Joanne Whalley | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1961-08-25)25 August 1961 (age 63) Salford, England |
| Other names | Joanne Whalley-Kilmer |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2, includingJack Kilmer |
Joanne Whalley (born 25 August 1961)[1][2] is an English film and television actress. She was credited asJoanne Whalley-Kilmer from 1988 to 1996 during her marriage toVal Kilmer.[3]
Whalley came to fame through television with appearances drama serialsEdge of Darkness (BBC, 1985), for which she was nominated for theBAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, andThe Singing Detective (BBC, 1986). She has also appeared in both British and American feature films, includingWillow (1988), where she met Kilmer, andScandal (1989).[3][4] On the stage, her performance inSaved earned her a nomination for theLaurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in1985.[5]
Her subsequent career has seen her cast as a number of iconic historical and fictional figures includingScarlett O'Hara inScarlett (CBS, 1994),Jackie Kennedy inJackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (CBS, 2000),Queen Mary I inThe Virgin Queen (BBC, 2005) andCatherine of Aragon inWolf Hall (BBC, 2015).[3][4]
Whalley was born inSalford,Lancashire, and later moved toLevenshulme and then toStockport,Greater Manchester. There, she attendedBredbury Comprehensive School, before leaving to study atHarrytown Convent Girls' School inRomiley[6] and the Braeside School of Speech and Drama inMarple. As a child actress, from 1974 to 1979, Whalley made a number of television appearances including bit parts in popularsoap operasCoronation Street andEmmerdale.[4]
She made her feature film debut as a youngBeatles fan inRichard Marquand's biographical film,Birth of the Beatles (1979) and flirted with the fringes of theManchesternew wave scene by briefly being a member of a Stockport-based band called the Slowguns, but left before the release of the first of their two singles later that year. Her television work continued with early appearances in episodes of popular series includingJuliet Bravo andThe Gentle Touch.[4]
From 1982 to 1986 she studied and performed with theRoyal Court Theatre starting at the 1982 Young Writers' Festival by originating the role of Rita inMax Stafford-Clark's first production ofAndrea Dunbar'sRita, Sue and Bob Too. That same year she made a non-speaking appearance as agroupie inAlan Parker's musical dramaPink Floyd – The Wall (1982), featured inStan Barstow's well-received TV seriesA Kind of Loving (Granada, 1982) and starred as Gilly Brown alongsideTrevor Eve inDanny Boyle's production ofThe Genius at the Royal Court Theatre.[4][7]
At this time, she was also the lead singer of the pop groupCindy & The Saffrons; they recordedthe Shangri-Las' song "Past, Present and Future" in 1982 atAbbey Road Studios, and the track made the UK singles charts, peaking at #56. The next year they recorded "Terry", written and originally recorded byTwinkle, but this single failed to chart. The group split up soon afterward.[8]
Continuing her theatrical work, she played the title role in the first production ofDaniel Mornin'sKate at theBush Theatre in 1983. That year she also appeared in episodes of popular TV seriesBergerac andReilly, Ace of Spies. Her work for the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre continued with performances as Pam in Danny Boyle's production ofSaved and June in Max Stafford-Clark'sThe Pope's Wedding from 1984 to 1985.[4][7]
Whalley found early success on British television with a lead role inTroy Kennedy Martin's highly regarded and influential drama serialEdge of Darkness (BBC, 1985), for which she received a nomination for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress. At this time she appeared inAlan Bleasdale's comedy filmNo Surrender (1985) and two films forMike Newell:The Good Father (FilmFour, 1985) and the critically acclaimedDance with a Stranger (Goldcrest, 1985). She also concluded her work at the Royal Court Theatre this year by performing the role of Bianca inWilliam Gaskill's production ofWomen Beware Women and then moved to theRoyal National Theatre appearing as Dewey Dell inPeter Gill's productions ofAs I Lay Dying at theCottesloe Theatre.
Further television success came with the key role of Nurse Mills inDennis Potter's drama serialThe Singing Detective (BBC, 1986).[3] She concluded her work with the Royal National Theatre that year by performing as Euphie and 1st Cutie in Peter Gill andJohn Burgess'sThe Women. The following year she performed as Masha inBill Kenwright andElijah Moshinsky's production ofThree Sisters at theAlbery Theatre and theGreenwich Theatre.[4][7]
Whalley met the American actorVal Kilmer in 1987 while filming her first US lead role inGeorge Lucas andRon Howard's Academy Award nominated fantasy adventureWillow (1988).[3] After her wedding to Kilmer in 1988, she moved toLos Angeles to continue her film career and began using 'Joanne Whalley-Kilmer' as her professionalSAG-AFTRA name.
Her most notable British film role to date was asChristine Keeler inMichael Caton-Jones's historical dramaScandal (1989), a fictionalised account of theProfumo affair, which screened in competition at the1989 Cannes Film Festival, featuringJohn Hurt asStephen Ward and SirIan McKellen asJohn Profumo.[3] That same year she also co-starred with Kilmer inJohn Dahl's neo-noirKill Me Again (1989) and received aTheatre World Award for her performance of Geraldine Barklay inJohn Tillinger's off-Broadway production ofWhat the Butler Saw for theManhattan Theatre Club.[9]
Further theatrical work came with her performance in the title role of Lulu inIan McDiarmid's production ofThe Lulu Plays at theAlmeida Theatre in 1990 to 1991. Later that year she gave birth to her first child, Mercedes, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
She recreatedMargaret Mitchell's iconic heroineScarlett O'Hara, originally played byVivien Leigh inGone with the Wind (1939), in theEmmy Award-winning TV miniseriesScarlett (CBS, 1994). That same year she also played the lead role inHeywood Gould's legal thrillerTrial by Jury (1994).[3] She gave birth to her second child,Jack, the following year.
After her divorce from Kilmer in 1996, she changed her surname back to Whalley, starting with her lead role inJon Amiel's spy comedyThe Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) starringBill Murray. She played the title role of former US First LadyJackie Kennedy in David Burton Morris's Emmy Award-winning miniseriesJackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (CBS, 2000).[3]
She later collaborated with the pop-punk bandBlink-182, reading a letter at the beginning of the song "Stockholm Syndrome". In 2005, she appeared asQueen Mary I inThe Virgin Queen, a BBC serial about the life ofQueen Elizabeth I which also starredAnne-Marie Duff andTara FitzGerald. That same year she filmedPlayed which also starred her ex-husbandVal Kilmer. However, the two did not share any scenes together. In 2006, she appeared inLife Line, a two-part drama on BBC1, starring oppositeRay Stevenson.
In February 2008, she appeared on stage inBilly Roche'sPoor Beast in the Rain presented by the Salem K. Theatre Company at the Matrix Theatre inLos Angeles.[10][11] In that same year, Whalley was also a regular in the ITV miniseriesFlood withRobert Carlyle amongst others.
Whalley played one of the female leads,Vannozza dei Cattanei, mistress of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, futurePope Alexander VI, in theShowtime historical dramaThe Borgias (2011),[12] for which she was nominated for a Best ActressGolden Nymph Award at theMonte-Carlo Television Festival.
She guest-starred as Princess Sophie in season 4 ofGossip Girl. With the cast of44 Inch Chest, she shared the Best Ensemble Award at theSan Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2010. The film reunited her with John Hurt, with whom she had done two previous films. In 2014 she played Aunt Patience inJamaica Inn for BBC One. In 2015, she playedClaudia, the wife of Pontius Pilate, inA.D. The Bible Continues, andCatherine of Aragon in the BBC miniseriesWolf Hall.
She has made a number of appearances in streaming shows including roles asSister Maggie in thethird season ofDaredevil (2018), reprising her role of Sorsha from theWillow film (Lucas Film, 1988) in theWillow series (Disney+, 2022),[13] and a starring appearance in an episode of the second season ofCarnival Row (Prime, 2023) as the "Puck" Leonora.
In 2020, Whalley starred inEleanor Coppola's anthology filmLove Is Love Is Love. It was scheduled to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020, but the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film subsequently premiered at the Deauville American Film Festival in France in September of that year.[14][15]
Whalley met American actorVal Kilmer while filming the movieWillow.[3] The couple married in 1988. Whalley took a break from acting to bring up two children with Kilmer: a daughter Mercedes born on 29 October 1991 and a son,Jack, born on 6 June 1995. Shortly after that, the pair separated. Whalley filed for divorce on 21 July 1995, citing irreconcilable differences.[16]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Birth of the Beatles | Groupie | |
| 1982 | Pink Floyd – The Wall | Groupie | |
| 1984 | A Christmas Carol | Fan Hollywell | |
| 1985 | Dance with a Stranger | Christine | |
| No Surrender | Cheryl | ||
| The Good Father | Mary Hall | ||
| 1988 | Willow | Sorsha | |
| To Kill a Priest | Anna | ||
| 1989 | Scandal | Christine Keeler | as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer |
| Kill Me Again | Fay Forrester | ||
| 1990 | Navy SEALs | Claire Varrens | |
| The Big Man | Beth Scoular | ||
| 1991 | Shattered | Jenny Scott | |
| Storyville | Natalie Tate | ||
| 1993 | The Secret Rapture | Katherine Coleridge | |
| 1994 | Mother's Boys | Colleen 'Callie' Harland | |
| A Good Man in Africa | Celia Adekunle | ||
| Trial by Jury | Valerie Alston | ||
| 1997 | The Man Who Knew Too Little | Lori | |
| 1999 | A Texas Funeral | Miranda | |
| 2000 | The Guilty | Natalie Crane | |
| Breathtaking | Caroline Henshow | ||
| 2002 | Before You Go | Mary | |
| Virginia's Run | Jessie Eastwood | ||
| 2005 | The Californians | Luna | |
| 2006 | Played | Maggie | |
| 2007 | Flood | Commissioner Patricia Nash | |
| 2009 | 44 Inch Chest | Liz Diamond | |
| 2011 | Golf in the Kingdom | Agatha McNaughton | |
| Twixt | Denise | ||
| 2017 | Muse | Jacqueline | |
| 2018 | Paul, Apostle of Christ | Priscilla | |
| 2020 | Love Is Love Is Love | Joanne |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974, 1976 | Coronation Street | Pamela Graham | 3 episodes |
| 1975 | Joby | Molly McLeod | ITV Yorkshire television film |
| 1976, 1978 | Crown Court | Janice Scott/Linda Mason | 3 episodes |
| 1977 | Emmerdale Farm | Angela Read | 6 episodes |
| 1976–79 | How We Used to Live | Marjorie Dawson/Sarah Hughes | 20 episodes |
| 1978 | The One and Only Phyllis Dixey | Doris | ITV television film |
| 1979 | Omnibus | Little Red Riding Hood/Madge | 2 episodes |
| 1980 | ITV Playhouse | Lindsey | Episode: "Too Close to the Edge" |
| Juliet Bravo | Maureen Maskell | Episode: "Shot Gun" | |
| Scene | Evelyn | Episode: "And Mum Came Too" | |
| 1980–81 | Coming Home | Travel agent | 2 episodes |
| 1981 | The Gaffer | Nancy | Episode: "The Trouble with Women" |
| Noddy | Mary | Television film | |
| 1982 | A Kind of Loving | Ingrid Rotherwell (Brown) | Main role, 8 episodes |
| The Gentle Touch | Dany | Episode: "Dany" | |
| 1983 | Bergerac | Christine Bolton | Episode: "Always Leave Them Laughing" |
| Reilly, Ace of Spies | Ulla | ITV televisionminiseries; episode: "The Visiting Fireman" | |
| 1984 | A Christmas Carol | Fan | CBS television film |
| 1985 | Edge of Darkness | Emma Craven | 6 episodes |
| 1986 | The Singing Detective | Nurse Mills | 6 episodes |
| 1987 | Screen Two | Jackie | Series 3, TV film: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" |
| 1994 | Scarlett | Scarlett O'Hara | CBS television miniseries; lead role; as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer |
| 2000 | Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis | Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis | CBS television film |
| Run the Wild Fields | Ruby Miller | Showtime original television film | |
| 2005 | The Virgin Queen | Mary I | Television miniseries |
| Child of Mine | Tess Palmer | TV film | |
| 2006 | Justice League Unlimited | Emerald Empress | Voice, episode: "Far from Home"[17] |
| 2009 | Diverted | Marion Price | CBC television miniseries |
| 2011–12 | Gossip Girl | Princess Sophie Grimaldi | 7 episodes |
| 2011–13 | The Borgias | Vanozza Cattaneo | Main role, 25 episodes |
| 2013 | The Challenger Disaster | Gweneth Feynman | BBC television film; also known asThe Challenger Disaster |
| 2014 | Jamaica Inn | Patience Merlyn | BBC One television miniseries |
| 2015 | Wolf Hall | Catherine of Aragon | BBC Two television miniseries |
| The Ark | Emmie | BBC One television film | |
| A.D. The Bible Continues | Claudia, wife of Pontius Pilate | Main role, 12 episodes | |
| 2016 | Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands | Rheda | Main role, 13 episodes |
| 2017 | The White Princess | Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy | Television miniseries |
| 2018 | Daredevil | Sister Maggie[18] | Main role, season 3 |
| 2020 | Tin Star | Mary James | |
| 2022–23 | Willow | Sorsha[13] | Disney+ sequel series; 3 episodes |
| 2023 | Carnival Row | Leonora | Season 2 |
