Joely Kim Richardson aka Joely biography

Real biography: Early life

Richardson was born in London to a theatrical family, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and late director Tony Richardson, the granddaughter of Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, Lady Redgrave, sister of actress Natasha Richardson, and sister-in-law of actor Liam Neeson, and niece of Lynn Redgrave and Corin Redgrave. Joely Richardson appeared as an extra at the age of three in the 1968 version of The Charge of the Light Brigade directed by her father.

Career

Joely had an early ambition to become a professional tennis player and spent two years at a tennis academy in Florida. She then turned to acting. In 1985 she portrayed, via flashbacks, the younger version of the leading character played by her mother in the film Wetherby. After a leading role in Peter Greenaway's cult success Drowning by Numbers, her first major role in front of a mass audience was as Joanna Farley in a 1989 television episode of Poirot, the Agatha Christie-based detective series. She later appeared in an anomalously amusing portrayal of a fictional Finnish princess, Anna, in the 1991 comedy King Ralph.

A year later, she appeared in Shining Through alongside her future brother-in-law Liam Neeson, where both played characters depicted as Nazis.

In 1993, she appeared as Lady Chatterley in a television drama of the same title, opposite Sean Bean.

In 1996, Richardson played the fashion designer Anita in the popular Disney film 101 Dalmatians opposite Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. In 1998, in the popular television drama The Echo, she played sultry Amanda Powell. The next year, she played in the sci-fi/horror movie Event Horizon as Lieutenant Starck, executive officer of the research and rescue ship Lewis & Clark, sent to rescue crew of the long-thought-lost experimental ship Event Horizon.

One year later, Richardson played opposite Mel Gibson in the successful film The Patriot, an American fiction based on the American Revolution. Later that year she was modelling a necklace, when director Charles Shyer noticed her resemblance to doomed 18th-century French Queen Marie Antoinette. Thus, she secured the role of that queen in the 2001 film The Affair of the Necklace. Also in 2000, she played opposite Hugh Laurie in Maybe Baby, Ben Elton's movie adaptation of his book Inconceivable.

In 2003, Richardson took on the major role of playing Julia McNamara in the controversial television drama Nip/Tuck, based on the lives of two dysfunctional plastic surgeons in Miami. Her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, has appeared in several episodes, playing her character's mother.

In 2005, Richardson starred in Lies My Mother Told Me, based on a true story about a murderous con artist. In 2007 she played the mother in "The Last Mimzy" with Timothy Hutton, Chris O'Neil and Rhiannon Leigh Wryn.

Personal life

Divorced from film producer Tim Bevan, she has a daughter, Daisy, who was born in 1992.

In November 2006, it was announced that Richardson would be leaving Nip/Tuck to take care of her sick daughter. Her last appearance was on the November 14 episode, although creator/writer Ryan Murphy wrote alternate season finale episodes, in case Richardson decided to return. Soon after the season finale, it was announced that Richardson would return for the fifth season of Nip/Tuck, though her role may be limited.

In June 2007 it was announced that she would return for 15 of the 22 episodes during the fifth season.

In September and October 2007 pictures of Joely looking thin sparked fears about her weight. In November 5 issue of Grazia magazine she explained that her low weight was due to a terrible flu and a hernia operation, but she went on to say that she hopes to put around 7 pounds on.