Charlotte Frances Riley (born 29 December 1981) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Sarah Hurst in '' Easy Virtue'' (2008) and as

Catherine Earnshaw Catherine Earnshaw (later Catherine Linton) is the female protagonist of the 1847 novel ''Wuthering Heights'' written by Emily Brontë. Catherine is one of two surviving children born to Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw, the original tenants of the Wuther ...

in ITV's adaptation of ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...

'' (2009).

Early life and education

Riley was born in Grindon, County Durham. She was brought up in County Durham and attended Teesside High School from the age of 9 until 18. She attended

St Cuthbert's Society, Durham St Cuthbert's Society, colloquially known as Cuth's, is a college of Durham University. It was founded in 1888 for students who were not attached to the existing colleges. St Cuthbert's Society is a Bailey college, based on Durham's peninsula ...

, from 2000 to 2003, performing with the sketch comedy group the Durham Revue and in plays and musicals and graduating with a degree in English and Linguistics; she also attended the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...

from 2005 to 2007.

Career

In 2004, Riley won the ''Sunday Times''' Playwriting Award for ''Shaking Cecilia'', which she co-wrote with Tiffany Wood. In 2011, she played Anna in

Helen Edmundson Helen Edmundson (born 1964) is a British playwright, screenwriter and producer. She has won awards and critical acclaim both for her original writing and for her adaptations of various literary classics for the stage and screen. Early life Edmu ...

's adaptation of '' Anna of the Five Towns'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. She appeared in ''

Edge of Tomorrow ''Edge of Tomorrow'' is a 2014 American science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Doug Liman and written by Christopher McQuarrie and the writing team of Jez Butterworth, Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, loosely based on th ...

'', starring

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...

and

Emily Blunt Emily Olivia Laura Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Emily Blunt, several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition t ...

. She also appeared onstage at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

production of ''The Priory'', by

Michael Wynne Michael Walter Wynne (born September 4, 1944) is an American politician and business executive and was the 21st United States Secretary of the Air Force. United States Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates asked for and receive ...

. She co-starred in ''

London Has Fallen ''London Has Fallen'' is a 2016 political action thriller film directed by Babak Najafi and written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John, and Christian Gudegast. It is the second installment in the ''Has Fallen'' film s ...

'', the sequel to the 2013 film ''

Olympus Has Fallen ''Olympus Has Fallen'' is a 2013 American political action thriller film directed and co-produced by Antoine Fuqua from a screenplay written by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, and is the first installment in the ''Has Fallen'' fil ...

'', where she portrayed an

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

agent Jacqueline Marshall. She also portrayed Arabella Strange in the mini-series adaptation of '' Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell''. In 2018, she got a lead role in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

drama '' Press'', which was cancelled after its first series. In 2019, Riley played the role of Lottie / Ghost of Christmas Present in the BBC mini-series ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

'', based on the

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

novella of the same name. She appeared in the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

series ''

The Peripheral ''The Peripheral'' is a 2014 science fiction mystery-thriller novel by William Gibson set in near- and post-apocalyptic versions of the future. The story focuses on a young rural-town American woman who lives in the near future, and on a Londo ...

''.

Personal life

In 2008, Riley and Tom Hardy met while playing fictional lovers Cathy and Heathcliff on the set of ''

''. In an interview Hardy said that although they became good friends while filming ''Wuthering Heights'' and ''The Take'', they only began a relationship after filming the movie ''Warrior'' in 2009. Around the summer of 2010, Hardy proposed to Riley. On 4 July 2014, the couple married in an intimate ceremony at Chateau de Roussan, attended by family and friends including Hardy's son from a previous relationship. Riley and Hardy's son was born in October 2015, and another in December 2018.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Charlotte 1981 births Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Living people Actresses from County Durham English television actresses People educated at Teesside High School 21st-century English actresses English stage actresses English film actresses English dramatists and playwrights Actors from the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees