Natascha McElhone

Natascha Abigail Taylor (born 14 December 1971), known professionally as Natascha McElhone (/ˈmækəlhoʊn/), is an English actress. In film, she has starred in the action thriller Ronin (1998), the psychological comedy-drama The Truman Show (1998) and the science fiction drama Solaris (2002). On television, she has starred in the Showtime comedy-drama series Californication (2007–2014), the ABC political drama series Designated Survivor (2016–2017), the Hulu science fiction drama series The First (2018), the Netflix historical series The Crown (2022) and the Paramount+ military science fiction series Halo.

Natascha McElhone
McElhone in 2018
Born	Natascha Abigail Taylor (1971-12-14) 14 December 1971 (age 53) Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1990–present
Spouse	Martin Hirigoyen Kelly ​ ​ (m. 1998; died 2008)​
Children	3
Relatives	Roy Greenslade (stepfather)

Early life

McElhone was born Natascha Abigail Taylor in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England on 14 December 1971^[1] to Noreen McElhone and Michael Taylor, who are both journalists.^[2] She took her mother's maiden name as her stage name. McElhone has a brother and two half-brothers. Her parents separated when she was two. Her Irish mother moved the family to Brighton and later married journalist and columnist Roy Greenslade.^[3]

McElhone was educated at St Mark's Church of England Primary School, Brighton; St Mary's Hall, Brighton; Fortismere School, London; Camden School for Girls, London; and William Ellis, London. She took lessons in Irish dancing from ages 6 to 12. She studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.^[4]

Career

McElhone began her career in the theatre, including starring roles in Richard III and A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, London, and in The Count of Monte Cristo and The Cherry Orchard at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester. She made her television debut in 1990, credited as "Natascha Taylor", in Television South's adaptation of the Inspector Wexford story An Unkindness of Ravens.^[5] She appeared the following year, again credited as "Natascha Taylor," in the series Bergerac as Louise Calder, a rebellious daughter of very wealthy parents.^[6]

McElhone at the Southbank Centre, London in March 2014

She appeared in two episodes of the Dennis Potter television miniseries Karaoke. McElhone's first major box-office role came with Surviving Picasso (1996), with co-star Anthony Hopkins. One of her most successful films to date has been The Truman Show (1998) with Jim Carrey.^[7] She had leading roles opposite Brad Pitt in The Devil's Own (1997), Robert De Niro in Ronin (1998)^[8] and George Clooney in Solaris (2002).^[9][10]

Co-starring with Bill Pullman, she appeared in the NBC miniseries Revelations (2005). McElhone starred in a 2006 West End production of Honour at the Wyndham's Theatre alongside Diana Rigg and Martin Jarvis. She accepted the role as Karen in the Showtime cable television series Californication, alongside David Duchovny.^[1][11] In 2009, she became a spokeswoman for Neutrogena.^[12] In 2010, McElhone voiced Marie in the video game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow from Konami.^[13]

She featured as Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (2013), a film adaptation of Shakespeare's play. Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld were the leads, and Damian Lewis played her husband.^[14] In 2014, McElhone played Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. In 2015, she starred as Sarah Churchill in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Helen Edmundson's Queen Anne.^[15]

In February 2016, McElhone was cast alongside Kiefer Sutherland in ABC's political drama series Designated Survivor, which premiered in September 2016.^[16] She left the show in Season 2 to star as Laz Ingram in the Hulu science fiction drama series The First (2018).^[17] In 2022, McElhone appeared as Penelope Knatchbull in the Netflix historical series season 5 of The Crown.^[18] From 2022 to 2024, she starred as Catherine Halsey in the Paramount+ military science fiction series Halo.^[19]

Personal life

McElhone married plastic surgeon Martin Hirigoyen Kelly on 19 May 1998.^[20] The couple lived in Fulham, south-west London. They had three sons, the third born five months after Kelly's death.^[21]

On 20 May 2008, 43-year-old Kelly was found slumped in the doorway of his family's home by a fellow doctor, who had him rushed to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital (where he worked). He could not be revived and died one day after his 10th wedding anniversary. A postmortem exam revealed the cause of death to have been dilated cardiomyopathy.^[22][23]

After her husband's death, McElhone continued to write letters to him, sometimes documenting the daily trivia of life but also dealing with how she and their young children were coping with their loss. These letters and diary entries formed the basis of her book After You: Letters of Love, and Loss, to a Husband and Father. The book was published in July 2010.^[24][25]

Filmography

List of film works

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1996	Surviving Picasso	Françoise Gilot
1997	The Devil's Own	Megan Doherty
1997	Mrs Dalloway	Young Clarissa Dalloway
1998	The Truman Show	Lauren Garland / Sylvia
1998	What Rats Won't Do	Kate Beckenham
1998	Ronin	Deirdre
2000	Love's Labour's Lost	Lady Rosaline
2000	Contaminated Man	Holly Anderson
2002	Laurel Canyon	Sara
2002	FeardotCom	Terry Huston
2002	Killing Me Softly	Deborah Tallis
2002	City of Ghosts	Sophie
2002	Solaris	Rheya Kelvin
2004	Ladies in Lavender	Olga Daniloff
2005	Guy X	Sgt. Irene Teal
2006	Big Nothing	Penelope Wood
2008	The Secret of Moonacre	Loveday de Noir
2008	Blessed	Lou
2010	The Kid	Gloria
2013	The Sea	Connie Grace
2013	Romeo and Juliet	Lady Capulet
2014	Believe	Erica Gallagher
2016	Mr. Church	Marie Brooks
2016	London Town	Sandrine Baker
2021	Carmen	Carmen

List of television works

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1990	The Ruth Rendell Mysteries	Helen Blake	2 episodes
1991	Bergerac	Louise Calder	Episode: "Snow in Provence"
1994	Absolutely Fabulous	Art Gallery Assistant	Episode: "Death"
1994	Minder	Vanessa	Episode: "All Quiet on the West End Front"
1994	Cadfael	Cecily Corde	Episode: "The Sanctuary Sparrow"
1994	Screen One	Janet	Episode: "A Breed of Heroes"
1996	Karaoke	Angie	2 episodes
1996	Cold Lazarus	Angie	2 episodes
2003	The Other Boleyn Girl	Mary Boleyn	Television film
2005	Revelations	Sister Josepha Montafiore	Miniseries
2007	The Company	Elizabet Nemeth	Miniseries
2007–2014	Californication	Karen	84 episodes
2009	10 Minute Tales	Woman	Television short; segment: "Deep & Crisp & Even"
2010	Thorne: Sleepyhead	Anne Coburn	Episodes 1-3
2015	Saints & Strangers	Elizabeth Hopkins	Miniseries
2016–2017	Designated Survivor	First Lady Alex Kirkman	Series regular (Season 1 and 2)
2018	The First	Laz Ingram	Series regular	[26]
2022–present	Hotel Portofino	Bella Ainsworth	Series regular
2022–2024	Halo	Dr. Catherine Elizabeth Halsey	Series regular; also producer	[citation needed]
2022	The Crown	Penelope Knatchbull, Lady Romsey	Main role (Season 5)
2022	Better Things	Mark's girlfriend (uncredited)	Season 5 Episode 9
TBA	Young Sherlock	Cordelia Holmes	Filming

List of video game appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2010	Castlevania: Lords of Shadow	Marie Belmont		[13]
2014	Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Awards

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Award	Category	Result
1999	Ronin	MTV Movie Award	Best Action Sequence (shared with Robert De Niro)	Nominated
2003	Solaris	Saturn Award	Best Actress	Nominated
2003		IFTA Award	Best Actress in Film	Nominated
2005	Revelations	Satellite Award	Outstanding Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television	Nominated
2010	The Kid	Irina Palm	Worst British Supporting Actress	Won
2022	Halo	WIN Award	Actress Drama Series	Nominated