Natascha McElhone

Natascha McElhone (/ˈmækəlˌhoʊn/ MACK-əl-HOHN, born Natascha Abigail Taylor^[1] , 14 December 1971)^[2] is an English actress and producer, who has worked extensively in film and television in both the United Kingdom and the United States. She is known to film audiences for her roles in Surviving Picasso (1996), Ronin (1998), The Truman Show (1998), Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost (2000), Solaris (2002), Carmen (2021), Young Sherlock series.

She is known to television audiences for her roles as Karen on Californication (2007–14), First Lady Alex Kirkman on Designated Survivor (2016–17), Penelope Knatchbull, Lady Romsey on The Crown (2022), and Dr. Catherine Halsey on Halo (2022–24). She was the voice of Marie Belmont in the video game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2010) and its sequel Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (2014).

McElhone is a Satellite Award, Saturn Award, and an Irish Film & Television Award nominee.

McElhone was born Natascha Abigail Taylor,^[1] on 14 December 1971 in London, England,^[2][3] to Irish mother Noreen McElhone,^[2] and English father Michael Taylor,^[4] both journalists.^[4][2] Her parents separated when she was two.^[2] Her mother moved the family to Brighton, and later married journalist and columnist Roy Greenslade.^[4] McElhone has a brother, Damon (by Taylor),^[4] and two half-brothers (by Greenslade).

McElhone was educated at St Mark's Church of England Primary School, Brighton; St Mary's Hall, Brighton; Fortismere School, London; Camden School for Girls, London; and William Ellis, London. She also took lessons in Irish dancing from ages 6 to 12.

She studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.^[2][5]

While eventually taking McElhone, her mother's maiden name, as her stage name,^[2][4] she began her career, in the theatre, as "Natascha Taylor", work that included starring roles in Richard III and A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, London, and in The Count of Monte Cristo and The Cherry Orchard at the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester. She made her television debut in 1990, again credited as "Natascha Taylor", in Television South's adaptation of the Inspector Wexford story An Unkindness of Ravens.^[6]

She appeared the following year, again as "Natascha Taylor," in the series Bergerac as Louise Calder, a rebellious daughter of very wealthy parents.^[7] She appeared in two episodes of the Dennis Potter television miniseries Karaoke.

McElhone's first major box-office role, and an early role where she was credited as her new stage name, came with Surviving Picasso (1996), with co-star Anthony Hopkins. One of her most successful films to date has been The Truman Show (1998) with Jim Carrey.^[8] She had leading roles opposite Brad Pitt in The Devil's Own (1997), Robert De Niro in Ronin (1998)^[9] and George Clooney in Solaris (2002).^[10][11]

Co-starring with Bill Pullman, she appeared in the NBC miniseries Revelations (2005). McElhone starred in a 2006 West End production of Honour at the Wyndham's Theatre alongside Diana Rigg and Martin Jarvis. She accepted the role as Karen in the Showtime cable television series Californication, alongside David Duchovny.^[2][12] In 2009, she became a spokeswoman for Neutrogena.^[13] In 2010, McElhone voiced Marie in the video game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow from Konami.^[14]

She featured as Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (2013), a film adaptation of Shakespeare's play. Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld were the leads, and Damian Lewis played her husband.^[15] In 2014, McElhone played Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. In 2015, she starred as Sarah Churchill in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Helen Edmundson's Queen Anne.^[16]

In February 2016, McElhone was cast alongside Kiefer Sutherland in ABC's political drama series Designated Survivor, which premiered in September 2016.^[17] She left the show in Season 2 to star as Laz Ingram in the Hulu science fiction drama series The First (2018).^[18] In 2022, McElhone appeared as Penelope Knatchbull in the Netflix historical series season 5 of The Crown.^[19] From 2022 to 2024, she starred as Catherine Halsey in the Paramount+ military science fiction series Halo.^[20]

McElhone has narrated several audiobooks (alone, or in collaboration with other narrators) including Figuring by Maria Popova, Picasso by Arianna Huffington, Amok by Sebastian Fitzek, and several children's stories by Matt Haig.^[21]

McElhone married plastic surgeon Martin Hirigoyen Kelly on 19 May 1998.^[22] The couple lived in Fulham, south-west London. They had three sons, the third born five months after Kelly's death.^[23]

On 20 May 2008, 43-year-old Kelly was found slumped in the doorway of his family's home by a fellow doctor, who had him rushed to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. He could not be revived and died one day after his 10th wedding anniversary. A postmortem exam revealed the cause of death to have been dilated cardiomyopathy.^[24][25]

After her husband's death, McElhone continued to write letters to him, sometimes documenting the daily trivia of life but also dealing with how she and their young children were coping with their loss. These letters and diary entries formed the basis of her book After You: Letters of Love, and Loss, to a Husband and Father. The book was published in July 2010.^[26][27]

• Natascha McElhone at IMDb
• Natascha McElhone on Instagram