About the Players
Kristin Scott Thomas (Lady Sylvia McCordle)
Well-known to audiences in her native Britain and around the world, Kristin Scott Thomas will soon be seen starring opposite Kevin Kline in Irwin Winkler's Life as a House.
She received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for her starring role, opposite Ralph Fiennes, in Anthony Minghella's multi-Academy Award-winningThe English Patient.
Gosford Park marks Scott Thomas' third feature with Derek Jacobi: the two have previously costarred in Philip and Belinda Haas' Up at the Villa and Jack Gold's telefilm adaptation of The Tenth Man.
Her other screen credits include Sydney Pollack's Random Hearts, The Horse Whisperer (starring opposite the film's director, Robert Redford), Brian De Palma's Mission: Impossible, Philip and Belinda Haas' Angels and Insects (for which she received the [London] Evening Standard Award for Best Actress), Richard Loncraine's Richard III, Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral (for which she received honors including the BAFTA Award for Best Actress), Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon, and Charles Sturridge's A Handful of Dust (for which she received the [London] Evening Standard Award for Best Newcomer).
Scott Thomas speaks several languages, and has appeared in a number of foreign-language films, including Pierre Jolivet's Force Majeure, Marie-France Pisier's Le Bal du Gouverneur, Eric Rochant's Aux Yeux du Monde, Lucien Pintille's Un Ete Inoubliable (filmed in Romania), and Carlo Cotti's Bille en Tete (which brought her awards from the Europacinema Festival and France's Carbourg Festival). She recently toured France, and is currently working in Paris, in a stage production of Racine's Berenice.
Her television credits include the U.K. miniseries Body and Soul (which earned her an award at the Chicago Film Festival), Gavin Millar's La Belle Epoque (from a screenplay by Francois Truffaut), and Charles Sturridge's epic miniseries Gulliver's Travels.
Sophie Thompson (Dorothy)
Sophie Thompson began her career with some initial U.K. stage and television work (including Don Taylor's telefilm version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible) before training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
On graduation, she joined the Bristol Old Vic for two seasons. Her wealth of subsequent stage appearances includes Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (staged by Peter Wood); the Renaissance Theater Company productions of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (directed by Judi Dench), As You Like It (as Celia, directed by Geraldine McEwan), and Hamlet (directed by fellow Gosford Park star Derek Jacobi); the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of As You Like It (this time as Rosalind, directed by John Caird) and All's Well That Ends Well (directed by Peter Hall); Alan Ayckbourn's Wildest Dreams (for which she received an Olivier Award nomination); Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Company (as Amy, directed by Sam Mendes, and for which she won the Clarence Derwent Award and received her second Olivier Award nomination); and, at the Donmar Warehouse, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods (as the Baker's Wife, directed by John Crowley, for which she earned the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical).
For television, Thompson has had stints as a series regular on Thompson, The Phil Cool Show, Nelson's Column, Blind Men, and, most recently, Lee Evans: So What Now? Among her telefilms are Dennis Potter's Message for Posterity (directed by David Jones) and Catherine Morshead's The Railway Children.
Her films include Richard Loncraine's The Missionary, Don Boyd's Twenty-one, Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral, Roger Michell's Persuasion, Douglas McGrath's Emma (with fellow Gosford Park star Jeremy Northam), Pat O'Connor's Dancing at Lughnasa, and Eric Styles' Relative Values (for which she received a London Film Critics Circle Award nomination).
Emily Watson (Elsie)
Over the last several years, Emily Watson has become one of the entertainment world's most acclaimed actresses.
The U.K. native came to international prominence at the 1996 Cannes International Film Festival, where Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves had its world premiere. The film marked Watson's screen debut, and her performance as Bess earned her Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award nominations for Best Actress. In addition, she was named Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Society of Film Critics, and the European Film (Felix) Awards; was given the New Generation Award by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association; and earned the (London)
Evening Standard Award as Most Promising Newcomer.
Watson received her second Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award nominations for Best Actress for portraying real-life cellist Jacqueline du Pré (opposite Rachel Griffiths as Hilary du Pré), in Anand Tucker's Hilary and Jackie. Her performance also brought Watson Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award nominations for Best Actress; and the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress.
Among her other film credits are Philip Saville's Metroland (starring opposite Christian Bale); Graham Theakston's BBC/PBS "Masterpiece Theatre" telefilm adaptation of The Mill on the Floss (from the George Eliot novel); Jim Sheridan's The Boxer (starring opposite Daniel Day-Lewis); Tim Robbins' Cradle Will Rock (starring with an ensemble cast that included John Turturro); Alan Parker's Angela's Ashes (in which she starred as the title character, author Frank McCourt's mother; for which she received her third BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress); Alan Rudolph's Trixie (her first collaboration with Gosford Park director/producer Robert Altman, who produced the film); and Marleen Gorris' The Luzhin Defence (again starring with John Turturro; for which she was nominated for a British Independent Film Award). She has completed filming two movies: Paul Thomas Anderson's untitled film, in which she stars opposite Adam Sandler; and Kurt Wimmer's Equilibrium, which reteams her with Christian Bale.
Watson's extensive U.K. stage experience includes productions of Chekhov's Three Sisters, Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour (at the Royal National Theatre), and Royal Shakespeare Company stagings of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and All's Well That Ends Well.
Natasha Wightman (Lady Lavinia Meredith)
Just prior to filming Gosford Park, Natasha Wightman was part of another ensemble cast, appearing in the CBS telefilm remake of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, playing opposite Alfred Molina as Hercule Poirot (directed by Carl Schenkel).
Her other films include Stuart Urban's Revelation and Eric Magnans' justwrapped Rendezvous in Paris.
Wightman took courses at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) and trained at Elmhurst Ballet and Theatre School. At the latter, she was in productions of Shakespeare's Richard III and Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde. Her subsequent stage work includes starring roles in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit and a European tour of Shakespeare's As You Like It (in the Soho Theatre Group production).
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