Rebecca Hall

Rebecca Maria Hall (born 19 May 1982)[1] is an English actress. In 2003, Hall won the Ian Charleson Award for her debut stage performance in a production of Mrs. Warren's Profession.[2] She has appeared in four high-profile films: The Prestige, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category), The Town and Frost/Nixon. 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.[3]

Hall was born in London, the daughter of English director Peter Hall and American opera singer Maria Ewing[4][5]. Her parents separated when she was still young, and they divorced in 1990.[6] She has a half-brother, Edward Hall, who is a theatre director, and four other half-siblings,[6] including theatre designer Lucy Hall, veteran TV drama producer Christopher Hall, and Jennifer Caron Hall, a writer and painter.[citation needed] Hall attended Roedean School, where she became head girl.[6] She studied English Literature at Cambridge University for two years, before dropping out in 2002.[6][7] During her time at Cambridge, she appeared in a number of plays and set up a theatre company.[8] She also appeared in student stage productions alongside Dan Stevens, later her As You Like It co-star.[citation needed] During 2003-2004, Hall was in a relationship with her As You Like It co-star Freddie Stevenson.[9]

Hall's first role came in 1992, when she appeared as young Sophy in her father's television adaptation of Mary Wesley's The Camomile Lawn. 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,[10] as well as appearing in several other TV movies 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.[11] Critics praised her performance.[11] Hall was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. She also appeared in Frost/Nixon in 2008 as the girlfriend of Michael Sheen's David Frost. She has said, "I was really excited when I found out I had the opportunity to work with [Sheen] ... He did a production of Amadeus with my dad when I was younger. I remember seeing him then when I was 16 and having quite an adolescent crush on him."[12] Hall was cast with Ben Barnes in the film Dorian Gray. Hall appeared in Please Give with Catherine Keener and Amanda Peet, and The Town with Ben Affleck and Blake Lively.[11] She is the female lead role in the British ghost film The Awakening, released in September 2011.[13][14] Hall is among the actresses being considered for the role of Fantine in Tom Hooper's upcoming film adaptation of Les Misérables.[15] [edit]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"[16] and "accomplished",[17] earned her the Ian Charleson Award in 2003.[18] In 2003, Hall's father celebrated fifty years as a theatre director by staging a season of five plays at the Theatre Royal, Bath. Hall starred in two of these plays; she appeared as Rosalind in her father's production of As You Like It,[19] which gained her a second Charleson nomination[20] and starred in the title role of Thea Sharrock's revival of D. H. Lawrence's The Fight For Barbara.[21] 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.[9] 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 and venues in New Haven, Connecticut, Columbus, Ohio, and the historic Wilbur Theater in Boston.[citation needed] In 2008-9, she appeared in Sam Mendes's first installment of the Bridge Project, as Hermione in The Winter's Tale and Varya in The Cherry Orchard,[22] which gave performances with the same cast in Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, the UK and the US.[23] In 2010–11, she played Viola in a production of Twelfth Night at London's National Theatre, which her father directed.[24] [edit]Personal life

In November 2011, it was confirmed that Hall has been in a relationship with director Sam Mendes "for some time"