natasha

Biography

Early life

Named after the heroine in Leo Tolstoy's famous novel, War and Peace, she made her film debut at the age of four in a film directed by her father, Charge of the Light Brigade, in the year 1968. She trained at St. Paul's Girls' School for several years and then advanced to London's Central School of Speech and Drama. Thereafter she underwent her first professional work at the Leeds Playhouse in England. Like the entirety of the Redgrave family, she went on to specialize in Shakespeare at London's Old Vic theatre.

The Redgraves

Richardson is the daughter of the late director Tony Richardson and Academy Award-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave, and a granddaughter of the late actors Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. Her sister is Joely Richardson, of the television drama Nip/Tuck. She is the niece of actress Lynn Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, and cousin of Jemma Redgrave.

Career

She began her successful career at the Leeds, England regional playhouse, then appeared in a feature directed by her father, at age four. Her film acting debut in Every Picture Tells a Story in 1984, was followed by a CBS Miniseries event, Ellis Island. A year later, Richardson appeared in a revival of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull; her first professional work in London's West End. That same year she made her UK television debut alongside Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes appearing as Violet Hunter in the episode The Copper Beeches. Soon after, she starred in the London stage production High Society, adapted from the acclaimed Cole Porter film and successively portrayed Mary Godwin in the 1987 Ken Russell film, Gothic. The same year she starred opposite Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country, directed by Pat O'Connor. A major moment in advancement was upon her performance in The Handmaid's Tale (1990), playing opposite Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway.

Family life

Her first marriage was to theatrical producer Robert Fox, from the years 1984 through 1993. However, she has been married to Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson since late 1994. Richardson and Neeson are parents of two sons: Micheál Richard Antonio Neeson (born June 22, 1995), and Daniel Jack Neeson (born August 27, 1996).

Selected films

• The White Countess (2005) - Countess Sofia Belinskya
• Asylum (2005) - Stella Raphael
• Maid in Manhattan (2002) - Caroline Lane
• Blow Dry (2001) - Shelley Allen
• Haven (2000) - Ruth Gruber
• The Parent Trap (1998) - Elizabeth James
• Nell (1994) - Dr. Paula Olsen
• Widows' Peak (1994) - Mrs. Edwina Broome
• The Handmaid's Tale (1990) - Kate/Offred
• The Comfort of Strangers (1990) - Mary
• Patty Hearst (1988) - Patrica Hearst
• Gothic (1986) - Mary Shelley

External link

• Natasha Richardson at the Internet Movie Database
• Natasha Richardson at the Internet Broadway Database
• Interpreting Tennessee Williams Working in the Theatre Seminar video at American Theatre Wing, April 2005