Born: December 29, 1969
Born December 29, 1969, in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the home of her novelist father John
Ehle, Ehle was raised largely in nearby Asheville. She spent a great
deal of her childhood following her mother's career engagements back and
forth between the States and the U.K., attending over 18 schools in the
process. Ehle eventually settled in London to study drama at the
Central School, but dropped out in 1991 to take the part of Calypso in Peter_Hall's lauded TV adaptation of The Chamomile Lawn.
Further television and stage roles followed, and in 1993, Ehle made her screen debut with a small role in Iain_Softley's Backbeat as Cynthia Powell, John_Lennon's
first wife. Ehle's career entered a new and more lucrative phase with
her award-winning turn as Pride and Prejudice's heroine, Elizabeth
Bennett; in addition to its success in Britain, the miniseries -- which
also launched Colin_Firth
to international fame in his role as Mr. Darcy -- proved to be a
runaway hit in the States. More film work duly came Ehle's way: she
could be seen playing Oscar Wilde's wife, Constance, in Wilde (1997); a prisoner of war alongside Glenn_Close, Frances McDormand, Cate_Blanchett, and Julianna_Margulies in Paradise_Road
(1997); and a woman who finds herself becoming involved with her
supposedly gay former boyfriend in Bedrooms & Hallways (1998). Ehle
was cast in perhaps her most high-profile screen role to date in 1999,
when she starred as the wife of a Hungarian lawyer (Ralph_Fiennes) in István_Szabó's epic Sunshine,
a historical drama tracing the fortunes of three generations of a
Hungarian Jewish family. However, the actress' involvement in the film,
which also starred real-life mother Harris as the older version of her
character, was overshadowed in theatrical circles by her work on the
stage that same year. For her performance as Annie, the wife of a
brilliant but emotionally evasive playwright (Stephen_Dillane) in the Broadway production of Tom_Stoppard's
-The Real Thing, Ehle found herself up against her mother, who starred
in -Waiting in the Wings, for a 2000 Best Actress Tony Award. Ehle
ultimately won the award, the latest honor in what looked to be, like
her mother's, a very long and vibrant career. Indeed, as the years
rolled by, Ehle would continue to appear regularly on screen in films
like The King's Speech, Contagion, The Adjustment Bureau, and on the
series A Gifted Man.
