Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer, a renowned British actress, was born in Hammersmith, London, England, to Sir John Mortimer, a writer and barrister, and his second wife, Penelope Gollop.
Mortimer's early education took place at St Paul's Girls' School in West London, where she initially began her acting career.
She then progressed to Lincoln College, Oxford University, to pursue her passion for English Literature and Russian, and even spent two terms at the Moscow Arts Theater Drama School, honing her acting skills.
While appearing in an Oxford University student production, Mortimer was discovered by a TV producer who subsequently cast her in an adaptation of Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin in 1995.
Her feature film debut followed in 1996, alongside Val Kilmer, in The Ghost and the Darkness.
Subsequent roles in various projects have included Elizabeth in 1998, Love's Labour's Lost in 2000, Match Point in 2005, Lars and the Real Girl in 2007, Shutter Island in 2010, and Hugo in 2011.
During the production of Love's Labour's Lost, Mortimer met her future husband, Alessandro Nivola.
The couple has two children, Sam Nivola and May Nivola.
