Alex Kingston Biography

Alexandra Kingston (born 11 March 1963 ) is an English actress most widely known for her role as Elizabeth Corday on the NBC medical drama ER.

Early life

Kingston was born and raised in Epsom, Surrey. She is the eldest of three daughters of a butcher and his German wife. Her mother's younger brother is actor Walter Renneisen. She was inspired to pursue acting by one of her teachers at the all-girls grammar school, Rosebery School for Girls. She later completed a two-year program at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and went on to join the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company

Career

Alex Kingston has appeared in a number of British produced television dramas, including Grange Hill, Crocodile Shoes, Moll Flanders, The Knock and a guest role on The Bill. In 1997, Alex gained American television fame after being cast on the medical drama ER at the start of the fourth season. Her character Elizabeth Corday was a British surgical fellow arriving from England. Alex Kingston played this role for just over seven seasons until leaving in 2004, four episodes into Season 11. In 2009, Kingston returned to ER for one episode during its 15th and final season.

Her film credits include The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), A Pin for the Butterfly (1994), Croupier (1998), and Boudica (Warrior Queen in the USA) (2003) in which she played Boudica. In 2006, she starred opposite Christian Slater in the West End (London, England) production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, playing Nurse Ratched to Slater's Randle Patrick McMurphy (characters famously portrayed by Louise Fletcher and Jack Nicholson in the 1975 film of the same name).

In November 2005, Alex Kingston appeared in the long-running drama series Without A Trace (season 4 episode 6), cast as the distressed wife of a wealthy American man snatched by a Mexican street gang on the last night of their honeymoon who later turns out to be the person who masterminded the kidnapping.

In 2006, Alex claimed she was turned down for a role on ABC's Desperate Housewives for being too curvy. In the same article, she admits to considering and nearly attempting suicide after her split with ex-husband Ralph Fiennes.

On May 31, 2008, and June 7, 2008, she guest starred in the fourth series of the long running science fiction television programme Doctor Who in the two-part story "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead" as Professor River Song.

On June 30, 2008, it was announced that Alex will be playing the lead character, Ellie in new BBC One drama series, Hope Springs.

In September 2008, she took the part of Mrs. Bennett in ITV's acclaimed four-part production Lost in Austen.

In October 2008, Alex portrayed a psychiatrist on the show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in the episode Art Imitates Life. She played a grief counselor who helped the team cope with the recent death of CSI Warrick Brown.

In February 2009, Alex Kingston was seen on TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She portrayed a defense lawyer in the episode Transitions.

Personal life

Kingston met actor Ralph Fiennes while both were students at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. They were together for ten years before marrying in 1993. They divorced in 1997, after Fiennes left her for actress Francesca Annis, 18 years his senior. Kingston married her second husband, German writer and freelance journalist Florian Haertel, in 1998. They met the previous year on a blind date arranged by friends. They have one child together, Salome Violetta, born on 28 March 2001.

Alex Kingston Pictures ( 16 Pictures)