Hayley Atwell

Actor

• Born: April 5, 1982
• Place of Birth: London, England

Contribution: Hayley Atwell is a Golden Globe nominated British actor best known for her role in the television miniseries The Pillars of the Earth (2010) and for her portrayals of the Marvel Comics character Peggy Carter on both the big and small screens, including in the film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), the television series Agent Carter (2015–16), and the seventh Mission Impossible film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023).

Background

Hayley Elizabeth Atwell was born on April 5, 1982, in London, England, to an American father, Grant Atwell, and a British mother, Allison Cain. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she grew up attending school in London and spending the summers in Kansas City, Missouri. Her mother was passionate about theater and exposed Atwell to drama and acting at an early age. After Atwell graduated from the London Oratory School, she studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Career

Following her graduation from the Guildhall School in 2005, Atwell acted in a number of stage productions as well as in various television films and miniseries produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In 2006 she played Rosa Garland in the Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of the 1985 novel The Ruby in the Smoke, the first installment of the Sally Lockhart mystery trilogy by British novelist Philip Pullman. She would go on to reprise the role in the 2007 sequel, The Shadow in the North. Atwell also costarred as Cat Fedden in the miniseries The Line of Beauty (2006), an adaptation of the Booker Prize–winning 2004 novel by Alan Hollinghurst, and acted in the television movies Fear of Fanny (2006) and Mansfield Park (2007).

Atwell made her feature film debut in the 2007 drama Cassandra’s Dream, written and directed by veteran filmmaker Woody Allen. Atwell plays Angela, the girlfriend of criminal Ian, played by Ewan McGregor. Also in 2007, she played the lead role in How About You, an adaptation of a short story by Irish writer Maeve Binchy. In the film, Atwell’s character, Ellie Harris, is thrust into managing four senior citizens at a residential home over the winter holidays.

In 2008, Atwell costarred in Brideshead Revisited, based on the 1945 novel by Evelyn Waugh, as Julia Flyte, the love interest of protagonist Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) in his younger days. The film won nominations for several awards throughout the United Kingdom. Atwell later played a supporting role in the 2008 historical drama The Duchess, starring Ralph Fiennes and Keira Knightley. In recognition of her performance, Atwell was nominated for the British Independent Film Award for best supporting actress and the London Critics Circle Film Award for British supporting actress of the year. The film as a whole received numerous award nominations and furthered Atwell’s growing reputation as an actor well suited to period films.

Atwell next played a pivotal role in the dramatic science-fiction miniseries The Prisoner (2009) and also returned to her theatrical roots, performing on stage in the Arthur Miller play A View from the Bridge. Her performance in the supporting role of Catherine earned her a nomination for the prestigious Olivier Award. Atwell’s career reached another milestone in 2010, when she costarred in the miniseries The Pillars of the Earth, an adaptation of Ken Follett’s 1989 bestselling medieval epic. The Pillars of the Earth was nominated for the Emmy Award for outstanding miniseries, and Atwell was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for best performance by an actress in a miniseries for her performance as the noblewoman Aliena.

Although Atwell appeared in several miniseries and films that attracted international notice, including The Pillars of the Earth and The Duchess, she remained largely unknown outside her native England until 2011. That year, Atwell costarred in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), an installment in the blockbuster series of films based on Marvel Comics superheroes. Atwell plays Peggy Carter, a British agent who works alongside American supersoldier Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, during World War II. The film was a critical and commercial success and introduced Atwell to an international audience.

Atwell went on to costar in various films and miniseries, including I, Anna (2012), The Sweeney (2012), Restless (2012), and Black Mirror (2013). She later took on a major role in the biopic All Is by My Side, about famed rock musician Jimi Hendrix. Atwell was cast as Kathy Etchingham, Hendrix’s girlfriend and the inspiration for several of his songs. Starring actor and recording artist André Benjamin, also known as André 3000, in the lead role, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2013.

In addition to securing roles in projects outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including in films such as Testament of Youth (2014) and Cinderella (2015), Atwell was called upon to portray Carter in a number of further film installments and also brought the character to the small screen. After portraying Carter in the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), she introduced her into the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. through two episodes in 2014. She then followed up appearances as Peggy in the films Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man in 2015 with the beginning of a television show focused on the character, titled Agent Carter, airing on ABC. Though the show was well reviewed by critics after its premiere in 2015, it was ultimately canceled in 2016 after two seasons due to a failure to bring in ratings. Atwell remained in demand, as she went on to star in the short-lived ABC series Conviction, which ran from 2016 to 2017, have a prominent role in the feature Christopher Robbin (2018), and have a role in Blinded by the Light (2019) before playing Carter once more in Avengers: Endgame (2019). From 2018 to 2019, she voiced the character of Zadra in the Netflix animated series 3Below: Tales of Arcadia. Meanwhile, she returned to the stage for performances in Dry Powder and a production of Measure for Measure in England in 2018.

 Atwell also returned to the role of Peggy Carter in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as well as six episodes of the animated Marvel series What If…? In 2023, Atwell joined the cast of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, the seventh installment of the popular movie franchise. Atwell will also appear in the second part of the film, which was slated for release in 2025.

Impact

Although initially best known for her roles in quintessentially British period pieces, Atwell has demonstrated her willingness to accept a wide variety of roles in television and film as well as on stage. She has been nominated for several awards in recognition of her work.

Personal Life

Atwell lives in London.

Bibliography

Atwell, Hayley. “Hayley Atwell: From Captain America to Jimi Hendrix.” Interview by Chris Harvey. Telegraph, 10 Aug. 2013, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-features/10234252/Hayley-Atwell-From-Captain-America-to-Jimi-Hendrix.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.

Atwell, Hayley. “Hayley Atwell Is a Woman We Love.” Interview by Peter Martin. Esquire, 19 July 2011, www.esquire.com/entertainment/a10467/hayley-atwell-pictures-0811/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.

"Hayley Atwell." IMDb, 2024, www.imdb.com/name/nm2017943/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.

Verniere, James. “Tough London Cops Take No Prisoners.” Rev. of The Sweeney. Boston Herald, 1 Mar. 2013, www.bostonherald.com/2013/03/01/tough-london-cops-take-no-prisoners/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.