EMILY WATSON first caught the world’s attention playing “Bess” in Lars Von Trier’s BREAKING THE WAVES, her first feature film. For her performance, she received Oscar and Golden Globe Award nominations and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the Felix Award for Best Actress, and the London Film Critics Circle Award for British Newcomer of the Year in 1997. She received her second Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, in addition to SAG and BAFTA nominations for Best Actress in 1999 for performance as “Jackie” in HILARY AND JACKIE. Watson was most recently seen in Lifetime’s Television Movie THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER, and will soon be seen in the ensemble drama FIREFLIES IN THE GARDEN opposite Julia Roberts and Willem Dafoe. In 2006, Ms. Watson starred in MISS POTTER with Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor. She was also a part of the ensemble cast of WAH-WAH, a family drama set in Swaziland in 1969 with Gabriel Byrne and Miranda Richardson, and appeared in THE PROPOSITION with Guy Pearce, Liam Neeson, and John Hurt. She followed with CRUSADE and the fantasy film THE WATER HORSE.
In 2005 Ms. Watson was featured Tim Burton’s Academy Award-nominated animated film CORPSE BRIDE. Ms. Watson also starred in SEPARATE LIES, with Tom Wilkinson and Rupert Everett. In addition, Ms. Watson received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as “Anne Sellers” in the critically acclaimed film THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS. Her additional feature film credits include Paul Thomas Anderson’s off-beat romantic comedy PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE in which she co-starred with Adam Sandler; RED DRAGON, the prequel to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, directed by Brett Ratner and co-starring Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes and Sir Anthony Hopkins; Robert Altman’s GOSFORD PARK; Tim Robbin’s CRADLE WILL ROCK; as the title character in Alan Parker’s ANGELA’S ASHES; Alan Rudolph’s TRIXIE in which she starred with Nick Nolte. She also starred with John Turturro in THE LUZHIN DEFENSE, directed by Marleen Gorris, based on the Nobokov novel; Jim Sheridan’s THE BOXER with Daniel Day-Lewis; and METROLAND with Christian Bale, which is based on the Julian Barnes novel.
On television, Ms. Watson starred as Maggie Tulliver in the acclaimed BBC Masterpiece Theatre production of George Eliot’s “The Mill on the Floss”.
A veteran of the London stage, Ms. Watson’s theatre credits include Three Sisters, The Children’s Hour at the Royal National Theatre and The Lady From The Sea. In the Fall of 2002, Ms. Watson starred at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre in two concurrent productions, Uncle Vanya and Twelfth Night, both directed by Academy-Award winning director Sam Mendes. These critically acclaimed productions also ran in a very limited engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. She has also worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company in such productions as Jovial Crew, The Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well That Ends Well and The Changeling.
