Ophelia Lovibond
Ophelia Lucy Lovibond is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Carina in the films Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy, Izzy Gould in the BBC's W1A, Patty Failure in Disney's Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made, Joyce Prigger in Starz's Minx, and Kitty Winter in CBS's Elementary.
Early life and education
Lovibond grew up in Shepherd's Bush, London in a single-parent household with two siblings, a brother and a sister, and various children fostered by her mother who worked as a chartered psychologist at Wormwood Scrubs Prison. She realized that she wanted to be an actor around the age of 10 years old. She attended Latymer Upper School on a scholarship, and graduated from the University of Sussex with a degree in English Literature in 2008. "I never wanted to go to drama school," Lovibond told The Independent in 2015, "The teaching at Latymer was so inspirational I just thought I don't want to stop, I just want to read and learn."Lovibond was part of the Young Blood youth theatre group in Hammersmith which counts Imogen Poots, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Carey Mulligan among its alumni.
Career
Television
In 2000, Lovibond made her television debut at the age of 12 in the Channel 4 sitcom The Wilsons. She lied about her age to be cast as Poppy Wilson opposite David Bradley in the show. "I did in front of a live studio audience and it was really being thrown in at the deep end which was probably a good thing," she said, "I didn't have any professional training at all. I didn't go to drama school or anything like that, so this was a truly invaluable experience of learning how to work in this profession."She appeared in Elliot Hegarty’s FM and the British period drama Heartbeat. She also played Izzy Gould in the BBC satire W1A.
In 2014, Lovibond joined the cast of Elementary as Sherlock's new apprentice, Kitty Winter. The show's creator, Robert Doherty, contacted her agent in Los Angeles, California about the role, and later requested her share an audition self-tape. "I did the tape at home with my mum on Wednesday and was offered on Thursday and then after eight days I flew to New York for five months," she recalled. Lovibond described her time in New York as "straight out of Breakfast at Tiffany's with jazz floating in off Washington Square Park and eccentric Greenwich Village neighbours." In addition to being a season three regular on the show, she also had guest appearances in season five and seven.
Lovibond appeared in the first episode, "Sardines", of the British black comedy anthology series Inside No. 9. In 2016, she played the role of Lady Alexandra Lindo-Parker in Sky1 series Hooten & The Lady. She appeared in a guest role in the 2019 series Whiskey Cavalier as MI6 agent Emma Davies. On 16 September 2020, Lovibond was announced as the lead in HBO Max’s period-comedy Minx. In 2022, she played Carrie Symonds in the TV series This England.
Film
Lovibond made her film debut in Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist in 2005. She had a part in the John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy. She played a leading role in the film 4.3.2.1, and had roles in the 2011 films London Boulevard, No Strings Attached and Mr. Popper's Penguins. Lovibond played Teri in the BFI/BBC film based on the award-winning novel, 8 Minutes Idle, and Carina, The Collector's slave, in the 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy.Radio
Lovibond played the character Sam Peakes in series 1 of Lobby Land on BBC Radio 4.Theatre
In 2015, Lovibond made her professional stage debut in the revival of Lucy Prebble's The Effect, directed by Daniel Evans. The following year, she appeared as Elizabeth Barry in Stephen Jeffreys' The Libertine at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket.In 2017, she played Lois, the eponymous character, in Githa Sowerby's The Stepmother. She played Lou in Barney Norris’s 2018 play Nightfall and starred in the revival of David Hare's The Bay at Nice.
In January 2024, Lovibond starred in Jez Butterworth's The Hills of California which premiered at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End and was later transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway.