Rebecca Hall

The following year she was cast in the British fantasy-horror film Dorian Gray based on Oscar Wilde's 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Rebecca Maria Hall Spector (born 3 May 1982) is an English actress and filmmaker.

Hall was born on 3 May 1982 in London, the daughter of American opera singer Maria Ewing and English stage director and Royal Shakespeare Company founder Sir Peter Hall.

Her mother was born in Detroit, to an African-American mixed-race father and a Dutch mother; she is a descendant of Revolutionary War veteran Bazabeel Norman, a free black man.

On Finding Your Roots, Hall discovered that, while her maternal grandfather, Norman Isaac Ewing, had performed as a Native American figure and was recorded as a Sioux chief in newspapers, he had been born to mixed-race African-American parents, and had no Native American ancestry.

His own father, Hall's great-grandfather John William Ewing, had been born into slavery and became a prominent figure in Washington, D.C.'s Black community.

Hall has 91% European DNA and 9% sub-Saharan African DNA according to an Ancestry.com DNA test.

Hall's parents separated when she was still young, eventually divorcing in 1990.

Hall has five paternal half-siblings: stage director Edward Hall, producer Christopher Hall, actresses Jennifer Caron Hall and Emma Hall, and set designer Lucy Hall.

Hall attended Roedean School, where she became head girl.

She made her first onscreen appearance at age 10 in the 1992 television adaptation of The Camomile Lawn, directed by her father, Sir Peter Hall.

Hall's 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 nine.

Her professional stage debut came in her father's 2002 production of Mrs. Warren's Profession, which earned her the Ian Charleson Award.

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 performed in several productions alongside housemate Dan Stevens, an English literature student at Emmanuel College.

In 2006, following her film debut in Starter for 10, Hall got her breakthrough role in Christopher Nolan's thriller film The Prestige.

Her 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 (2006).

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.

In 2008, she starred as Vicky in Woody Allen's romantic comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

Hall then appeared in a wide array of films, including Ron Howard's historical drama Frost/Nixon (2008), Ben Affleck's crime drama The Town (2010), the horror thriller The Awakening (2011), the superhero film Iron Man 3 (2013), the science fiction film Transcendence (2014), the psychological thriller The Gift (2015), the live-action/CGI fantasy adventure film The BFG (2016), and the biographical drama Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017).

Hall's Hollywood fame grew when she starred in the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) as one of the title characters, Vicky.

Her performance was well-received, and she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

In 2008, she appeared in Ron Howard's historical drama Frost/Nixon as the girlfriend of Michael Sheen's David Frost.

She won the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 2009 Channel 4 miniseries Red Riding: 1974.

Following a small role in the indie film Please Give, Hall starred in Ben Affleck's crime drama The Town (2010) opposite Affleck and Jon Hamm.

In June 2010, she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Paula Garland in the 2009 Channel 4 production Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974.

The following year she played the female lead in the British ghost film The Awakening, released in September 2011.

In 2012, she took on the role of Beth Raymer in the comedy-drama film Lay the Favourite, based on Raymer's memoir of the same title; 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 next starred in the BBC/HBO/VRT production of Parade's End (2012) opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, which earned her a BAFTA Television Award nomination for Best Actress.

In 2013, she was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her performance in BBC Two's Parade's End.

In 2013, Hall replaced Jessica Chastain as Maya Hansen in the superhero film Iron Man 3.

The same year she appeared in the political thriller Closed Circuit (2013).

She then starred opposite Johnny Depp in Wally Pfister's directorial debut Transcendence (2014).

In 2015, Hall starred in the romantic comedy Tumbledown and Joel Edgerton's directorial debut The Gift.

In 2016, Hall was praised by critics for her portrayal of news reporter Christine Chubbuck in the biographical drama Christine.

She portrayed Dr. Ilene Andrews in the MonsterVerse films Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024).

She made her directorial debut with Passing (2021), receiving critical acclaim.

Hall has also made several notable appearances on British television.