Olivia Williams

Acting

Olivia Williams

Born

1968-07-26 (58)

Place of birth

Camden Town, London, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

80 titles

Olivia Haigh Williams (born July 26, 1968) is a British actress who has appeared in British and American films and television. Williams studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first significant screen role was as Jane Fairfax in the British television film Emma (1996), based on Jane Austen's novel. She made her film debut in 1997's The Postman, followed by Rushmore (1998) and The Sixth Sense (1999). Williams also acted in the British films Lucky Break (2001), The Heart of Me (2002) and An Education (2009). She continued acting in films such as The Ghost Writer (2010), Hanna (2011), Anna Karenina (2012), …

Known for

Friends poster
8.4

Six young people from New York City, on their own and struggling to survive in the real world, find the companionship, comfort and support they get from each other to be the perfect antidote to the pressures of life.

Friends

1994

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power poster
7.2

Beginning in a time of relative peace, we follow an ensemble cast of characters as they confront the re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

2022

The Crown poster
8.2

The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.

The Crown

2016

Jason and the Argonauts poster
6.5

At a young age, Jason witnesses the brutal deposement and murder of his father at the hands of his uncle Pelias. Twenty years later, Jason returns home to claim his rightful place as king, but Pelias orders him to be executed, and in order to save himself Jason is forced to go on a dangerous quest to find the legendary Golden Fleece. So Jason gathers a motley crew of men and sets sail on the Argos.

Jason and the Argonauts

2000

The Wheel of Time poster
7.6

The lives of five young villagers change forever when a strange and powerful woman arrives, claiming one of them is the child of an ancient prophecy with the power to tip the balance between Light and Dark forever. They must choose whether to trust this stranger – and each other – with the fate of the world before the Dark One breaks out of His prison, and the Last Battle begins.

The Wheel of Time

2021

Dune: Prophecy poster
7.2

Ten thousand years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen establish the fabled sect and female order that would become known as the Bene Gesserit to control the future of humankind.

Dune: Prophecy

2024

Film credits

2020s · 6 titles

2010s · 24 titles

Seventh Son poster
5.5

John Gregory, who is a seventh son of a seventh son and also the local spook, has protected the country from witches, boggarts, ghouls and all manner of things that go bump in the night. However John is not young anymore, and has been seeking an apprentice to carry on his trade. Most have failed to survive. The last hope is a young farmer's son named Thomas Ward.

Seventh Son

2014

The Ghost Writer poster
6.8

A writer stumbles upon a long-hidden secret when he agrees to help former British Prime Minister Adam Lang complete his memoirs on a remote island after the politician's assistant drowns in a mysterious accident.

The Ghost Writer

2010

Maps to the Stars poster
6.2

Driven by an intense need for fame and validation, members of a dysfunctional Hollywood family chase celebrity, one another, and the relentless ghosts of their pasts. Their fragile ecosystem is disrupted by the arrival of Agatha, the scarred and estranged pyromaniac daughter.

Maps to the Stars

2014

Hanna poster
6.6

Raised by her father, an ex-CIA agent, in the wilds of Finland, Hanna's upbringing has been geared to making her the perfect assassin. Sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys across Europe, eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative. As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence.

Hanna

2011

Sabotage poster
5.6

John 'Breacher' Wharton leads an elite DEA task force that takes on the world's deadliest drug cartels. When the team successfully executes a high-stakes raid on a cartel safe house, they think their work is done – until, one-by-one, the team members mysteriously start to be eliminated. As the body count rises, everyone is a suspect.

Sabotage

2014

Victoria & Abdul poster
6.9

Queen Victoria strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim.

Victoria & Abdul

2017

Anna Karenina poster
6.7

In Imperial Russia, Anna, wife of the officer Karenin, goes to Moscow to visit her brother. On the way, she meets charming cavalry officer Vronsky, to whom she's immediately attracted. But in St. Petersburg’s high society, a relationship like this could destroy a woman’s reputation.

Anna Karenina

2012

Hyde Park on Hudson poster
5.3

The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley, centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.

Hyde Park on Hudson

2012

Now Is Good poster
7.3

A girl dying of leukemia compiles a list of things she'd like to do before passing away. Topping the list is her desire to lose her virginity.

Now Is Good

2012

Justin and the Knights of Valour poster
5.9

A heart-warming tale about friendship, honor & courage, which sees a young boy become a man as he embarks on a quest to become a knight.

Justin and the Knights of Valour

2013

Man Up poster
6.6

A 34 year old single woman, Nancy, hung-over again, exhausted by the endless fruitless set ups by her friends, traveling across London to toast another 10 years of her parents' successful happy magical marriage runs in with a 40 year old divorcee, Jack, who mistakes her for his 24 year old blind date. Nancy, deciding to go with it, happens to hop on the most chaotic yet hilarious journey of her life which neither of them will ever forget.

Man Up

2015

The Last Days on Mars poster
5.5

On the last day of the first manned mission to Mars, a crew member of Tantalus Base believes he has made an astounding discovery – fossilized evidence of bacterial life. Unwilling to let the relief crew claim all the glory, he disobeys orders to pack up and goes out on an unauthorized expedition to collect further samples. But a routine excavation turns to disaster when the porous ground collapses and he falls into a deep crevice. His devastated colleagues attempt to recover his body. However, when another vanishes, they start to suspect that the life-form they have discovered is not without danger.

The Last Days on Mars

2013

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll poster
6.2

A biography of Ian Dury, who was stricken with polio at a young age and defied expectations by becoming one of the founders of the punk-rock scene in Britain in the 1970s.

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

2010

Salting the Battlefield poster
6.3

David Hare concludes his trilogy of films about MI5 renegade Johnny Worricker with another fugue on power, secrets and the British establishment. Johnny Worricker goes on the run with Margot Tyrell across Europe, and with the net closing in, the former MI5 man knows his only chance of resolving his problems is to return home and confront prime minister Alec Beasley.

Salting the Battlefield

2014

Wild Bill poster
6.8

Out on parole after 8 years inside Bill Hayward returns home to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, an uncaring Bill is determined to move on.

Wild Bill

2011

Altar poster
4.9

A young family find themselves in serious danger when they move to an isolated haunted house in the Yorkshire Moors.

Altar

2014

No artwork available
7.0

The Guest is a modern dark fable starring Olivia Williams (Rushmore, Sixth Sense, An Education) and with an original score by Tom Hobden of Noah and the Whale. A graduate, Matthieu, turns up to his old professor's dinner party to discover he is the only guest. Marguerite, the professor's wife, ignores her husband in favour of devoting her full attention to Matthieu. As the evening progresses it becomes clear the couple are concealing a dark secret. Matthieu's curiosity gets the better of him.

The Guest

2013

The White King poster
5.3

Djata is a care-free 12-year-old growing up in a brutal dictatorship shut off from the outside world. When the government imprisons his father, Peter, and Djata and his mother Hannah are labeled traitors, the boy will not rest until he sees his father again.

The White King

2016

National Theatre Archive: Mosquitoes poster
7.7

In 2008, as the Large Hadron Collider searches for the Higgs boson, tragedy throws two sisters together. The collision threatens them all with chaos.

National Theatre Archive: Mosquitoes

2017

Nyet! poster
7.0

When Boris and Olga arrive at the port of Dover with precious cargo, the border authorities, headed by the formidable Mrs. Pyke, uncover truths hidden – quite literally – within our protagonists.

Nyet!

2019

Emma, Change the Locks poster
7.0

Emma is stepping up to an extreme decision. She is changing the locks. Will she be able to stand by her decision when the knocking begins?

Emma, Change the Locks

2015

The Escape poster
NR

A man is offered the chance to escape to his perfect dream world - all he has to do is hand over everything he owns. Will he really abandon his family? The answer to this question asks us to consider what really matters in our lives.

The Escape

2017

No artwork available
6.1

A man lives in a forest, surviving through murder and deceit. When he finds himself drawn to two strangers, his strict code of self-preservation is put to the test.

Magpie

2014

Collaborator poster
4.8

A playwright whose marriage and career are in a free fall has an explosive run-in with his former neighbor, a right-wing ex-con.

Collaborator

2011

2000s · 22 titles

Peter Pan poster
7.1

In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars and to the lush jungles of Neverland.

Peter Pan

2003

An Education poster
6.9

Despite her sheltered upbringing, Jenny is a teen with a bright future; she's smart, pretty, and has aspirations of attending Oxford University. When David, a charming but much older suitor, motors into her life in a shiny automobile, Jenny gets a taste of adult life that she won't soon forget.

An Education

2009

To Kill a King poster
5.8

A recounting of the relationship between General Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, as they try to cope with the consequences of deposing King Charles I.

To Kill a King

2003

Below poster
6.0

In the dark silence of the sea during World War II, the submarine USS Tiger Shark prowls on what should be a routine rescue mission. But for the shell-shocked crew, trapped together in the sub's narrow corridors and constricted spaces, this is about to become a journey into the sensory delusions, mental deceptions and runaway fears that lurk just below the surface of the ocean.

Below

2002

The Body poster
5.5

An ancient skeleton has been discovered in Jerusalem in a rich man's tomb. Colouration of the wrist and leg bones indicates the cause of death was crucifiction. other signs, include a gold coin bearing the marks of Pontius Pilate and faint markings around the skull, lead authorities to suspect that these could be the bones of Jesus Christ. Politicians, clerics, religious extremists and those using terror as a means to an end, find their beliefs and identities tested while risking their lives to unearth the truth.....

The Body

2001

The Man from Elysian Fields poster
5.9

A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.

The Man from Elysian Fields

2001

Valiant poster
5.7

Set in 1944, Valiant is a woodland pigeon who wants to become a great hero someday. When he hears they are hiring recruits for the Royal Homing Pigeon Service, he immediately sets out for London. On the way, he meets a smelly but friendly pigeon named Bugsy, who joins him, mainly to get away from clients he cheated in a game of find-the pebble, and helps him sign up for the war.

Valiant

2005

Flashbacks of a Fool poster
6.2

An aging Hollywood star, Joe Scott, lives a life of narcissistic hedonism, observed by his laconic personal assistant, Ophelia. The death of his childhood best friend, Boots, takes our protagonist, and the movie, into an extended flashback to a sea-side town in 1970s Britain.

Flashbacks of a Fool

2008

Four Dogs Playing Poker poster
4.2

With the help of their mentor Felix, a group of the best friends and first-time thieves steal a valuable statuette for a ruthless black market art dealer. After the amateurs botch the delivery of the objet d'art, the dealer kills Felix and forces the remaining four to "find" $1 million within a week's time or face certain death.

Four Dogs Playing Poker

2000

Miss Austen Regrets poster
6.1

Jane Austen is about to turn 40, but she still hasn't found her ideal man. When Jane is approached by her niece Fanny and asked to help select the perfect husband for the young girl, the aging spinster begins to wonder why it is that she never found a man to share her own life with.

Miss Austen Regrets

2008

Tara Road poster
5.3

A grieving Connecticut mother temporarily switches houses with a woman in Dublin, Ireland.

Tara Road

2005

Lucky Break poster
6.3

Half-way through his 12-year prison sentence for an incompetent armed robbery, Jimmy Hands gets a lucky break: he's transferred to a prison from which he can probably escape. He convinces the governor to stage a musical in an old chapel next to the prison's outer wall. He rounds up volunteer actors and puts his escape plan into production. Two other barriers, besides the wall, confront him: the arrival of a nasty inmate, John Toombes, who insists on joining the escape, and Jimmy's feelings of attraction for Anabel, a social worker who agrees to appear in the play. Opening night approaches: is this Jimmy's breakout performance?

Lucky Break

2001

The Heart of Me poster
6.0

Drama set in 1930s London with two sisters, Madeleine married to Rickie, and Dinah, who falls in love with him. Rickie and Dinah begin an affair which is to have repercussions throughout all their lives.

The Heart of Me

2004

Dead Babies poster
4.6

When a group of college kids get together for a weekend of partying, they find themselves mixed up in a murderous plot. Having planned on a weekend of hard-core debauchery, the English students and their visiting American friends do not notice when a series of mindless murders and acts of terrorism are carried out around them.

Dead Babies

2000

Krakatoa: The Last Days poster
6.3

A historical drama documentary depicting the eruption of Krakatoa volcano in 1883. The volcano was located in the Sunda strait in Indonesia and its eruption resulted in tsunami, rains of coals and ash, and ended with a very hot tsunami. The eruption killed more than 36,000 people and those survived were left with burns.

Krakatoa: The Last Days

2006

Born Romantic poster
6.0

In modern-day London, three men (Craig Ferguson, Jimi Mistry and David Morrissey) and three women (Olivia Williams, Jane Horrocks and Catherine McCormack) fall in and out of love and back again, to the Greek-chorus accompaniment of two cab drivers, who engage in an ongoing conversation about sex. A winning romantic comedy, Born Romantic is the second feature by British writer-director David Kane of This Year's Love fame.

Born Romantic

2000

Broken Lines poster
3.5

After losing his father, an engaged man begins an affair with a waitress, both longing for happiness.

Broken Lines

2008

X-Men: The Last Stand poster
6.4

When a cure is found to treat mutations, lines are drawn amongst the X-Men led by Professor Charles Xavier, and Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants.

X-Men: The Last Stand

2006

The Making of 'Rushmore' poster
6.2

An exclusive behind-the-scenes documentary by Eric Chase Anderson.

The Making of 'Rushmore'

2000

The Hotel In Amsterdam poster
NR

Six London friends, whose lives and work are overshadowed by a demanding film producer, flee the country for a weekend to escape his clutches. Having managed to escape for a rare weekend away from the nameless director's demands, the friends subsequently discover that it is hard to shake off his influence, even whilst safely ensconced in a hotel in Amsterdam. A revival of the John Osborne play filmed at The Donmar and broadcast on BBC4 in 2004

The Hotel In Amsterdam

2004

Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures poster
8.0

A biopic of Agatha Christie including her 10 day disappearance.

Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures

2004

Damage poster
1.0

Set in affluent, contemporary, south-side Dublin, the Cahills appear to have the world at their feet. Dad Aidan, is a successful property tycoon, his wife Michelle, a successful estate agent and their fashion model daughter, Emma's 21st birthday party at the family home should be a night to remember. That night however, a rape at the party shatters their seemingly perfect lives. With the key suspect released on bail, and dark family secrets coming to the fore, Emma's life begins to free-fall. Slowly, having made radical changes to her life, Emma builds towards recovery - until a chance meeting with her rapist bolsters her conviction that she'll need to confront him in court before she can get on with her life.

Damage

2007

1990s · 4 titles

Series credits

Friends poster
8.4

Six young people from New York City, on their own and struggling to survive in the real world, find the companionship, comfort and support they get from each other to be the perfect antidote to the pressures of life.

Friends

1994

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power poster
7.2

Beginning in a time of relative peace, we follow an ensemble cast of characters as they confront the re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth. From the darkest depths of the Misty Mountains, to the majestic forests of Lindon, to the breathtaking island kingdom of Númenor, to the furthest reaches of the map, these kingdoms and characters will carve out legacies that live on long after they are gone.

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

2022

The Crown poster
8.2

The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny. The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.

The Crown

2016

Jason and the Argonauts poster
6.5

At a young age, Jason witnesses the brutal deposement and murder of his father at the hands of his uncle Pelias. Twenty years later, Jason returns home to claim his rightful place as king, but Pelias orders him to be executed, and in order to save himself Jason is forced to go on a dangerous quest to find the legendary Golden Fleece. So Jason gathers a motley crew of men and sets sail on the Argos.

Jason and the Argonauts

2000

The Wheel of Time poster
7.6

The lives of five young villagers change forever when a strange and powerful woman arrives, claiming one of them is the child of an ancient prophecy with the power to tip the balance between Light and Dark forever. They must choose whether to trust this stranger – and each other – with the fate of the world before the Dark One breaks out of His prison, and the Last Battle begins.

The Wheel of Time

2021

Dune: Prophecy poster
7.2

Ten thousand years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen establish the fabled sect and female order that would become known as the Bene Gesserit to control the future of humankind.

Dune: Prophecy

2024

Monster: The Ed Gein Story poster
7.3

The shocking true-life tale of Ed Gein, the infamous murderer and grave robber who inspired many of Hollywood's most iconic on-screen killers.

Monster: The Ed Gein Story

2025

Dollhouse poster
7.2

Echo is a member of a highly illegal and underground group of individuals whose personalities have been wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Confined between missions to a secret facility known as the Dollhouse, the "Actives" are hired by the wealthy, powerful and connected to wholly become—with mind, personality and physiology—whomever the client wants or needs them to be. They know no other life than the specific engagements they are in at that time—or do they?

Dollhouse

2009

Young Sherlock poster
7.8

Sherlock Holmes is a disgraced young man, raw and unfiltered, when he finds himself wrapped up in a murder case that threatens his liberty. His first ever case unravels a globe-trotting conspiracy that changes his life forever.

Young Sherlock

2026

Counterpart poster
7.5

Howard Silk is a lowly cog in a bureaucratic UN agency who is turning the last corner of a life filled with regret when he discovers the agency he works for is guarding a secret: a crossing to a parallel dimension.

Counterpart

2017

The Nevers poster
7.9

In the last years of Victoria's reign, London is beset by the "Touched": people — mostly women — who suddenly manifest abnormal abilities, some charming, some very disturbing. Among them are Amalia True, a mysterious, quick-fisted widow, and Penance Adair, a brilliant young inventor. They are the champions of this new underclass, making a home for the Touched, while fighting the forces of… well, pretty much all the forces — to make room for those whom history as we know it has no place.

The Nevers

2021

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries poster
6.6

The Ruth Rendell mysteries is a British television series made by TVS and Meridian Television for ITV between 2 August 1987 and 11 October 2000.

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries

1987

Manhattan poster
7.0

Set against the backdrop of the greatest clandestine race against time in the history of science with the mission to build the world's first atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Flawed scientists and their families attempt to co-exist in a world where secrets and lies infiltrate every aspect of their lives.

Manhattan

2014

Playhouse Presents poster
6.0

Playhouse Presents is a series of self-contained TV plays, made by British broadcaster Sky Arts. The series started airing on 12 April 2012, on Sky Arts 1. Each episode is written by a different writer with a different cast.

Playhouse Presents

2012

Van der Valk poster
6.2

Van der Valk is a British television series that was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network. It starred Barry Foster in the title role as Dutch detective Commissaris "Piet" van der Valk. Based on the characters and atmosphere of the novels of Nicolas Freeling, the first series was shown in 1972.

Van der Valk

1972

OK! TV poster
5.7

OK! TV is an early evening magazine programme, broadcast on Channel 5 as a brand extension of celebrity title OK! Magazine. It replaced the former magazine and discussion show Live from Studio Five on 14 February 2011, and was presented by Kate Walsh and Matt Johnson, both of whom later left the programme. Jeff Brazier and Jenny Frost replaced Walsh and Johnson in August 2011 and presented the show until its cancellation. The show was made by the 5 News team and produced by Sky News for Channel 5. On 8 November 2011, it was announced that the show has been cancelled by Channel 5. The show aired its final edition on 16 December after ten months on air due to the contract for 5 News returning to ITN.

OK! TV

2011

Terriers poster
8.0

Ex-cop and recovering alcoholic Hank Dolworth partners with his best friend, former criminal Britt Pollack, in an unlicensed private investigation business. The series is set in Ocean Beach, San Diego, California, although it is portrayed as a distinct town, with Dolworth having once been a member of the fictional Ocean Beach Police Department.

Terriers

2010

Funny Woman poster
6.9

A young woman from Blackpool finds her voice in the male dominated world of the 1960s comedy, and in doing so takes London by storm.

Funny Woman

2023

Spaced poster
7.9

Spaced: the anti-Friends, in that it examines the lives of common 20 somethings, but in a way that is more down to earth and realistic. Here we have Daisy and Tim; two 'young' adults with big dreams just trying to get by in this crazy world. They are thrown together in a common pursuit of tenancy, which they find by posing as a couple. The house has a landlady and an oddball artist living there. The series explores the ins and outs of London living.

Spaced

1999

The Halcyon poster
6.3

The story of a bustling and glamorous five star hotel at the centre of London society and a world at war.

The Halcyon

2017

Homemade poster
5.5

Acclaimed filmmakers from around the world channel their creativity during COVID-19 isolation with this diverse, genre-spanning collection of short films.

Homemade

2020

Case Sensitive poster
6.9

When Geraldine Bretherick and her 5-year-old daughter Lucy are found dead in the bathroom of their luxury home, the case divides new DS Charlie Zailer and her DC Simon Waterhouse. Is it a murder-suicide or something even more sinister, and how watertight is the alibi of the apparently distraught husband Mark? Meanwhile, when Sally Thorne, a young working mother with a husband and two small children hears of the deaths, she is deeply shocked. Months before she’d met a man called Mark Bretherick at a hotel and they had a brief but passionate affair. Now, against the advice of her best friend, Esther, Sally feels the need to get in touch with Mark again to offer her sympathy.

Case Sensitive

2011

The Good Daughter poster
NR

Sisters Charlotte and Samantha Quinn have spent the last twenty-eight years trying to piece together the lives that were fractured by a single night of violence. When another attack splinters the small town of Pikeville, Charlotte is the first witness on the scene. Now a lawyer like her father, she’s forced to confront her own demons as the case twists through one shocking revelation after another. In the end, both she and Samantha find themselves wondering if the price of being the good daughter was worth it after all.

The Good Daughter

2026

Unknown Belize poster
NR

In this four-part series, we follow Belizean celebrity chef, Sean Kuylen, and LA-based journalist, Gelareh Darabi, as they travel through Belize, from north to south, exploring the wonders of its natural environment. They witness an astonishing range of landscapes and ecosystems, from idyllic islands to forests and wetlands, and meet local conservationists hard at work ensuring the protection of this rich and diverse land.

Unknown Belize

2024