Julia Ormond

Born in Epsom, Surrey, on January 4, 1965, Ormond was a child when her parents, a businessman and a laboratory technician, divorced. A self-admitted tomboy who excelled at field hockey, she became involved with the theater in school plays, and, following a stint at art school (both of her grandparents were abstract artists), she studied drama at London's Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts. Following graduation, she landed her first professional work in TV commercials, and then acted in a series of plays until she had her breakthrough with Catherine the Great.
Before 1995, her Hollywood breakthrough year, was over, the graceful, silken-haired Ormond had played Guinevere opposite Sean Connery's King Arthur in First Knight and had been cast in the title role of Sydney Pollack's ill-advised remake of Sabrina. When asked by Premiere magazine what her future plans were, Ormond replied, "Along with Godzilla and the rest of the acting community, I'd like to direct." But although she did set up her own production company, the actress opted to stick with working in front of the camera, starring in Bille August's much-publicized filmization of Peter Hoeg's best-selling Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997). Unfortunately, the film proved to be a virtual nonentity both at the box office and amongst critics, and Ormond disappeared from the radars for a couple of years, only popping up to star in Nikita Mikhalkov's Sibirsky Tsiryulnik (1999). In 2000, she reemerged in front of Hollywood cameras alongside Vince Vaughn in Prime Gig, a drama about the life, loves, and losses of a California telemarketer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide