Lia Williams

Lia Williams is an English actress and director, on stage, in film and television. She has had television roles in The Crown, in May 33rd for which she was nominated for a BAFTA, and in The Missing, Kiri, His Dark Materials and The Capture.
She is a three-time Laurence Olivier Award nominee, for her work in The Revengers' Comedies, Skylight, and Oresteia.

Early life

Williams was born in Birkenhead. She graduated from the London Studio Centre. Her first job in 1984 was understudying in the play Daisy Pulls It Off in the West End. She then took over a main role, and was talent-spotted by Alan Ayckbourn.

Career

Theatre

Williams's breakthrough performance came in 1991 when she appeared in The Revengers' Comedies, for which she won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer, and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance in 1992.
In 1992, she played the role of Carol in the original production of David Mamet's Oleanna, at the Theatre Royal, Bath, transferring to the Royal Court Theatre in 1993.
In 1995, Williams appeared opposite Michael Gambon in David Hare's Skylight at the National Theatre. She received a nomination for the 1996 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress. Williams reprised her role in the 1997 Broadway production, and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress.
In 2001, Williams appeared again in the West End and on Broadway, playing Ruth in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming. Her long-standing collaboration with Harold Pinter included roles in The Collection, Celebration, The Room, The Lover, The Hothouse and Old Times.
Other leading theatre performances include Rosalind in As You Like It for the RSC, Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular, Henryk Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea, and Pinter's Old Times, in which she alternated the roles of Anna and Kate with Kristin Scott Thomas.
As Clytemnestra in Robert Icke's Oresteia Williams was nominated for both Olivier and Evening Standard Awards. Also for Robert Icke, she alternated the roles of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots with Juliet Stevenson in Mary Stuart.
In Dublin, Williams appeared at the Gate Theatre as Alma in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale and Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Both roles earned her the Irish Theatre Award for Best Actress.
In 2018, Williams was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance as Jean Brodie in David Harrower’s adaptation of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at the Donmar Warehouse.
In 2019, she played the role of Hannah Jelkes in the West End theatre production of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana at the Noël Coward Theatre opposite Clive Owen.

Film and television

In 1993, Williams made her film debut in Michael Winner's Dirty Weekend. Winner chose her after seeing her in an Alan Ayckbourn play. Subsequent film appearances have included supporting roles in Firelight, Shot Through the Heart, The King Is Alive, Girl from Rio, and The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.
Williams played the title role in the miniseries The Russian Bride, for ITV, opposite Sheila Hancock and Douglas Hodge. Her performance earned her the 2002 Golden FIPA Award for Best Actress at the Biarritz International Festival of Audiovisual Programming.
Williams played the lead role in May 33rd for the BBC, and was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress.
In 2009, Williams had a main role in the fourth series of the ITV comedy drama series Doc Martin with Martin Clunes.
She played Wallis, Duchess of Windsor in the Netflix series The Crown, Nadia Herz in the second series of The Missing, and starred in Kiri, a Channel 4 series, alongside Sarah Lancashire and Steven Mackintosh.
Williams appears as a series regular in the BBC mystery thriller The Capture and the Sky Atlantic spy thriller The Day of the Jackal.

Director

Williams has been directing short films since 2002, her debut being Feathers, which was based on a short story by Raymond Carver. In 2008, her short film The Stronger, which won Best Short Film at Raindance, and was nominated for the Best Short Film at the BAFTA Film Awards.
In 2009, Williams directed Dog Alone, a dialogue-free short film which was broadcast as part of British Sky Broadcasting's Ten Minute Tales season. In 2016 she directed Nanabozhung, a feature-length documentary about the Batchewana First Nations, Canada.
On stage, she has also directed The Matchbox, by Frank McGuinness for Liverpool Playhouse and the Tricycle Theatre and Ashes to Ashes as part of the Harold Pinter Season in the West End. In 2021, Williams directed an acclaimed production of Doubt by John Patrick Shanley at Chichester Festival Theatre, West Sussex.

Personal life

Williams has been in a relationship with the actor Angus Wright since 2015; they first met after starring together in a production of the Oresteia at the Almeida Theatre. Her son, Joshua James, is also an actor. In 2023 they worked together in The Vortex at Chichester Festival Theatre, in which they played mother and son.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Year	Work	Role	Venue	Ref
1984	Daisy Pulls It Off	Sybil Burlington	Gielgud Theatre
1986-1988	When Did You Last See Your Trousers?	Tove	Garrick Theatre
1990	Body Language	Angie Dell	Stephen Joseph Theatre
1991-1992	The Revengers' Comedies	Karen	Strand Theatre
1992-1993	Oleanna	Carol	Theatre Royal, Bath and Royal Court Theatre
1993	King Lear	Goneril	Royal Court Theatre
1995-1996	Skylight	Kyra Hollis	National Theatre and Royale Theatre
1999-2001	Celebration / The Room	Suki / Mrs Sands	Almeida Theatre and Lincoln Center
2001	The Homecoming	Ruth	Gate Theatre and Comedy Theatre
2002	Mappa Mundi	Anna	National Theatre
2003	The Eccentricities of a Nightingale	Alma Winemiller	Gate Theatre
2005	Eric Larue	Janice Larue	The Attic Theatre
2005-2006	As You Like It	Rosalind	Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Novello Theatre
2007	My Child	Woman	Royal Court Theatre
2007	The Hothouse	Miss Cutts	National Theatre
2007	Absurd Person Singular	Eva Jackson	Garrick Theatre
2008	The Lady from the Sea	Ellida Wangel	Arcola Theatre
2009	God of Carnage	Véronique Vallon	Theatre Royal, Bath
2010	Earthquakes in London	Sarah	National Theatre
2011	Arcadia	Hannah Jarvis	Ethel Barrymore Theatre
2013	Old Times	Kate/Anna	Harold Pinter Theatre
2013	A Streetcar Named Desire	Blanche DuBois	Gate Theatre
2014	The Father	Anne	Theatre Royal, Bath
2015	Oresteia	Clytemnestra	Almeida Theatre
2016	Mary Stuart	Queen Elizabeth I / Mary, Queen of Scots	Duke of York's Theatre
2018	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie	Jean Brodie	Donmar Warehouse
2019	The Night of the Iguana	Hannah Jelkes	Noël Coward Theatre
2022	John Gabriel Borkman	Ella Rentheim	Bridge Theatre
2023	The Vortex	Florence Lancaster	Chichester Festival Theatre
2025	Macbeth	Lady Macbeth	The Other Place