Emilia Fox

Emilia Rose Elizabeth Fox^[2] (born 31 July 1974) is an English actress and presenter whose career is primarily in British television. Her feature film debut was in Roman Polanski's film The Pianist (2002). Her other motion pictures include the Italian–French–British romance-drama The Soul Keeper (2002), for which she won the Flaiano Film Award for Best Actress; the drama The Republic of Love (2003); the comedy-drama Things to Do Before You're 30 (2005); the black comedy Keeping Mum (2005); the romantic comedy-drama Cashback (2006); the drama Flashbacks of a Fool (2008); the drama Ways to Live Forever (2010); the drama-thriller A Thousand Kisses Deep (2011); and the fantasy-horror drama Dorian Gray (2009).

Emilia Fox
Fox in 2011
Born	Emilia Rose Elizabeth Fox (1974-07-31) 31 July 1974 (age 50)[1] Hammersmith, London, England
Alma mater	St Catherine's College, Oxford
Occupation(s)	Actress and presenter
Years active	1995–present
Television	Rebecca Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) Silent Witness Consuming Passion: 100 Years of Mills & Boon Gunpowder, Treason & Plot The Virgin Queen Merlin Delicious
Spouses	Jared Harris ​ ​ (m. 2005; div. 2010)​ Jonathan Stadlen
Partner	Jeremy Gilley (2009–2011)
Children	1
Parents	Edward Fox Joanna David
Family	Fox
Awards	Flaiano Prizes Best Actress 2003 The Soul Keeper

Fox's television roles include the BBC drama Pride and Prejudice (1995), the PBS British/German television serial Rebecca (1997), ITV Granada's Henry VIII (2003), BBC's Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004), the 2005 BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen (2005) and the ITV crime drama series Fallen Angel (2007). She also appeared as Morgause in the BBC's Merlin, beginning in the programme's second series. Fox also starred in Delicious (2016). She stars as Dr. Nikki Alexander on the BBC crime drama Silent Witness, having joined the cast in 2004 following the departure of Amanda Burton. Fox is the longest-serving cast member since the departures of Tom Ward in 2012 and William Gaminara in 2013. Since 2022 she has had the title role of her namesake Sylvia Fox in the Acorn TV series Signora Volpe.

Early life

Emilia Fox was born in Hammersmith, London.^[1] She comes from a thespian family – her mother is actress Joanna David (née Joanna Elizabeth Hacking) and her father is actor Edward Fox; her uncle James Fox and her cousins Jack, Laurence and Lydia are also actors.^[3] She has a brother, Freddie (also an actor), and a half-sister, Lucy.^[2] She was educated at the independent Bryanston School near Blandford Forum, Dorset, where she played the cello, and at St Catherine's College, Oxford, where she read English.^[4][5] Her great-great-grandfather was Samson Fox, a self-made millionaire, and her great-grandmother was the actress Hilda Hanbury, sister of Lily Hanbury. Her grandfather was Robin Fox, a theatrical agent.^[6] Through Hanbury, she is related to the Terry family of actors.^[7]

Career

Fox first appeared as Georgiana, the sister of Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy, in the 1995 television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, followed by her role as the second Mrs. de Winter in the 1997 television adaptation of Rebecca, opposite Charles Dance. In 1998 she starred with Ben Miles in the adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Round Tower as the young Vanessa Radcliffe, a girl from an affluent family who is forced to leave her home after becoming pregnant. Fox played Jeannie Hurst in the 2000 remake of Randall and Hopkirk.

In 2002, she starred in The Pianist as Dorota, a beautiful, blond, non-Jewish cellist who adores the playing of the Polish-Jewish pianist and composer Władysław Szpilman (played by Adrien Brody). The film was directed by Roman Polanski. In 2003, she played Jane Seymour in a two-part television biographical film about King Henry VIII. She also played the title role in Katherine Howard, directed by Robin Lefevre at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 1998.

In 2004, she joined the cast of the crime drama, Silent Witness. As of 2023, she is still in the show and has now played the role of Nikki Alexander for nineteen years. 2004 also saw her play Lady Margaret in Part 2 of Gunpowder, Treason and Plot, the mini-series about James I (James VI in Scotland) and the Gunpowder Plot. In 2005, Fox appeared in the BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen, a four-part miniseries based upon the life of Queen Elizabeth I, Fox played Amy Dudley, the first wife of Robert Dudley, played by Tom Hardy, despite appearing in only one episode, her character remains a key character in the series. In 2008, she played Sister Jean in Baillie Walsh's Flashbacks of a Fool, which also featured Daniel Craig. She also starred in Things To Do Before You're 30 with Billie Piper, who would later marry her first cousin Laurence Fox; they divorced in 2016.

She was cast as Lynne Frederick in the 2004 film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, which starred Geoffrey Rush in the lead role. A whole section of the film focusing on the Frederick/Sellers relationship was removed in the final edit, although she can be seen briefly in a background shot towards the end of the film. The deleted scenes with Fox can be found among the special features on the DVD release of the film.

In 2007, Fox was reunited with her Rebecca co-star Charles Dance when they starred together in the ITV1 mini-series Fallen Angel, Fox played a serial killer, Rosie Byfield, with Dance appearing as her father. The rewind format in which the show was shot traced the development of the killer streak of Fox's character. Fox and Dance had previously both appeared in ITV1's Henry VIII, but Dance's role as the Duke of Buckingham was limited, as his character was arrested for treason less than fifteen minutes into the first half, while Fox's scenes as the doomed third Queen Jane Seymour dominated the first half of the second episode. In the 2008 English language DVD re-release of the cult 2006 Norwegian animated film Free Jimmy, Fox voiced the character of "Bettina". The dialogue was written by Simon Pegg; other actors included Pegg himself and Woody Harrelson. Emilia Fox narrates the popular children's book We're Going on a Bear Hunt (by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury) with Kevin Whately in a special edition book and DVD set. She appeared as Morgause in the second series of BBC's Merlin in 2009. She returned for the third and fourth series. The same year, she portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the Channel 4 documentary The Queen.

She narrated the Doctor Who character Lady Winters in the Doctor Who Adventure Game, The Gunpowder Plot, (2011).^[8] She had previously played Berenice in the Eighth Doctor audio drama Nevermore.^[9]

In 2015, she appeared as Julia Swetlove in the BBC's dramatisation of J. K. Rowling's book The Casual Vacancy. The following year, she appeared in series 2 of The Tunnel as Vanessa Hamilton. In 2016–18 she starred as Sam Vincent in Delicious, a Sky television drama. Silent Witness, in which Fox stars, resumed on BBC1 in January 2018.

In 2019, Fox co-presented the BBC documentary Jack the Ripper – The Case Reopened, alongside criminologist David Wilson.^[10] In 2021,^[11] Fox and Wilson teamed up to present a full series of documentaries looking at cold cases, titled In the Footsteps of Killers. The second series aired in January 2023.^[12]

Personal life

In 2000, Fox was engaged to comedian Vic Reeves; she subsequently dated Toby Mott.^[13][14]

In July 2005, she married British actor Jared Harris, the son of Irish actor Richard Harris. The couple announced their separation in 2008, and Harris filed for divorce in January 2009.^[15] The divorce followed the breakdown of their long-distance relationship and her 2007 miscarriage.^[16]

Following her separation from Harris, Fox began a relationship with actor Jeremy Gilley, and in May 2010 it was reported that Fox was pregnant with their child.^[17] In November 2010, Fox gave birth to a daughter.^[18] Fox and Gilley split up in 2011.^[19]

She dated chef Marco Pierre White from 2012 to 2016 and Luc Chaudhary from 2019 to 2020.^[19] She is currently in a relationship with TV producer Jonathan Stadlen.^[20]

Fox is a patron of the drug, alcohol, and gambling addiction charity DrugFam.^[21]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	The Rat Trap	Pippa	Short film
2000	The Magic of Vincent	Gina	Short film
2002	The Pianist	Dorota
	Hideous Man	Girl on swing	Short film
	The Soul Keeper	Sabina Spielrein
2003	Three Blind Mice	Claire Bligh
	The Republic of Love	Fay
2004	The Life and Death of Peter Sellers	Lynne Frederick (uncredited)
	Cashback	Sharon	Short film later expanded into a full-length feature film
2005	Things to Do Before You're 30	Kate
	The Tiger and the Snow	Nancy Browning
	Keeping Mum	Rosie Jones
2006	Free Jimmy	Bettina	Voice (English version)
	Cashback	Sharon Pintey
2007	Honeymoon	Dawn	Short film
2008	Flashbacks of a Fool	Sister Jean
2009	Dorian Gray	Lady Victoria Wotton
2010	The Man Who Married Himself	Sarah	Short film
	Ways to Live Forever	Amanda McQueen (Mum)
2011	A Thousand Kisses Deep	Doris
2013	Suspension of Disbelief	Claire Jones
	Not Ever	Emily	Short Film
2014	The Devil's Harvest	Nadya
2016	The Carer	Sophia
2017	Mum's List	Kate Greene
2021	Blithe Spirit	Violet Bradman
2022	The Beachcombers	Narrator	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Pride and Prejudice	Georgiana Darcy	TV miniseries
1997	Rebecca	The Second Mrs. de Winter	TV film
	Bright Hair	Ann Devenish	TV film
	The Temptation of Franz Schubert	Karoline von Esterhazy	TV film
1998	The Round Tower	Vanessa Ratcliffe	TV serial
	Blink	Nicki	TV short
	Verdict	Charlie Moyes	Episode: "The Doctor's Opinion"
1999	The Round Tower	Vanessa Ratcliffe	TV film
	Shooting the Past	Spig	TV film
	The Scarlet Pimpernel	Minette Roland	Episode: "The Scarlet Pimpernel"
	David Copperfield	Clara Copperfield	TV film
2000	Other People's Children	Dale	Episode: "1.3"
	The Wrong Side of the Rainbow		TV series
2000–2001	Randall & Hopkirk	Jeannie	11 episodes
2001	Bad Blood	Jackie Shipton	TV film
2002	Coupling	Wilma Lettings	Episode: "Faithless" Episode: "Unconditional Sex"
2003	Helen of Troy	Cassandra, Princess of Troy	TV film
	Henry VIII	Jane Seymour	TV film
2004	Gunpowder, Treason & Plot	Lady Margaret	TV film
2004–present	Silent Witness	Dr. Nikki Alexander	156 episodes
2006	The Virgin Queen	Amy Dudley	TV miniseries
	Agatha Christie's Marple	Joanna Burton	Episode: "The Moving Finger"
	Born Equal	Laura	TV film
2007	Fallen Angel	Angel Rosemary Byfield	Episode: "The Four Last Things" Episode: "The Judgement of Strangers"
	Ballet Shoes	Sylvia Brown	TV film
2008	Consuming Passion: 100 Years of Mills & Boon	Kirstie, a 30-something university English lecturer	TV film dramatising Mills and Boon
	The Game's Up		TV film
2009	The Queen	Queen Elizabeth II	Episode: "Sisters"
2009–2011	Merlin	Morgause	11 episodes
2010	Bookaboo	Herself, reading a book	Episode: "The Spider and the Fly"
2012	Upstairs Downstairs	Lady Portia Alresford	Episode: "A Perfect Specimen of Womanhood"
	Falcón	Ines	Episode: "The Blind Man of Seville"
2013	The Wrong Mans	Scarlett
2014	The Secrets		Episode: "The Lie"
	Would I Lie to You?	Herself	Series 8, Episode 4
2015	The Casual Vacancy	Julia Sweetlove
	Bear Grylls: Mission Survive	Herself, contestant	Six-part TV series
2016	Home From Home	Penny Dillon	Pilot and BBC One sitcom
	Kew's Forgotten Queen	Presenter	BBC Four documentary
	The Tunnel	Vanessa Hamilton	Series 2
2016–2019	Delicious	Sam Vincent	Sky1 series
2016–2018, 2021	Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway[22]	Herself	11 episodes
2018	Inside No. 9	Natasha	Series 4 Episode 3 "Once Removed"
	Strangers	Sally Porter	ITV drama
2019	The Snow Wolf: A Winter's Tale	Narrator	BBC Two Drama
	Jack the Ripper – The Case Reopened	Presenter	BBC One Documentary
	Celebrity Juice	Herself, Team Captain	Series 21, Episode 6 Series 22, Episode 3
2019–2020	The Trial of Christine Keeler	Valerie Profumo	BBC One series
	Celebrity Gogglebox	Herself	Series 1 (With Laurence Fox) & Series 2 (With Joanna David)
2020	Top Gear	Herself	Series 28, Episode 4
	VE Day: The Lost Films	Herself	Narrator
	Richard & Judy: Keep Reading and Carry on	Herself	Episode 5
	Blankety Blank	Herself	Episode: "Christmas Special"
2021	Saturday Knight Takeaway	Herself	TV Short
	Paul Sinha's TV Showdown	Herself	Contestant – ITV
	Between the Covers	Herself	BBC2
2021–present	In the Footsteps of Killers	Herself
2022	Murdertown	Herself	Crime & Investigation
	Royal Institution Christmas Lectures	Herself	Dame Sue Black: 1. Dead Body
2022–present	Signora Volpe	Sylvia Fox	Acorn TV / AMC series

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996–1997	The Cherry Orchard	Anya	Royal Shakespeare Company
1998	Katherine Howard	Katherine Howard	Chichester Festival Theatre
1999	Good		Donmar Warehouse
2000	Richard II	Queen Isabel	Almeida Theatre
	Coriolanus	Virgilia	Almeida Theatre
2003–2004	Les Liaisons dangereuses	Madame de Tourvel	Playhouse Theatre
2014	Rapture, Blister, Burn	Catherine	Hampstead Theatre
2017	Sex with Strangers	Olivia	Hampstead Theatre

References

1. "Emilia Fox: A long line of theatrical ancestors..." The Genealogist. 20 September 2011. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
2. Barratt, Nick (26 May 2007). "Family Detective". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 26 February 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
3. The Observer Review, p. 2, 1 February 2009.
4. Cadwalladr, Carole (19 March 2008). "It's the clever way to power – part 2". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
5. "Women at Oxford". University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
6. "Emilia Fox". The Genealogist. Archived from the original on 28 April 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
7. Who Do You Think You Are?, BBC TV series, episode with Emilia Fox, first broadcast September 2011
8. "The Gunpowder Plot: More Stars, More Monsters!". BBC. Archived from the original on 30 November 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
9. "Doctor Who: Nevermore". Big Finish Productions. Archived from the original on 30 October 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
10. Yeates, Cydney (26 March 2019). "Emilia Fox unmasks key Jack The Ripper suspect in new documentary: 'It was the right conclusion'". Metro. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
11. Singh, Anita (9 June 2021). "In the Footsteps of Killers, review: how did this staggeringly ill-judged show ever get made?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
12. McDonald, Sally (2 January 2023). "'It is all about hope, a hope for answers, a hope for justice': Silent Witness star Emilia Fox on seeking the truth for real-life victims". Sunday Post. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
13. "Interview: Emilia Fox". The Mirror. 11 March 2000. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
14. "Emilia Fox Profile". alibi. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
15. "The Curious Benjamin Button Divorce". TMZ. 13 January 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
16. "Fox Sought Therapy After Miscarriage". contactmusic.com. 9 June 2009. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
17. "Emilia Fox is pregnant less than two years after divorce". The Daily Telegraph. London. 29 May 2010. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
18. Walker, Tim (25 March 2011). "Actress Emilia Fox takes her cub to work". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 23 September 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
19. Storey, Katie (25 October 2020). "Emilia Fox confirms she split from fiancé Luc Chaudhary five months ago". Metro. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
20. Power, Vicki (1 January 2023). "Sunday with Emilia Fox: 'Rowing on the Thames with my daughter and all the dogs'". the Guardian. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
21. "DrugFam Patrons". Drug Fam. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
22. Lee, Ben (30 January 2017). "Ant & Dec will unravel another mystery in Saturday Night Takeaway's 'Missing Crown Jewels'". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2017.

External links

• Emilia Fox at IMDb