Screen beauty Jennifer Ehle heads the cast of Alan Bleasdale's latest drama, Melissa, a tortuous five-part murder mystery. Here are 10 things we uncovered about 27-year old Jennifer.
1) Her father is American screenwriter John Ehle, her mum actress Rosemary Harris.
"It was a second marriage for both of them and I was an only, late child," says Jennifer. "I was spoiled rotten. We're very close, the three of us, and they're very supportive."
2) She spent her childhood moving around America. There were 18 different schools and eventually she asked to be sent to boarding school, to give herself a sense of stability.
At the Central School of Speech and Drama in London she decided she wanted to make her permanent home in Britain.
3) Two years after graduating from drama school in 1990, Jennifer won a Best New TV Actress in a Drama prize for The Camomile Lawn.
"People think you're destined to act because your mother is an actress and your father writes. I think it has more to do with watching your parents love their work, seeing them happy and fulfilled."
4) Jennifer shocked TV audiences with nude scenes in The Camomile Lawn. "Nudity only becomes awkward if you do things naked that you wouldn't normally, like driving a car. But having a bath, sleeping, or undressing are things we all do at least once a day."
5) Jennifer was late discovering men. Her first big romance was with actor Toby Stephens. "I got into boys very late. I was uninterested and didn't put out signals for years," she says.
6) Pride and Prejudice established her as a TV star. She played Elizabeth Bennet to Colin Firth's brooding Mr. Darcy. She'd wanted to play the part since reading the novel at 12. "She was so perfect and witty. There's a sense of longing, a yearning, in the book - that's what makes it sexy."
7) She dyed her eyebrows brown and didn't wash her blond hair for days to help land the role. "I knew everyone was worried about the fact that I'm blonde, because they felt Lizzie had to be dark. But it worked."
8) Jennifer and Colin Firth enjoyed a secret affair on the set of Pride and Prejudice. They dated for nearly a year. Friends insist it was a big romance rather than a fling, but neither will talk about it.
9) She played John Lennon's wife Cynthia in the movie Backbeat and won rave reviews for her role as murdered army wife Penny McAllister in the TV drama, Beyond Reason.
10) Jennifer has just made her Hollywood debut in the WWII drama, Paradise Road. She also played Oscar Wilde's wife opposite Stephen Fry in a new biopic.
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