# Olivia Williams

Olivia Haigh Williams (born 26 July 1968) is a British actress who appears in British and American films and television. Williams studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first significant screen role was as Jane Fairfax in the British television film Emma (1996), based on Jane Austen's novel.
She made her film debut in 1997's The Postman, followed by Rushmore (1998) and The Sixth Sense (1999). Williams also acted in the British films Lucky Break (2001), The Heart of Me (2002) and An Education (2009). She continued acting in films such as The Ghost Writer (2010), Hanna (2011), Anna Karenina (2012), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), Sabotage (2014), Maps to the Stars (2014), Victoria & Abdul (2017), and The Father (2020).
From 2017 to 2019, she played Emily Silk in the science fiction television series Counterpart. From 2022 to 2023, Williams portrayed Camilla Parker Bowles in Netflix's historical drama The Crown in its final two seasons. In 2025 she played Queen Morgase of Andor in The Wheel of Time tv series.

## Early life

Williams was born in North London. Both her parents are barristers.
Williams was educated at South Hampstead High School, an independent school for girls in Hampstead in north London, and Newnham College, Cambridge, where she graduated with a degree in English literature. She then studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years and spent three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company.

## Career

After graduation, Williams worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company in both Stratford-upon-Avon and London. In 1995, she toured the United States in the National Theatre production of Shakespeare's Richard III starring Ian McKellen. Her first significant appearance before the cameras was as Jane Fairfax in the British TV film Emma (1996), based on Jane Austen's 1816 novel.
Williams made her film debut in the 1997 movie The Postman, after doing a screen test for Kevin Costner. She later won the lead role of Rosemary Cross in Wes Anderson's Rushmore (1998). She then starred as Bruce Willis' wife in the blockbuster The Sixth Sense (1999), a film she would later parody during her brief appearance in the British sitcom Spaced.
In 2000, Williams wrote the short story "The Significance of Hair" for BBC Radio and read it on the air.
Since 2001, Williams has appeared in several British films, including Lucky Break (2001), The Heart of Me (2002), for which she won the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress, and An Education (2009). She played Mrs. Darling in the 2003 film adaptation of Peter Pan. Williams was uncredited for her role as Dr. Moira MacTaggert in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand.
On TV, Williams portrayed British author Jane Austen in Miss Austen Regrets (2008) and was cast as Adelle DeWitt in Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, which ran on Fox from 2009 to 2010.
In 2010, Williams won acclaim for her performance as Ruth Lang in Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer, winning the National Society of Film Critics Award, London Critics Circle Film Award for best supporting actress and was runner-up for best supporting actress at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 2010.
In Hanna (2011), Williams played Rachel, a bohemian mother travelling across North Africa and Europe, who comes into contact with the eponymous teen assassin, who is on the run. The film starred Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, and was a critical and sleeper hit. In 2014, Williams co-starred in David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, a dark comic look at Hollywood excess. In 2014 she portrayed Meg Hamilton in the British mystery film Altar.
In 2017, Williams began appearing in the Starz science-fiction series Counterpart, playing Emily, the wife of lead character Howard Silk. In one universe she is still married to him, but her counterpart in the other universe is divorced from him. In 2021, she was cast as Camilla Parker Bowles, for the final two seasons of The Crown.

## Personal life

Williams had a seven-year relationship and then engagement to the actor Jonathan Cake which ended two weeks before their planned wedding. In 2003, she married the actor and playwright Rhashan Stone, with whom she has two daughters.
After filming The Postman, she spent time in Bolivia studying spectacled bears in the rainforest.
Williams was diagnosed with VIPoma in 2018 and, after treatment, became an ambassador for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1997 | Beck | Karen Quinn | |
| 1997 | Gaston's War | Nicky | |
| 1997 | The Postman | Abby | |
| 1998 | Rushmore | Rosemary Cross | |
| 1999 | The Sixth Sense | Anna Crowe | |
| 2000 | Four Dogs Playing Poker | Audrey | |
| 2000 | Born Romantic | Eleanor | |
| 2000 | Dead Babies | Diana | aka Mood Swingers |
| 2001 | The Body | Sharon Golban | |
| 2001 | Lucky Break | Annabel Sweep / Lady Hamilton in show | |
| 2001 | The Man from Elysian Fields | Andrea | |
| 2002 | The Heart of Me | Madeleine | |
| 2002 | Below | Claire | |
| 2003 | To Kill a King | Anne Fairfax | |
| 2003 | Peter Pan | Mrs. Darling | |
| 2005 | Valiant | Victoria (voice) | |
| 2005 | Tara Road | Ria | |
| 2005 | Mockingbird | Mother | |
| 2006 | X-Men: The Last Stand | Moira MacTaggert | Uncredited |
| 2008 | Flashbacks of a Fool | Grace Scott | |
| 2008 | Broken Lines | Zoe | |
| 2009 | An Education | Miss Stubbs | |
| 2010 | The Ghost Writer | Ruth Lang | |
| 2010 | Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll | Betty Dury | |
| 2011 | Collaborator | Emma Stiles | |
| 2011 | Hanna | Rachel | |
| 2011 | Wild Bill | Kelly | |
| 2012 | Anna Karenina | Countess Vronskaya | |
| 2012 | Now Is Good | Mother | |
| 2012 | Hyde Park on Hudson | Eleanor Roosevelt | |
| 2013 | The Last Days on Mars | Kim Aldrich | |
| 2013 | Justin and the Knights of Valour | Queen (voice) | |
| 2014 | Sabotage | Caroline Brentwood | |
| 2014 | Maps to the Stars | Cristina Weiss | |
| 2014 | Altar | Meg Hamilton | |
| 2015 | Seventh Son | Mam Ward | |
| 2015 | Man Up | Hilary | |
| 2016 | The White King | Sophia (voice) | |
| 2017 | Victoria & Abdul | Jane Spencer | |
| 2020 | The Father | The Woman | |
| 2023 | The Trouble with Jessica | Beth | |
| 2024 | Another End | Juliette | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1992 | Van der Valk | Irene Kortman | Episode: "Still Waters" |
| 1992 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Jennifer Norris | Episode: "The Speaker of Mandarin" |
| 1996 | Emma | Jane Fairfax | Television film |
| 1998 | Friends | Felicity | 2 episodes |
| 2000 | Jason and the Argonauts | Hera | 2 episodes |
| 2001 | Spaced | Knocked-down cyclist | Episode: "Help" |
| 2004 | Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures | Agatha Christie | Television film |
| 2006 | Krakatoa: The Last Days | Johanna Beijerinck | Television film |
| 2007 | Damage | Michelle Cahill | Television film |
| 2008 | Miss Austen Regrets | Jane Austen | Television film |
| 2009–2010 | Dollhouse | Adelle DeWitt | Main role |
| 2010 | Terriers | Miriam Foster | Episode: "Change Partners" |
| 2011–2012 | Case Sensitive | Charlie Zailer | 4 episodes |
| 2014 | Salting the Battlefield | Belinda Kay | Television film |
| 2014–2015 | Manhattan | Liza Winter | Main role |
| 2017 | The Halcyon | Lady Hamilton | 8 episodes |
| 2017–2019 | Counterpart | Emily Burton Silk | Main role |
| 2020 | Homemade | Queen (voice) | Episode: "Voyage Au Bout De La Nuit" |
| 2021–2023 | The Nevers | Lavinia Bidlow | Main role |
| 2022 | Ten Percent | Olivia Williams | Episode #1.2 |
| 2022–2023 | The Crown | Camilla Parker Bowles | Main role (seasons 5–6) |
| 2023 | Funny Woman | Gloria | Episode #1.6 |
| 2024 | Dune: Prophecy | Tula Harkonnen | Main role |
| 2024 | The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power | Winterblossom the Entwife (voice) | Episode: "Eldest" |
| 2025 | The Wheel of Time | Morgase Trakand | Main role; season 3 |
| TBA | Monster | Alma Reville | Main role; season 3 |

### Theatre

Olivia Williams theatre roles :
| Year | Production | Role | Venue |
| 1995 | Richard III | Maid / Nurse / Mistress | |
| 2003 | Love's Labour's Lost | The Princess | Olivier Theatre, National Theatre, London |
| 2003 | The Hotel in Amsterdam | Annie | Donmar Warehouse, London |
| 2006 | The Changeling | Beatrice-Joanna | Cheek by Jowl production at the Barbican Centre, London |
| 2011 | In a Forest, Dark and Deep | Betty | Vaudeville Theatre, London |
| 2015 | Waste | Amy O'Connell | Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre, London |
| 2017 | Mosquitoes | Alice | Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre, London |
| 2019 | Tartuffe | Elmire | Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre, London |
| 2022 | Marys Seacole | May | Donmar Warehouse, London |

## Awards and nominations

* 2001: Lucky Break
** Nominated: Empire Award for Best Actress
* 2002: The Heart of Me
** Won: British Independent Film Award for Best Actress
* 2009: An Education
** Nominated: London Film Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actress of the Year
** Nominated: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
* 2010: The Ghost Writer
** Won: London Film Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actress of the Year
** Won: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
** Nominated: Empire Award for Best Actress
** Nominated: Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
* 2023 and 2024: The Crown:
** Nominated: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series