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Julia Karin Ormond (born 4 January 1965)[1] is an English film and television actress. She rose to prominence by appearing in The Baby of Mâcon (1993), Legends of the Fall (1994), First Knight (1995), Sabrina (1995), Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997), and The Barber of Siberia (1998). She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role in the HBO film Temple Grandin (2010). She is also known for her role in The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020) as a main antagonist.
Julia Ormond | |
|---|---|
 Ormond at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival | |
| Born | Julia Karin Ormond 4 January 1965 Epsom, Surrey, England |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Spouses | Rory Edwards
(m. 1988; div. 1994)Jon Rubin
(m. 1999; div. 2008) |
| Children | 1 |
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Ormond was born in Epsom in Surrey, the daughter of Josephine, a laboratory technician, and John Ormond, a stockbroker. She has an elder sister and was five when her parents divorced. She has three younger, half-siblings from her father's second marriage. She has admitted to a fear of heights.[2][3][4]
She was educated privately, firstly at Guildford High School and then at Cranleigh School, where early acting lead performances in Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady began to draw attention.[5][6]
After one year of art school, she transferred to Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, where she graduated in 1988.[citation needed]
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Ormond first appeared on British television in the 1989 serial Traffik, about the illegal heroin trade from the far East to the streets of Europe. Ormond played the drug addicted daughter of the lead character, a Home Office minister in the UK government engaged in combating heroin importation. This early role won glowing reviews.
Ormond appeared in several television films early in her career, such as Young Catherine (1991) and Stalin (1992). In 1993, she made her film debut in the lead role of an international movie, The Baby of Mâcon,[7] and the following year co-starred in Legends of the Fall.
In 1995, Ormond played Queen Guinevere in First Knight and the title role in Sabrina.[7] In 1997, she played a lead role in the thriller Smilla's Sense of Snow and, in 1998, she starred in the Russian film The Barber of Siberia.[7]
Since the late 1990s, Ormond has appeared in indie and television movies and played supporting roles in films such as Iron Jawed Angels (2004), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Che: Part One (2008), Albatross (2011), and My Week with Marilyn (2011).[7]
Ormond has an independent production company, Indican Productions, based in New York City, and she executive-produced the Cinemax Reel Life documentary Calling the Ghosts: A Story about Rape, War and Women, which won a CableACE Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and was an official selection of the Toronto and Berlin International Film Festivals.[8]
On stage, she appeared in David Hare's My Zinc Bed, for which she received a 2001 Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress.[9] On television, Ormond appeared as a guest star during the 2008–09 season of the CBS series CSI: NY.[10] In 2010, she won an Emmy Award for her supporting role in the television film Temple Grandin.[11] In 2011, Ormond guest starred in the tenth and final season of the series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
In 2012, she played the part of Marie Calvet, mother to Megan Draper, in the series Mad Men, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.[12] From 6 October 2013 to 5 October 2014, Ormond starred in the television series Witches of East End as Joanna Beauchamp, one of the lead characters.[13] Since 2020, she has portrayed the primary antagonist, Elizabeth Kublek, in the AMC television series The Walking Dead: World Beyond.
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In 1988, Ormond married Rory Edwards, an actor she had met while performing in a production of Wuthering Heights. The marriage ended in 1994.[14] She married political activist Jon Rubin in 1999, and their child Sophie, was born in the autumn of 2004. The couple divorced in 2008 and Ormond lives in Malibu, California.[2][14]
Ormond has been fighting human trafficking since the mid-1990s, and in 2006[15] she entered into a partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to help increase awareness efforts.[16] She is also an advocate for Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS, which attempts to raise awareness about AIDS in Russia and Ukraine, and is founding co-chairman of FilmAid International.[17]
On 2 December 2005, Ormond was appointed a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Her focus has been on anti-human-trafficking initiatives, raising awareness about this modern form of slavery and promoting efforts to combat it.[18] In her capacity as ambassador, Ormond has appeared as counsel to the United States House of Representatives, Committee on International Relations,[19] Subcommittee on Africa,[19] Global Human Rights and International Operations, and has travelled the world as an ambassador.[20]
In 2007, Ormond established the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking (ASSET).[21]
On 4 October 2023, Ormond filed a lawsuit against Harvey Weinstein, alleging that he sexually assaulted her in 1995. The suit also seeks damages from The Walt Disney Company, Miramax, and Creative Artists Agency, claiming that these companies failed to protect her from his abuse.[22][23][24][25]
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Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The Baby of Mâcon | The Daughter | |
| 1994 | Nostradamus | Marie | |
| 1994 | Captives | Rachel Clifford | |
| 1994 | Legends of the Fall | Susannah Fincannon-Ludlow | |
| 1995 | First Knight | Guinevere | |
| 1995 | Sabrina | Sabrina Fairchild | |
| 1997 | Smilla's Sense of Snow | Smilla Jaspersen | |
| 1998 | The Barber of Siberia | Jane Callahan | |
| 2001 | The Prime Gig | Caitlin Carlson | |
| 2003 | Resistance | Claire Daussois | |
| 2006 | Inland Empire | Doris Side | |
| 2007 | I Know Who Killed Me | Susan Fleming | |
| 2008 | Surveillance | Elizabeth Anderson | |
| 2008 | Che | Lisa Howard | |
| 2008 | La Conjura de El Escorial | Ana de Mendoza, Princess of Eboli | |
| 2008 | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Caroline Fuller | |
| 2008 | Kit Kittredge: An American Girl | Margaret Kittredge | |
| 2011 | The Music Never Stopped | Dianne Daley | |
| 2011 | The Green | Karen | |
| 2011 | Albatross | Joa Fischer | |
| 2011 | My Week with Marilyn | Vivien Leigh | |
| 2012 | Chained | Sarah Fittler | |
| 2013 | The East | Paige Williams | |
| 2017 | Rememory | Carolyn Dunn | |
| 2018 | Ladies in Black | Magda | |
| 2020 | Son of the South | Virginia Durr | |
| 2020 | Reunion | Ivy | |
| TBA | Reminisce | Dr. Rose | Post-production |
| TBA | Home Education | Carol Glimm | Post-production |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Traffik | Caroline Lithgow | Miniseries |
| 1989 | Capital City | Alison | Episode: "Rainforest" |
| 1990 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Nora Fanshawe | Episode: "The Best Man to Die: Parts 1, 2, & 3" |
| 1991 | Young Catherine | Catherine | Movie |
| 1992 | Stalin | Nadezhda Alliluyeva | Movie |
| 1999 | Animal Farm | Jessie (voice) | Movie |
| 2001 | Varian's War: The Forgotten Hero | Miriam Davenport | Movie |
| 2004 | Iron Jawed Angels | Inez Milholland | Movie |
| 2005 | Beach Girls | Stevie Moore | Miniseries |
| 2007 | Mr. and Mrs. Smith | Mother | Short |
| 2008–09 | CSI: NY | Gillian Whitford | 3 episodes |
| 2010 | The Wronged Man | Janet Gregory | Movie |
| 2010 | Temple Grandin | Eustacia Grandin | Movie |
| 2010 | Nurse Jackie | Sarah Khouri | 5 episodes |
| 2011 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Paula Gyson | 7 episodes |
| 2012–2015 | Mad Men | Marie Calvet | 5 episodes |
| 2013 | Exploding Sun | Joan Elias | Movie |
| 2013–2014 | Witches of East End | Joanna Beauchamp | Main role |
| 2016–2017 | Incorporated | Elizabeth Krauss | Main role |
| 2017 | Tour de Pharmacy | Adrianna Baton | Movie |
| 2017 | Howards End | Ruth Wilcox | Miniseries |
| 2018 | Forever | Marisol | 2 episodes |
| 2019 | Gold Digger | Julia Day | Miniseries |
| 2020–2021 | The Walking Dead: World Beyond | Elizabeth Kublek | Main role; 11 episodes |
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| Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Gemini Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries[citation needed] | Young Catherine | Nominated |
| 1995 | ShoWest Convention | Female Star of Tomorrow[26] | Won | |
| 2004 | Gold Derby Awards | TV movie/Mini Supporting Actress[citation needed] | Iron Jawed Angels | Nominated |
| 2006 | Camerimage | Krzysztof Kieslowski Award[27] | Won | |
| 2009 | Broadcast Film Critics Association | Best Acting Ensemble | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Nominated |
| 2009 | Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Nominated |
| 2009 | Gold Derby Awards | Ensemble Cast[citation needed] | The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | Nominated |
| 2010 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie | Temple Grandin | Won |
| 2011 | Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie | Temple Grandin | Nominated |
| 2011 | Western Heritage Awards | Television Feature Film[28] | Temple Grandin | Won |
| 2011 | Capri, Hollywood | Capri Ensemble Cast Award[citation needed] | My Week with Marilyn | Won |
| 2012 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | Mad Men | Nominated |
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