Gemma redgrave biography

British actress (born 1965)

Jemima Rebecca "Jemma" Redgrave^[1] (born 14 January 1965) is a British actress, and a member of the Redgrave family. She is known for her roles as the title character in Bramwell (1995–1998) and as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart in Doctor Who (2012–2015, 2021–2024) and its upcoming spin-off, The War Between the Land and the Sea. As well as a career in television, she has appeared in many stage productions and on film, including her portrayal of Evie Wilcox in the Merchant Ivory film Howards End.

Early life

Redgrave was born in London on 14 January 1965,^[2] she is the daughter of actor Corin Redgrave and his first wife, Deirdre Hamilton-Hill, a former fashion model. They divorced when Jemma was nine. As a child, she attended the Godolphin and Latymer school in Hammersmith.^[3] She then enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art^[4] at the age of 18.

Career

Stage

After graduation, Redgrave landed a succession of high-profile stage acting roles: in the 1988 stage production of Strindberg's Easter; in Lady Windermere's Fan in Belfast, Northern Ireland; as Emily in Thornton Wilder's Our Town; as Irina in a 1990 revival of Anton Chekhov's The Three Sisters in London's West End with her aunts Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave; in 1993 with Colin Firth in Alexander Griboyedov's Chatsky at the Almeida Theatre, London; and in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 2001 at the Albery Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre), London, playing Titania alongside Dawn French as Bottom.

In 2010, she appeared in New York's Public Theater in The Great Game: Afghanistan which featured seven hours of on-stage acting.^[5] Redgrave appeared in four of the twelve plays.^[6] In 2012, Redgrave appeared alongside Ben Chaplin in Roger Michell's production of Farewell to the Theatre at the Hampstead Theatre, followed by starring roles in Donkeys' Years (2014) and An Ideal Husband (2016).

In 2018, Redgrave appeared in another Roger Michell production, appearing again alongside Ben Chaplin, this time in Joe Penhall's Mood Music at The Old Vic.^[7]

Television

She has appeared in many roles on British television, including leading actor roles as the eponymous Dr. Eleanor Bramwell in four series of ITV's Bramwell and as D.S. Eve Granger in Cold Blood, alongside John Hannah and Matthew Kelly. Redgrave also appeared as Eleanor in Roger Michell's The Buddha of Suburbia: a four-part adaptation of the ground-breaking novel of the same name by Hanif Kureishi and with a soundtrack written and performed specifically for the production by David Bowie.^{[citation needed]}

Other prominent roles have included Francesca Rochester in Judge John Deed and Dee Stanton in Like Father, Like Son. In 2007, she portrayed Lady Bertram in Mansfield Park and Sophie Wall in Waking the Dead, followed by a 2009 appearance in the series, Unforgiven, written by Sally Wainwright. In 2013, she also appeared as Doctor Zoe Evans in the BBC One drama series Frankie.^[8]

From 2016 to 2018, Redgrave played former RAMC surgeon, Major Berenice Wolfe, in the popular BBC medical drama Holby City. In 2019, she joined the cast of ITV's Grantchester as Amelia, the mother of the show's lead character, Rev. Will Davenport.^[9]

On 31 August 2021, she made a surprise return to Holby City as Bernie Wolfe.^[10]

Doctor Who

In 2012, Redgrave was cast in the long-running science-fiction programme Doctor Who as Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, daughter of recurring character Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart who featured in the series' original 1963–1989 run. First appearing in "The Power of Three" (2012) with the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith), Kate is the commander-in-chief of the fictional military organisation UNIT, a role previously occupied by her father before his retirement. The character returned in the fiftieth anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor" (2013), which was simulcast on television and in cinemas across the world in 94 countries, earning a Guinness World Record for the world's largest ever simulcast of a TV drama.^[11]

Kate would go on to become a recurring character in Doctor Who, with Redgrave reprising the role in episodes with the Twelfth (Peter Capaldi), Thirteenth (Jodie Whittaker), Fourteenth (David Tennant) and Fifteenth (Ncuti Gatwa) Doctors.^[12] She will return in the 2025 series of the programme alongside Gatwa^[13] as well as headline the upcoming spin-off series The War Between the Land and the Sea.^[14]

Additionally, Redgrave began headlining the Big Finish audio drama spin-off UNIT: The New Series as Kate alongside Ingrid Oliver as Osgood, whom Redgrave appeared on-screen with multiple times in Doctor Who,^[15] and would go on to play Kate in other spin-off audio plays. Regrave also featured as Kate in a promo video for Doctor Who: Time Fracture, an immersive experience that began running in London in April 2021.^[16]

Personal life

Redgrave married Tim Owen, a barrister at Matrix Chambers, in 1992. They had a son, Gabriel, in 1994. The couple separated from 1997 to October 1998. They reconciled, however, and had another son, Alfie, in 2000. They have since divorced. She has a brother, Luke Redgrave, who is a camera operator,^[17] and two half-brothers, Arden and Harvey Redgrave. Her mother died in 1997^[17] and her father died in 2010.^[18]

She is the granddaughter of Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, niece of actresses Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave, and cousin of Joely Richardson, Carlo Nero, and Natasha Richardson. Her step-mother is the actress Kika Markham.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre credits

Theatre

References

External links