Julia Karin Ormond (born 4 January 1965) is an English film and television actress. She rose to prominence by appearing in '' The Baby of Mâcon'' (1993), '' Legends of the Fall'' (1994), '' First Knight'' (1995), '' Sabrina'' (1995), '' Smilla's Sense of Snow'' (1997), and '' The Barber of Siberia'' (1998). She won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her role in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

film '' Temple Grandin'' (2010). She is also known for her role in '' The Walking Dead: World Beyond'' (2020) as a main antagonist.

Early life

Ormond was born in

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

in Surrey, the daughter of Josephine, a laboratory technician, and John Ormond, a stockbroker. She has an elder sister and was five when her parents divorced. She has three younger, half-siblings from her father's second marriage. She has admitted to a fear of heights. She was educated privately, firstly at Guildford High School and then at Cranleigh School, where early acting lead performances in ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Run ...

'' and ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story, based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play ''Pygmalion (play), Pygmalion'' and on the Pygmalion (1938 film), 1938 film ...

'' began to draw attention. After one year of art school, she transferred to

Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehen ...

, where she graduated in 1988.

Career

Ormond first appeared on British television in the 1989 serial '' Traffik'', about the illegal heroin trade from the far East to the streets of Europe. Ormond played the drug-addicted daughter of the lead character, a Home Office minister in the UK government engaged in combating heroin importation. This early role won glowing reviews. Ormond appeared in several television films early in her career, such as '' Young Catherine'' (1991) and ''

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

'' (1992). In 1993, she made her film debut in the lead role of an international movie, '' The Baby of Mâcon'', and the following year co-starred in '' Legends of the Fall''. In 1995, Ormond played Queen

Guinevere Guinevere ( ; ; , ), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First mentioned in literature in the early 12th cen ...

in '' First Knight'' and the title role in '' Sabrina''. In 1997, she played a lead role in the thriller'' Smilla's Sense of Snow'' and, in 1998, she starred in the Russian film '' The Barber of Siberia''. Since the late 1990s, Ormond has appeared in indie and television movies and played supporting roles in films such as '' Iron Jawed Angels'' (2004), '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' (2008), '' Che: Part One'' (2008), ''

Albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...

'' (2011), and '' My Week with Marilyn'' (2011). Ormond has an independent production company, Indican Productions, based in New York City, and she executive-produced the Cinemax Reel Life documentary '' Calling the Ghosts: A Story about Rape, War and Women'', which won a CableACE Award and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, and was an official selection of the

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

On stage, she appeared in David Hare's '' My Zinc Bed'', for which she received a 2001 Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress. On television, Ormond appeared as a guest star during the 2008–09 season of the CBS series '' CSI: NY''. In 2010, she won an

for her supporting role in the television film '' Temple Grandin''. In 2011, Ormond guest starred in the tenth and final season of the series '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent''. In 2012, she played the part of Marie Calvet, mother to Megan Draper, in the series ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

'', for which she was nominated for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series is an award that is presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance i ...

. From 6 October 2013 to 5 October 2014, Ormond starred in the television series '' Witches of East End'' as Joanna Beauchamp, one of the lead characters. Since 2020, she has portrayed the primary antagonist, Elizabeth Kublek, in the

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

television series '' The Walking Dead: World Beyond''.

Personal life

In 1988, Ormond married Rory Edwards, an actor she had met while performing in a production 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 ...

''. The marriage ended in 1994. She married political activist Jon Rubin in 1999, and their child, Sophie, was born in the autumn of 2004. The couple divorced in 2008 and Ormond lives in

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; ; ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, about west of downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate, its strip of beaches stretching along the Pacific Ocean coa ...

. Ormond has been fighting

human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...

since the mid-1990s, and in 2006 she entered into a partnership with the

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French language, French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention ...

to help increase awareness efforts. She is also an advocate for Transatlantic Partners Against

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, which attempts to raise awareness about AIDS in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and is founding co-chairman of FilmAid International. On 2 December 2005, Ormond was appointed a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador. Her focus has been on anti-human-trafficking initiatives, raising awareness about this modern form of slavery and promoting efforts to combat it. In her capacity as ambassador, Ormond has appeared as counsel to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, Committee on International Relations,House Committee on Foreign Affairs :: U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, and has travelled the world as an ambassador. In 2007, Ormond established the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking (ASSET). On 4 October 2023, Ormond filed a lawsuit against

Harvey Weinstein Harvey Weinstein (, ; born March 19, 1952) is an American film producer and convicted sex offender. In 1979, Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent ...

, alleging that he sexually assaulted her in 1995. The suit also seeks damages from

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

, and Creative Artists Agency, claiming that these companies failed to protect her from his abuse.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ormond, Julia 1965 births 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Actresses from Epsom Alumni of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art English activists English women activists English expatriate actresses in the United States English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses Living people Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners People educated at Cranleigh School People educated at Guildford High School