar with the band The Everyothers, opening for Mos Def and Patti Smith. In 2008, she had a starring role as Martine Love in Roger Donaldson’s heist film The Bank Job. She played opposite Kevin Spacey in Jonas Pate's Shrink. She has contributed to the Actors Come Clean for Congo video for the Raise Hope for Congo campaign, a campaign of the Enough Project, in support of the conflict mineral issue.

In 2010, she starred as Detective Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, departing at the end of the ninth season. In September 2010, she took part in the documentary feature film The People Speak, directed and produced by Colin Firth and Anthony Arnove, televised on the History Channel, linked with The People Speak (Film) - International. Burrows modeled for Marks & Spencer's autumn 2010 campaign for their Portfolio range. In 2012, Burrows performed opposite Rob Lowe in the political comedy Knife Fight. She has participated in the "24 Hour Plays" in London, New York, and Los Angeles.

In 2013 and 2014, Burrows joined the ranks of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the ABC television show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. where she played the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Victoria Hand in a recurring role.

Burrows has written diaries, book reviews and newspaper and magazine articles for The Guardian, The Independent, and The Times and the New Statesman.

French is her second language; she lived in Paris for five years as a teenager. She has performed in French on stage in Paris in The Powerbook and on French television. Burrows is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.

Personal life

Burrows is a socialist and has spoken of her admiration for French Socialist politician Ségolène Royal. She joined an anti-racism group when she was 11 years old and she went on to become the Vice President of the National Civil Rights Movement. Burrows is a campaigner for disabled rights and equality.

For a number of years, Burrows was involved with film director Mike Figgis, and starred in some of his films, including Miss Julie. She was involved with Alan Cumming for several years, while he was separated from his wife. In a 2003 interview, the actor was quoted as saying, "I was really lucky that the first relationship I had after was with Saffron, who's really... understanding and a broadminded person. And who's now, as I'm sure you know ... well, she bats for both teams too."

In 2009 Burrows became an American citizen.

Burrows is openly bisexual, and has said that she "prefers the company of women". In 2006, the The Independent listed Burrows as the 90th most influential gay person in the UK. In August 2013, two months after the US Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) - the law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage - in United States v. Windsor, Burrows married her long-term girlfriend Alison Balian, a writer for the Ellen DeGeneres Show. The couple had been together for six and a half years; in 2012, Burrows gave birth to their first child, a son.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Body Beautiful, TheThe Body Beautiful	Model	Short film
1993	In the Name of the Father	Girl in commune
1995	Circle of Friends	Nan Mahon
1995	Big One, TheThe Big One	Jules
1995	Welcome II the Terrordome	Jodie
1996	Hotel de Love	Melissa Morrison
1997	Lovelife	Zoey
1997	Nevada	Quinn
1997	One Night Stand	Supermodel
1997	MatchMaker, TheThe MatchMaker	Moira Kennedy Kelly
1999	Wing Commander	Lieutenant Commander "Angel" Deveraux
1999	Loss of Sexual Innocence, TheThe Loss of Sexual Innocence	English/Italian twin
1999	Deep Blue Sea	Dr. Susan McCallister
1999	Miss Julie	Miss Julie
2000	Assumptions		Short film
2000	Timecode	Emma
2000	Gangster No. 1	Karen
2001	Enigma	Claire
2001	Tempted	Lilly LeBlanc
2001	Seventh Stream, TheThe Seventh Stream	Mairead
2001	Hotel	Duchess of Malfi
2002	Frida	Grace
2002	Flashpoint	Dara
2002	Hideous Man		Short film
2003	Galíndez File, TheThe Galíndez File	Muriel Colber
2003	Peter Pan	Narrator/Adult Wendy	Voice
2004	Krug	Grace Krug	Short film
2004	Troy	Andromache
2004	Terrible Kisses	Woman	Short film
2006	Perfect Creature	Lilly
2006	Klimt	Lea de Castro
2006	Fay Grim	Juliet
2007	Broken Thread	Jenny
2007	Reign Over Me	Donna Remar
2007	Marple: Towards Zero	Audrey Strange
2007	Dangerous Parking	Claire
2008	Guitar, TheThe Guitar	Melody Wilder
2008	Bank Job, TheThe Bank Job	Martine Love
2009	Shrink	Kate Amberson
2009	Eastmans, TheThe Eastmans	Dr. Anna Eastman		2009 Guitar Melody Wilder	2010	Lawyers	Anne	Short film
2012	Small Apartments	Francine
2012	Knife Fight	Sophia

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Les cinq dernières minutes	Daisy Smith	Episode: "Meurtre en Ardèche"
1993	Full Stretch		Episode: "Family Affairs"
1996	Karaoke	Sandra Sollars
1996	Cold Lazarus	Sandra Sollars
1996	Crucial Tales	Sarah Brown	Episode: "I Bring You Frankincense"
2007-08	Boston Legal	Lorraine Weller	20 episodes
2008	Wainy Days	Lucy	Episode: "Nan and Lucy"
2008	Agatha Christie's Marple	Audrey Strange	Episode: "Towards Zero"
2008	My Own Worst Enemy	Dr. Norah Skinner	9 episodes
2009	Kings	Death	Episode: "The Sabbath Queen" (episode 8)
2010	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Det. Serena Stevens	15 episodes
2011	Bones	Ike Latulippe	Episode: "The Finder" (season 6 episode 19)
2013-14	The Crazy Ones	Helena	Season 1 Episode 5: "She's So European"
2013-14	Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.	Victoria Hand	4 episodes
2014-present	Mozart in the Jungle	Cynthia	Series regular

Awards and nominations

Blockbuster Entertainment Award

• 2000: Nominated, "Favorite Newcomer Actress" - Deep Blue Sea

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• 2008: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" - Boston Legal
• 2009: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series" - Boston Legal

[ Source: Wikipedia ]