Although an American from North Carolina, Jennifer Ehle trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and was almost immediately hailed as one of the most promising young actresses of her generation winning the prestigious Ian Charleston Award for her role in the Royal National Theatre’s 1991 production of Molière’s Tartuffe and the Best Newcomer award in the Radio Times awards for her role in Peter Hall’s version of Mary Wesley’s The Camomile Lawn for the BBC in 1992. 

Her international fame was however sealed with her hugely successful portrayal of Elizabeth Bennett in the 1995 British mini-series of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. She has since dominated the theatre on both sides of the Atlantic with amongst many others, Tony award-winning performances in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing (2000) and The Coast of Utopia (2007) on Broadway, and in London,  The Philadelphia Story with Kevin Spacey.