Rebecca Maria Hall (born 3 May 1982) is an actress who holds both British and American citizenship. In 2003, she won the Ian Charleson Award for her debut stage performance in a production of Mrs. Warren's Profession. She has appeared in the films The Prestige, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe), The Town, Frost/Nixon, Iron Man 3, and Transcendence.
In June 2010, Hall won the Supporting Actress BAFTA for her portrayal of Paula Garland in the 2009 Channel 4 production Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974. She was also nominated for the Leading Actress BAFTA in 2013 for her role as Sylvia Tietjens in BBC Two's Parade's End.
Early life
Hall was born in London, UK to British stage director Peter Hall, who founded the Royal Shakespeare Company, and American opera singer Maria Ewing, an opera singer of Dutch, Scottish, Sioux, and African American origin. Her parents separated when she was still young, eventually divorcing in 1990. She has a half-brother, Edward Hall, who is a theatre director, and four other half-siblings, including theatre designer Lucy Hall, veteran TV drama producer Christopher Hall, and Jennifer Caron Hall, a writer and painter.
Hall attended Roedean School, where she became head girl. She studied English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, before dropping out in 2002 just before her final year. During her time at Cambridge, she was active in the student theatre scene and also set up her own theatre company. She was a member of the Marlowe Society and starred alongside housemate Dan Stevens, who was an English literature student at Emmanuel College, in several critically acclaimed productions.
Career
Film and television
Although she appeared in a play (called The Breast of a Woman) while studying English at Cambridge University, her first professional role came in 1992, when she appeared as young Sophy in her father's television adaptation of Mary Wesley's The Camomile Lawn at the age of 10.
Hall's feature film debut came in 2006 as Rebecca Epstein in the film adaptation of David Nicholls's Starter for Ten. She got her breakthrough with the role of Sarah Borden in Christopher Nolan's film The Prestige. She then appeared in Stephen Poliakoff's Joe's Palace in 2007, as well as appearing in several other television films including Wide Sargasso Sea and Rubberheart.
Her Hollywood fame grew when she starred in the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, playing one of the title characters, Vicky. Critics praised her performance. Hall was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture â€" Musical or Comedy. She also appeared in Frost/Nixon in 2008 as the girlfriend of Michael Sheen's David Frost. Hall was cast with Ben Barnes in the film Dorian Gray in 2009. Hall appeared in Please Give with Catherine Keener and Amanda Peet and The Town with Ben Affleck and Blake Lively. She is the female lead role in the British ghost film The Awakening, released in September 2011.
She played the role of Beth Raymer, in the 2012 film Lay the Favourite, in which one review commented that she "plays Raymer as an endearing force of nature who somehow manages to survive in a dangerous world through sheer force of character." She played the role of Sylvia Tietjens in the BBC/HBO/VRT production of Parade's End in 2012 opposite Benedict Cumberbatch. She replaced Jessica Chastain as Maya Hansen in the superhero film Iron Man 3 (2013). She also starred as Claudia Simmons Howe in the thriller Closed Circuit (2013), and co-starred with Johnny Depp in Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence (2014).
In October 2013, she was engaged in promoting her latest film, the espionage thriller Closed Circuit, in which one commentator described her as "good...better than [co-star] Eric Bana".
In February 2014, Hall joined the upcoming romantic comedy Tumbledown opposite Jason Sudeikis.
Stage
Hall's professional stage debut came in 2002 when she starred as Vivie in her father's production of Mrs Warren's Profession at the Strand Theatre in London. Her performance, described as "admirable" and "accomplished", earned her the Ian Charleson Award in 2003.
In 2003, Hall's father celebrated fifty years as a theatre director by staging a season of five plays at the Theatre Royal in Bath, Somerset. Hall starred in two of these plays; she appeared as Rosalind in her father's production of As You Like It, which gained her a second Charleson nomination and starred in the title role of Thea Sharrock's revival of D. H. Lawrence's The Fight for Barbara. In 2004, Hall appeared in three plays for the Peter Hall Company at the Theatre Royal, two of which her father directed, namely Man and Superman in which she played Ann, and Galileo's Daughter in which she played Sister Maria Celeste. The third, Molière's Don Juan, in which she played the part of Elvira, was directed by Sharrock.
In 2005, Hall reprised the role of Rosalind in a touring production of As You Like It, again under the direction of her father. This tour took in the following venues: The Rose Theatre in Kingston upon Thames; The Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York; The Curran Theatre at San Francisco; The Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. This was a second leg of the U.S. tour that began in 2003 with venues at the Shubert Theater New Haven, Connecticut, Columbus, Ohio, and the historic Wilbur Theater in Boston.
In 2008â€"09, she appeared in Sam Mendes's first instalment of the Bridge Project, as Hermione in The Winter's Tale and Varya in The Cherry Orchard, which gave performances with the same cast in Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2010â€"11, she played Viola in a production of Twelfth Night at London's National Theatre, which her father directed.
Hall made her Broadway debut in Sophie Treadwell's expressionist play Machinal in 2013. The Roundabout Theatre production, directed by Lyndsey Turner, began previews on 20 December 2013, with the official opening set for 16 January 2014 at the American Airlines Theatre.
Personal life
During 2003 and 2004, Hall was in a relationship with her As You Like It co-star Freddie Stevenson.
In November 2011, a spokesman for director Sam Mendes confirmed that he was romantically involved with Hall.
Hall holds dual citizenship for the UK and the US.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
- Rebecca Hall at the Internet Movie Database
- Rebecca Hall at the TCM Movie Database
- Rebecca Hall at AllMovie
