Emily Mortimer

Emily Mortimer is a British actress whose screen work often finds its spark in characters who are guarded, unsettled or quietly pushing against the limits around them. Born in London on 6 October 1971, she studied Russian at Lincoln College, Oxford, performed in university plays and spent two terms studying acting at the Moscow Art Theatre School. Before acting became her main profession, she also wrote a column for The Daily Telegraph. Her early television roles included The Glass Virgin, Sharpe’s Sword and Silent Witness, while her first feature film was The Ghost and the Darkness. Small parts in Elizabeth and Notting Hill were followed by increasingly substantial film work, including Love’s Labour’s Lost, Disney’s The Kid and Lovely & Amazing. Her performance as aspiring actress Elizabeth in the latter won her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress. Mortimer has moved easily between intimate dramas, thrillers, comedies and larger productions. Dear Frankie gave her a leading role as a mother protecting her son through an elaborate deception, while Match Point cast her as Chloe Wilton. She brought warmth to Lars and the Real Girl, played a traveller drawn into danger in Transsiberian and appeared in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Hugo. Other notable roles include Florence Green in The Bookshop, Jane Banks in Mary Poppins Returns and Kay in the horror drama Relic. Television has offered an equally important home for her work. As Mackenzie McHale in The Newsroom, Mortimer played a producer trying to balance professional conviction with a complicated newsroom dynamic. She later co-created and starred in Doll & Em with Dolly Wells. That range now extends well beyond performance. Mortimer wrote, directed and starred in the 2021 miniseries The Pursuit of Love, earning a BAFTA TV nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Whether acting, writing or directing, she has built a career around emotional detail, tonal flexibility and characters whose composure rarely tells the whole story.