Essie Davis
Essie Davis is an Australian actress. Born and raised in Hobart, Tasmania, she is the daughter of locally famed artist George Davis. She emerged from the Old Nick Company at the University of Tasmania in the late 1980s and has gone on to appear in Hollywood movies. She is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney.
Her career started after her role in the all Australian movie Dad and Dave: On Our Selection (1995), also starring other prestigious actors such as Geoffrey Rush, Leo McKern, and Joan Sutherland. Her most famous movie roles are in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Richard Flanagan's 1998 Tasmanian film The Sound of One Hand Clapping, and Girl with a Pearl Earring.
In 2003 she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for her UK performance in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. In 2004 she starred in a Broadway production of Tom Stoppard's Jumpers, for which she earned a Tony nomination. In 2005 she appeared as Mrs. Nellie Lovett in the BBC production of Sweeney Todd with Ray Winstone. In the 2008 film Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger she plays Esther's controlling mother.
Acting
TV
Game of Thrones
as Lady Crane
2011
Movie
The Matrix Reloaded
as Maggie
2003
Movie
The Matrix Revolutions
as Maggie
2003
Movie
Assassin's Creed
as Mary Lynch
2016
Movie
The Babadook
as Amelia Vanek
2014
Movie
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
as Marella (voice)
2010
Movie
Australia
as Katherine
2008
Movie
Girl with a Pearl Earring
as Catharina Bolnes Vermeer
2003
Movie
Charlotte's Web
as Mrs. Arable
2006
TV
Alien: Earth
as Dame Sylvia
2025
TV
Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities
as Nancy Bradley
2022
Movie
Code 46
as Doctor
2003
Movie
Babyteeth
as Anna
2020
TV
Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams
as Vera Herrick
2017
Movie
True History of the Kelly Gang
as Ellen Kelly
2019
Movie
Mindhorn
as Patricia Deville
2016
TV
One Day
as Alison
2024
TV
The White Princess
as Elizabeth Woodville
2017
Movie
Nitram
as Helen
2021
Movie
Isolation
as Orla
2005
TV
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
as Phryne Fisher
2012
Movie
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears
as Phryne Fisher
2020
Movie
Sweeney Todd
as Mrs Lovett
2006
TV
Apple Cider Vinegar
as Natalie Dal-Bello
2025
