Embeth Jean Davidtz (born August 11, 1965) is an American-South African actress. Her screen roles include movies such as ''
Army of Darkness
''Army of Darkness'' is a 1992 American comedy horror film directed, co-written and co-edited by Sam Raimi, co-produced by Robert Tapert and Bruce Campbell and co-written by Ivan Raimi. Starring Campbell and Embeth Davidtz, it is the third i ...
'', ''
Schindler's List
''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...
Mansfield Park
''Mansfield Park'' is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime. The novel did not receive any public reviews unt ...
'', ''
Bicentennial Man
''The Bicentennial Man'' is a Novella, novelette in the Robot series (Asimov), ''Robot'' series by American writer Isaac Asimov. According to the foreword in ''Robot Visions'', Asimov was approached to write a story, along with a number of other ...
'', ''
Fallen
Fallen may refer to:
People
* Carl Fredrik Fallén (1764–1830), Swedish botanist and entomologist
* Gabriel Toledo (born 1991), known as FalleN, Brazilian ''Counter-Strike'' player
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional entities
* Fallen ( ...
Fracture
Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...
'', and the television series ''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
,'' ''
Californication Californication may refer to:
*Californication (word), an expression that refers to the influx of Californians into various western states in the U.S.
* ''Californication'' (album), a 1999 album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
** "Californication" (son ...
,
In Treatment
''In Treatment'' is an American drama television series for HBO, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, based on the Israeli series ''BeTipul'' ( he, בטיפול), created by Hagai Levi, Ori Sivan and Nir Bergman.
The series is about a ps ...
,'' and ''
Ray Donovan
''Ray Donovan'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ann Biderman for Showtime. The twelve-episode first season premiered on June 30, 2013.
The pilot episode broke viewership records, becoming the biggest premiere of all t ...
''.
Early life
Davidtz was born in
Lafayette, Indiana
Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, whi ...
, to South African parents John and Jean, while her father was studying
chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
at
Purdue University
Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
. The family later moved to
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784. Davidtz has Dutch, English, and French ancestry. She had to learn
Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
before attending school classes in South Africa, where her father took up a teaching post at
Potchefstroom University
The Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (abbreviated as PU for CHE) was a South African university located in Potchefstroom. Instruction was mainly in Afrikaans. In 2004, the university was merged with other institutions to c ...
. Davidtz graduated from
The Glen High School
The Glen High School is a public English medium co-educational high school situated in the suburb of Waterkloof Glen in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is t ...
in
Pretoria
Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...
in 1983 and studied at
Rhodes University
Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...
in
Grahamstown
Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...
.
Debut and early career
Davidtz made her acting debut at age 21 with
CAPAB
The Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) was a South African theatre organisation based in Cape Town, serving the former Cape Province. It was one of the four state-funded performing arts councils in the four former provinces of South Africa insti ...
(Cape Performing Arts Board, now known as Artscape) in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, playing Juliet in a stage production of ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
'' at the
Maynardville Open-Air Theatre
The Maynardville Open-Air Theater is an outdoor theatre in Maynardville Park, Wynberg, Cape Town, South Africa. It seats 720 people and is known for its annual Shakespeare in the Park plays.
History
Park grounds
Before it was named Maynard ...
. Performing in English and Afrikaans, she also starred in other local plays, including ''Stille Nag'' (Silent Night) and '' A Chain of Voices'', both earning her nominations for the South African equivalent of the
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
.
Her film debut came in 1988 with a small role in South African-filmed American horror ''Mutator''. Shortly after, she won a bigger part in South African short telemovie ''A Private Life'', as the daughter of an interracial couple. Davidtz won a DALRO Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the 1990 play ''Houd-den-bek''. For the same play, she was nominated in 1991 for the Esther Roos Award for Best Actress in a Supporting role in Afrikaans film. Steven Spielberg noticed her performance in the 1992 South African film, ''Nag van die Negentiende'' and offered her the role of Helen Hirsch in ''
Schindler's List
''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...
''.
Hollywood career
In 1993, Davidtz played the role of Helen Hirsch in Steven Spielberg's ''
Schindler's List
''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the 1982 novel ''Schindler's Ark'' by Australian novelist Thomas Keneally. The film fo ...
''.
In 1995, Davidtz had a central role in the fact-based film '' Murder in the First'', and the
Merchant Ivory Productions
Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant (1936–2005) and director James Ivory (b. 1928). Merchant and Ivory were life and business partners from 1961 until Merchant's death in 2005. During their ...
''
Feast of July
''Feast of July'' is a 1995 American-British neo noir crime film directed by Christopher Menaul and produced by Merchant Ivory Productions, based on the 1954 novel by H. E. Bates, starring Embeth Davidtz and Ben Chaplin.
Plot
The movie opens with ...
''.
In ''
Matilda
Matilda or Mathilda may refer to:
Animals
* Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder
* Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse
* Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...
'' (1996), she played the role of Miss Honey, the first-grade teacher of the title character.
In 1998, Davidtz played a theologian helping
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom". Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Washington ha ...
crack a supernatural wave of crimes in the mystery drama ''
Fallen
Fallen may refer to:
People
* Carl Fredrik Fallén (1764–1830), Swedish botanist and entomologist
* Gabriel Toledo (born 1991), known as FalleN, Brazilian ''Counter-Strike'' player
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional entities
* Fallen ( ...
'' and a femme fatale linked to
Kenneth Branagh
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (; born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and has served as its president since 2015. He has won an Academy Award, four BAFTAs (plus t ...
in
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New H ...
's in ''
The Gingerbread Man
The Gingerbread Man (also known as The Gingerbread Boy) is a fairy tale about a gingerbread man's escape from various pursuers until his eventual demise between the jaws of a fox.
"The Gingerbread Boy" first appeared in print in the May 1875, is ...
''. The following year, Davidtz portrayed a 19th-century woman of the world in
Patricia Rozema
Patricia Rozema (born 20 August 1958) is a Canadian film director, writer and producer. She was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave.
Early life
Rozema was born in King ...
's reworking of the
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
comedy ''
Mansfield Park
''Mansfield Park'' is the third published novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1814 by Thomas Egerton. A second edition was published in 1816 by John Murray, still within Austen's lifetime. The novel did not receive any public reviews unt ...
'' and played a dual role opposite
Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...
in the futuristic fable ''
Bicentennial Man
''The Bicentennial Man'' is a Novella, novelette in the Robot series (Asimov), ''Robot'' series by American writer Isaac Asimov. According to the foreword in ''Robot Visions'', Asimov was approached to write a story, along with a number of other ...
''.
A supporting role in the 2001 film '' Bridget Jones' Diary'' saw Davidtz play Natasha, a colleague and one of the love interests of Mark Darcy (
Colin Firth
Colin Andrew Firth (born 10 September 1960) is an English actor and producer. He was identified in the mid-1980s with the " Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, undertaking a challenging series of roles, including leading roles in '' A M ...
). That year, she began her run on the CBS drama ''
Citizen Baines
''Citizen Baines'' is an American drama series television series created by Emmy Award-winning producer Lydia Woodward, that stars James Cromwell. The series premiered on CBS September 29, 2001 and ended on November 3, 2001.
Synopsis
Cromwell s ...
'', playing the daughter of a defeated
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
incumbent (
James Cromwell
James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include ''Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), ''L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''The Queen'' ...
) who is herself leaning towards a career in politics. Other roles included horror thrillers like 2001's ''
Thirteen Ghosts
''Thirteen Ghosts'' (also known as ''13 Ghosts'' and stylized as ''THIR13EN Ghosts'') is a 2001 Supernatural fiction, supernatural horror film directed by Steve Beck (director), Steve Beck, in his feature directorial debut. A remake of the 1960 ...
'' alongside
Tony Shalhoub
Anthony Marc Shalhoub ( ; born October 9, 1953), is an American actor. His accolades include five Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, six Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award nomination.
He played Adrian Monk in the USA Net ...
The Emperor's Club
''The Emperor's Club'' is a 2002 American drama film directed by Michael Hoffman and starring Kevin Kline. Based on Ethan Canin's 1994 short story "The Palace Thief", the film follows a prep school teacher and his students at a fictional boys ...
outsider art
Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates e ...
dealer from Chicago brought to
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
to meet her husband's family for the first time. Davidtz has also guest-starred on the ABC drama series ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...
'' as Dr. Derek Shepherd's sister Nancy in the Season 3 episode "Let the Angels Commit". In 2008, she had a regular role on HBO's ''
In Treatment
''In Treatment'' is an American drama television series for HBO, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, based on the Israeli series ''BeTipul'' ( he, בטיפול), created by Hagai Levi, Ori Sivan and Nir Bergman.
The series is about a ps ...
'' as Amy, part of a fractious couple alongside
Josh Charles
Joshua Aaron Charles (born September 15, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for the roles of Dan Rydell on '' Sports Night; '' Will Gardner on ''The Good Wife'', which earned him two Primetime Emmy Award nominations; and his early wo ...
's Jake.
She portrayed the unfaithful and unfortunate wife of
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, director, and producer. One of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actors, he is known for his performances on the screen and stage. Hopkins has received many accolad ...
's character in the 2007 drama ''
Fracture
Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...
''.
From 2009 to 2012, she played Rebecca Pryce, wife of
Lane Pryce
Lane Pryce is a fictional character in the television series ''Mad Men'', portrayed by Jared Harris.
An English newcomer to the United States as of 1963, he initially acts as financial officer at Sterling Cooper, but eventually leaves, along with ...
, in the AMC television show ''
Mad Men
''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...
''. She also played Felicia Koons, the wife of the dean and the mother of Becca's best friend, Chelsea, on
Showtime
Showtime or Show Time may refer to:
Film
* ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film
* ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur
Television Networks and channels
* Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...
's ''
Californication Californication may refer to:
*Californication (word), an expression that refers to the influx of Californians into various western states in the U.S.
* ''Californication'' (album), a 1999 album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
** "Californication" (son ...
''.
Davidtz played Annika Blomkvist in the 2011 English language version of ''
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
''The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'' (original title in sv, Män som hatar kvinnor , lit=''Men Who Hate Women'') is a psychological thriller novel by Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson (1954–2004). It was published posthumously in 2 ...
''. She also briefly appeared in the 2012
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
''
The Amazing Spider-Man
''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bim ...
Peter Parker
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the S ...
's missing mother.
Personal life
Davidtz married entertainment attorney Jason Sloane on June 22, 2002, and they have two children. The family lives in Los Angeles.
Davidtz has a younger sister who, as of April 2009, was a psychologist at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
In an interview regarding her guest appearances in 2016 on ''
Ray Donovan
''Ray Donovan'' is an American crime drama television series created by Ann Biderman for Showtime. The twelve-episode first season premiered on June 30, 2013.
The pilot episode broke viewership records, becoming the biggest premiere of all t ...
'', in which she portrayed a breast-cancer survivor, Davidtz revealed that she had been diagnosed with
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...
in 2013, which had caused her to stop working and for which she underwent a
mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operat ...
. The role was Davidtz's first after undergoing treatment, and when informed that it required nudity, Davidtz worked with producer
David Hollander
David Hollander (born May 16, 1968) is an American television writer, director, and producer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Career
Hollander is the creator, screenwriter, and an executive producer of ''The Guardian (TV series), The Guardian'' ...
to incorporate her partially-reconstructed right breast into the story, turning down the use of a prosthetic as a substitute for her right nipple that was due to be restored through surgery. "Somebody might not believe it if an actress pretended to have their nipple gone and said, 'Look, I'm still sexual and pretty.' But when it's real, I hope it makes someone feel beautiful. I still feel beautiful," said Davidtz regarding the message she wished to convey by taking the role.