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Biography
Vitals
In the family
With actress Vanessa Redgrave and the late director Tony Richardson as parents, this bright-eyed British girl grew up watching Broadway productions and hanging out on film sets.
She was constantly surrounded by movie stars, fantastic theaters and costumes. This exposure, along with her mother's acting, inspired her to pursue the craft.
"I loved hanging around movie sets when I was a kid," she told the Orange County Register. "I loved the whole world. I loved the way a movie crew becomes an extended family. And I loved the idea of dressing up in costumes and playing a character. I remember being moved by great performances, and often those performances where given by my mother, so I guess you could say she influenced me in that way."
Although her parents split when Richardson was a child, the family remained close. Her father and mother never pressured her to go into acting, and they always supported her decisions.
Yet Richardson's childhood was, by her own account, unconventinal.
"My mother raised me and there was some painful and difficult times," she told celebrity interviewer Jeanne Wolf, "because she was pursuing a career and also very actively involved in expressing her political views.
"But, looking back, I wouldn't switch her for a normal mom, even though there were moments when I'd come back from school and wish she'd just be there in a gingham dress putting dinner on the table. I never had that. But now I'm really glad I have her."
Following in her mother's footsteps, Richardson started out acting in British theater. Before graduating from the Central School of Speech and Drama, she performed in several productions in London's Leeds Playhouse.
After graduation, she graced the London stages with her roles as Nina in Chekhov's "The Seagull" and as Ophelia in "Hamlet."
She made her film debut in 1986 as Mary Shelley in Ken Russell's "Gothic." After that, she starred as the title character in "Patty Hearst," Edwina in "Widow's Peak" and Paula Olsen in "Nell."
Even with her successful film career, Richardson hasn't abandoned the theater. She had the lead in the 1992 Broadway production of Euguene O'Neil's "Anna Christie," and she received a 1998 Tony Award for her role as the nightclub chanteuse Sally Bowles in the Broadway revival of "Cabaret."
Richardson met her husband, Liam Neeson, while working on "Anna Christie." While her attraction to the Oscar winner was immediate, Richardson wasn't sure she'd get so much as a date with Neeson.
"Liam is kind of a loner and I'm more of a family-and-friends kind of person," she told Wolf. "But what we have in common is that we take our work very seriously, we take all the celebrity business with a large grain of salt and we love each other."
Although she is still reeling from the success of her Tony, Richardon knows how to stay focused on what's important in her career.
"It sounds boring, but what I really get a kick out of is the work itself," she continued with Wolf. "Think of the sports analogy: It's like serving an ace or doing three triple lutzes in a row -- that's the kind of rush you get when an audience responds to you."
Did you know ...
... that in 1985 she co-starred with her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and aunt, Lynn Redgrave, in the acclaimed production of Chekhov's "The Three Sisters"?
... that in 1986 she won the London Theatre Critics' Most Promising Newcomer award?
... that she is a fifth-generation actor on her mother's side?
Feature films
"Nell," 1994; with Jodie Foster and Liam Neeson
"Widows' Peak," 1994; with Mia Farrow and Adrian Dunbar
"The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish," 1991; with Bob Hoskins and Jeff Goldblum
"The Handmaid's Tale," 1990; with Faye Dunaway, Elizabeth McGovern and Robert Duvull
"The Comfort of Strangers," 1990; with Christopher Walken and Rupert Everett
"Fat Man and Little Boy," 1989; with Paul Newman and John Cusack
"Patty Hearst," 1988; with Frances Fisher and Dana Delany
"A Month in the Country," 1987; with John Atkinsons and Kenneth Branagh
"Gothic," 1986; with Gabriel Bryne and Julian Sands
Television
"Zelda," 1993; with Jon DeVries and Timothy Hutton
"Hostages," 1993; with Kathy Bates and Colin Firth
"Suddenly, Last Summer," 1993; with Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe
"Past Midnight," 1992; with Rutger Hauer and Clancy Brown
"Ghosts," 1986; with Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh
"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes II," 1985; with Jeremy Brett and David Burke
"Ellis Island," 1984; with Peter Banks, Kate Burton and Faye Dunaway
Theater
"The Seagull," played Nina
