Emily Mortimer

Early life and education

Mortimer was born on 6 October 1971 in Hammersmith, London, to dramatist and barrister Sir John Mortimer, and his second wife, Penelope (née Gollop). She has a younger sister, Rosie; two older half-siblings, Sally Silverman and Jeremy, from her father's first marriage to author Penelope Fletcher; and a half-brother, Ross Bentley, from her father's relationship with actress Wendy Craig.

Mortimer studied at St Paul's Girls' School in west London where she appeared in several pupil productions. She went on to the University of Oxford, where she read Russian at Lincoln College where she performed in several plays and spent two terms at the Moscow Art Theatre School, studying acting. Before becoming an actress, she wrote a column for The Daily Telegraph and was screenwriter for an adaptation of Lorna Sage's memoir Bad Blood.

Career

1995–2008: Early work and recognition

Mortimer performed in several plays while studying at the University of Oxford. While acting in a student production, she was spotted by a producer who later cast her as the lead in a television adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin (1995). Subsequent television roles included Sharpe's Sword (1995) and Coming Home (1998). She followed this with the 1996 television film Lord of Misrule, directed by Guy Jenkin and filmed in Fowey, Cornwall.

In 1996, Mortimer appeared as drug addict Fran in the first series of Silent Witness. In the same year, she appeared in her first feature film opposite Val Kilmer in The Ghost and the Darkness, and in the coming-of-age story The Last of the High Kings.

1997 saw Mortimer cast as the central character of Katherine Lacey in the pilot episode of Midsomer Murders. In 1998 she appeared as Kat Ashley in Elizabeth, and played Miss Flynn in the television mini series Cider with Rosie, which was adapted for television by her father. In 1999, she played three roles: she was the "Perfect Girl" dropped by Hugh Grant in Notting Hill; Esther in the television miniseries Noah's Ark, and actress Angelina in Scream 3.

In 2000, Mortimer was cast as Katherine in Kenneth Branagh's musical adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost, where she met actor and future husband Alessandro Nivola. She took on her biggest role in an American film to date, playing opposite Bruce Willis in Disney's The Kid. A year later, she played aspiring actress Elizabeth in Lovely & Amazing, a comedy about the relationship between a mother and her three daughters. Mortimer said of the role, "It was a wonderful experience as an actor to have that opportunity [...] You hear this terrifying phrase, 'being in the moment.' I have no doubt that I was in that moment. [Elizabeth] was exposed and ridiculous and brave." Mortimer won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role. In 2002, she had a major part as the assassin in The 51st State (also known as Formula 51), starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle. The film was a critical and commercial failure.

In 2003, Mortimer appeared in Stephen Fry's British drama Bright Young Things, based on the 1930 novel Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh. It is about young and carefree London aristocrats and bohemians, set in the interwar period. Playing fiancée Nina Blount, Mortimer was described as "a character who gives Peter O'Toole a marvelous few minutes of playing dottiness to the hilt", by Washington Post's Stephen Hunter. Her last release of 2003 was Young Adam, in which she plays the girlfriend of a nihilistic barge worker (Ewan McGregor). Based on the novel of the same title, Mortimer's role in Young Adam garnered her acclaim; Evening Standard's critic wrote, "In a performance of naked courage, Emily Mortimer shows that she is prepared to go to extreme lengths of masochism in her depiction of a woman undone by love". Sight & Sound magazine thought the cast performances were "edgy", and Mortimer made the most out of an underwritten role. She also had a supporting part in the romantic drama The Sleeping Dictionary (2003).

2009–2019: Career progression in film

Mortimer appeared in Daniel Barber's first film, Harry Brown (2009), as police detective Alice Frampton. The plot follows widowed veteran (Michael Caine), who takes the law into his own hands when teenage violence ruins his community. Mortimer chose the role because "It felt like unfamiliar territory for me which is always a challenge and interesting [...] the script is very gripping and brilliantly written [...] getting to work with Michael, and then just the character being in some ways both the opposite and the same as Michael's character." To prepare for the role, she spent time with a real female detective, and learnt about police interrogation techniques. Critic Claudia Puig writing for USA Today thought her performance was "caring and savvy", despite the film's "senseless violence". Betsy Sharkey of Los Angeles Times wrote of Mortimer's performance: "Her clinical coolness plays well off of Caine's controlled heat."

Mortimer played an aspiring actress opposite Andy García in City Island (2009). Although the film's reception was warm, her role in City Island was noted by two critics as "vague" and weak. She appeared as Rachel Solando in Martin Scorsese's 2010 thriller Shutter Island. Several critics thought Shutter Island was unexciting, and that Mortimer and her fellow actors were not utilised to their full potential. The film found moderate success at the box office, grossing $294 million from a budget of $80 million. She portrayed American educator Leonie Gilmour in the biographical drama Leonie (2010). Of her performance, The Hollywood Reporter opined that it was a "superb portrayal", which showcased her acting range.

In 2011, she had a role in Our Idiot Brother as Liz, the sister of Paul Rudd's titular character. In that same year, Mortimer appeared in Scorsese's Hugo, an adaptation of Brian Selznick's book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Hugo won five Academy Awards from eleven nominations, but was a box office disappointment. Also in 2011, she started work with screenwriter and producer Aaron Sorkin, playing Mackenzie McHale in HBO's The Newsroom. Although the first season of the series gained a mixed reception, the later seasons fared better. Several critics praised Mortimer's acting abilities in season one, but they took issue with her character's writing. In January 2013, it was announced that Mortimer would be co-creating and starring in the comedy series Doll & Em for Sky Living, along with her longtime friend, actress and comedian Dolly Wells.

Next, Mortimer starred in the drama The Sense of an Ending (2017), based on the novel of the same title by Julian Barnes. Playing the mother Sarah Ford, Mortimer garnered praise for her lively performance, while one critic thought she was miscast. In that same year, she portrayed the pregnant Jinny in The Party; the film premiered at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival, and was favourably received. Mortimer co-starred with Patricia Clarkson and Bill Nighy in the drama The Bookshop. Adapted from the 1978 novel of the same title by Penelope Fitzgerald, Mortimer played Florence Green, who opens a bookshop despite local opposition. Writing for Chicago Reader, Andrea Gronvall noted, "The ever-winsome Emily Mortimer glows as a struggling widow", and Variety magazine opined that it was "A fine, sensitive leading turn" for the actor. The Bookshop grossed $12 million worldwide.

2020–present

In 2020, Mortimer starred in the horror film Relic with co-stars Robyn Nevin and Bella Heathcote. The Chicago Sun-Times called Mortimer "excellent" in her portrayal of a workaholic mother. That same year, Mortimer played Sharon in the Quibi's science fiction series Don't Look Deeper. In 2021, Mortimer wrote, directed, and starred in the miniseries The Pursuit of Love, which earned her a BAFTA TV nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Mortimer replaced Sally Hawkins, who had played Mrs. Brown in previous Paddington films, for Paddington in Peru (2024). In 2025 she played Cressida Dick in Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Personal life

In 2000, Mortimer met American actor Alessandro Nivola while both were starring in Love's Labour's Lost. They married in the village of Turville in the Chilterns, Buckinghamshire, on 3 January 2003. Mortimer gave birth to their son Sam Nivola on 26 September 2003, and their daughter in 2010. Previously based in Notting Hill, they later moved to Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. Mortimer became an American citizen in 2010.

Speaking to The Guardian in 2010, Mortimer said that she 'sometimes wishes Russian were more a part of her life', and that she 'adores all things Russian and regrets that her association with Russia has been limited to "a little academic foray". At this time, Mortimer said she was thinking about writing a novella about Russian and Soviet stage actress Olga Knipper, wife of Anton Chekhov.