Emily Mortimer (born 1 December, 1971) is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including 2000's Scream 3 and 2005's Match Point.

Biography

Early life

Mortimer was born in London, England, the daughter of Sir John Mortimer QC (lawyer and dramatist famous for Rumpole of the Bailey) and Penelope (née Gollop). Her maternal grandfather was a pig farmer.Cavendish, Lucy A bohemian hunter, Evening Standard (30 July 2003) She has a younger sister, Rosie, and a half brother, Ross Bentley. Mortimer studied at St Paul's Girls' School, where she appeared in several student productions. After St. Paul's, she moved on to Lincoln College, Oxford, where she read Russian, and performed in several plays. Before becoming an actress, Emily wrote a column for the Daily Telegraph, and was also screenwriter for a screen adaptation of Lorna Sage's novel, 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 a supporting role in a television adaptation of Dame Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin (1995). Subsequent television roles included Sharpe's Sword. Her first film role was opposite Val Kilmer in 1996's The Ghost and the Darkness. Mortimer was then in the Irish coming-of-age story The Last of the High Kings, released later the same year. 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.