Joanne Whalley Biography

Joanne Whalley (born 25 August 1961) is an English actress who started with adolescent roles in mid-1970s and, over the following decades, amassed numerous credits, primarily on television, but also in nearly 40 theatrical and television films, including the title role in CBS' Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, broadcast in November 2000. A leading role in the six-episode 1985 eco-thriller Edge of Darkness earned her a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress nomination. She shared with the cast of 44 Inch Chest the Best Ensemble Performance Award at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2010 and was nominated for Monte-Carlo Television Festival's Golden Nymph Award as Best Actress in 2011's The Borgias. Following her marriage to actor Val Kilmer in 1988 she was credited as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer for a few years.

Early life

Whalley was born in Salford, Lancashire, but brought up in Stockport, Cheshire, where she attended Bredbury Comprehensive School, before leaving to study at Harrytown Convent Girls' School in Romiley and the Braeside School of Speech and Drama in Marple.

Whalley first appeared as a child in How We Used To Live and Juliet Bravo with bit parts in soap operas, especially Coronation Street and Emmerdale. Her early film roles include a non-speaking part as a groupie in Pink Floyd's The Wall; and as a young Beatles fan in Birth of the Beatles.

Music

In the post-punk era, she flirted with the fringes of the Manchester New Wave scene and was briefly a member of a Stockport-based band called the Slowguns but left before the release of their two singles. Later, she was the lead singer of the pop group Cindy & The Saffrons; in 1982, at Abbey Road Studios they recorded the Shangri-Las' song "Past, Present and Future" and the next year, "Terry" by Twinkle. The group split up soon thereafter.

Career

In 1982 she played Ingrid Rothwell in A Kind of Loving, a well received Granada TV adaptation of Stan Barstow's three Vic Brown novels. Whalley acted in the film No Surrender (Dumbarton Films with Film Four) scripted by Alan Bleasdale, released in 1985, but the film was not successful.

Whalley came to prominence on British television as Emma Craven in Troy Kennedy Martin's Edge of Darkness (1985), then as Nurse Mills in the Dennis Potter-written serial The Singing Detective (1986)both for BBC Television. In 1987 she played Jackie in the TV film Will You Love Me Tomorrow, she also played a role in The Good Father (1985), another Channel 4 backed film.

Whalley met the American actor Val Kilmer while filming the fantasy adventure Willow, and after marriage in 1988 moved to Los Angeles, where she used as her professional name Joanne Whalley-Kilmer. She continued filming, making more films in Hollywood than in the UK, including the mystery noir Shattered and, in 1989, the role of Christine Keeler in Scandal alongside stars John Hurt and Sir Ian McKellen. In 1994 she became the second actress to play Gone with the Wind heroine Scarlett O'Hara when she appeared in a made-for-TV adaptation of the sequel novel, Scarlett. She also starred in the 1997 film The Man Who Knew Too Little.

After divorce, Whalley returned to acting through making television films, including the 2000 television film Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis in which she played the title character. She collaborated with the pop-punk band Blink-182 to read a letter at the beginning of the song "Stockholm Syndrome". In 2005, she appeared as Queen Mary I in The Virgin Queen, a BBC serial about the life of Queen Elizabeth I which also starred Anne-Marie Duff and Tara FitzGerald. The same year she also filmed Played which also starred her ex-husband Val Kilmer but the two didn't share any scenes. In 2006, she appeared in Life Line, a two-part drama on BBC1, starring opposite Ray Stevenson. In 2008, she appeared in the ITV mini series Flood with Robert Carlyle amongst others.

In February 2008, she appeared on stage in Billy Roche's Poor Beast in the Rain presented by the Salem K. Theatre Company at the Matrix Theatre, Los Angeles, California.

Whalley played one of the female leads, Vannozza dei Cattanei, mistress of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, future Pope Alexander VI, in the Showtime historical drama The Borgias. She guest-starred as Princess Sophie in season 4 of Gossip Girl. In 2010 she was reunited with John Hurt in 44 Inch Chest. She played Aunt Patience in Jamaica Inn for BBC One in 2014. In 2015, she played Claudia, the wife of Pontius Pilate, in A.D. The Bible Continues.

Personal life

Whalley met the American actor Val Kilmer while filming the fantasy adventure Willow. The couple married in 1988. Whalley took a break from filming to bring up her two children with Kilmer. Mercedes was born on 29 October 1991 in Santa Fe, New Mexico and her son Jack who was born on 6 June 1995. Shortly after that, the pair separated. Whalley filed for divorce on 21 July 1995, citing irreconcilable differences.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Pink Floyd"?The Wall	Groupie
1985	Dance with a Stranger	Christine
1985	No Surrender	Cheryl
1985	The Good Father	Mary Hall
1988	Willow	Sorsha
1988	To Kill a Priest	Anna
1989	Scandal	Christine Keeler	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
1989	Kill Me Again	Fay Forrester	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
1990	Navy SEALs	Claire Varrens	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
1990	The Big Man	Beth Scoular	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer; also known as Crossing the Line
1991	Shattered	Jenny Scott	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
1991	Storyville	Natalie Tate	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
1993	The Secret Rapture	Katherine Coleridge	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
1994	Mother's Boys	Colleen 'Callie' Harland	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
1994	A Good Man in Africa	Celia Adekunle	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
1994	Trial by Jury	Valerie Alston	as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
1997	The Man Who Knew Too Little	Lori
1999	A Texas Funeral	Miranda
2000	The Guilty	Natalie Crane
2000	Breathtaking	Caroline Henshow
2002	Before You Go	Mary
2002	Virginia's Run	Jessie Eastwood
2005	The Californians	Luna
2006	Played	Maggie
2007	Flood	Commissioner Patricia Nash
2009	44 Inch Chest	Liz Diamond
2011	Golf in the Kingdom	Agatha McNaughton
2011	Twixt	Denise

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974, 1976	Coronation Street	Pamela Graham	3 episodes
1975	Joby	Molly McLeod	ITV Yorkshire television film
1976, 1978	Crown Court	Janice Scott/Linda Mason	3 episodes
1977	Emmerdale Farm	Angela Read	6 episodes
1976-79	How We Used To Live	Marjorie Dawson/Sarah Hughes	20(?) episodes
1978	The One and Only Phyllis Dixey	Doris	ITV television film
1979	Omnibus	Little Red Riding Hood/Madge	2 episodes
1980	ITV Playhouse	Lindsey	Episode: "Too Close to the Edge"
1980	Juliet Bravo	Maureen Maskell	Episode: "Shot Gun"
1980	Scene	Evelyn	Episode: "And Mum Came Too"
1980-81	Coming Home	Travel agent	2 episodes
1981	The Gaffer	Nancy	Episode: "The Trouble with Women"
1981	Noddy	Mary	Television film
1982	A Kind of Loving	Ingrid Rotherwell (Brown)	Main role, 8 episodes
1982	The Gentle Touch	Dany	Episode: "Dany"
1983	Bergerac	Christine Bolton	Episode: "Always Leave Them Laughing"
1983	Reilly, Ace of Spies	Ulla	ITV television miniseries; episode: "The Visiting Fireman"
1984	A Christmas Carol	Fan (Ebenezer's sister)	CBS television film
1985	Edge of Darkness	Emma Craven	5 episodes
1986	The Singing Detective	Nurse Mills	6 episodes
1987	Screen Two	Jackie	Series 3, TV film: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"
1994	Scarlett	Scarlett O'Hara	CBS television miniseries; Lead role; as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
2000	Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis	Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis	CBS television film
2000	Run the Wild Fields	Ruby Miller	Showtime Original television film
2005	The Virgin Queen	Mary I	Television miniseries
2009	Diverted	Marion Price	CBC television miniseries
2011-12	Gossip Girl	Princess Sophie Grimaldi	7 episodes
2011-13	The Borgias	Vanozza Cattaneo	Main role, 25 episodes
2013	The Challenger	Gweneth Feynman	BBC television film; also known as The Challenger Disaster
2014	Jamaica Inn	Patience Merlyn	BBC One television miniseries
2015	Wolf Hall	Catherine of Aragon	BBC Two television miniseries
2015	The Ark	Emmie	BBC One television film
2015	A.D. The Bible Continues	Claudia, wife of Pontius Pilate	Main role, 12 episodes
2016	Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands	Rheda	Main role, 13 episodes