Frances O'Connor

Biography:

Frances Ann O’Connor, born on June 12, 1967, is a British-Australian actress and filmmaker. She is best known for her roles in films such as Mansfield Park, Bedazzled, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Timeline. O’Connor received an AACTA Award for her role in Blessed and earned two Golden Globe nominations for her performances in Madame Bovary and The Missing. In 2022, she made her directorial and screenwriting debut with the film Emily.

O’Connor was born in Wantage, England (then part of Berkshire), to a mother who played piano and a father who worked as a nuclear physicist. When she was two, the family relocated to Perth, Western Australia. She is the third of five siblings, with an older brother and sister, and two younger sisters. Raised in the Roman Catholic faith, she attended Mercedes College in Perth before studying at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts in literature from Curtin University.

Her film career began in 1996 with a lead role in Love and Other Catastrophes, a well-received indie romantic comedy. She was nominated for an AACTA Award for Best Actress for that role. In 1997, she starred in Kiss or Kill and appeared alongside Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh in Thank God He Met Lizzie. Her performance as Fanny Price in Mansfield Park (1999) was met with critical praise. The following year, her portrayal of the title character in Madame Bovary earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

In 2000, she entered the Hollywood scene with a role in the Bedazzled remake starring Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley. She followed this with a lead in Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), which brought her a Saturn Award nomination. In 2002, she co-starred in The Importance of Being Earnest with Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, and Judi Dench. She then starred in the 2003 sci-fi movie Timeline opposite Paul Walker, though the film was a commercial failure.

Returning to indie projects in 2004, she appeared in Book of Love and Iron Jawed Angels, sharing the screen with Hilary Swank and Anjelica Huston. She starred in the short-lived series Cashmere Mafia in 2008. In 2009, O’Connor won an AACTA Award for her performance in Blessed. Other film credits include Jayne Mansfield’s Car, Little Red Wagon, and The Truth About Emanuel. She also received further AACTA nominations for Three Dollars (2005) and The Hunter (2011). In 2011, she was cast in ABC’s Hallelujah, a pilot created by Marc Cherry, which was not picked up.

Between 2013 and 2014, O’Connor played Rose Selfridge in the British period series Mr Selfridge. In 2014, she landed the lead role in the British drama The Missing, earning a Golden Globe nomination for her work. She later portrayed Belle’s mother in Once Upon a Time. In 2016, she appeared in the horror film The Conjuring 2 and the sci-fi drama Cleverman.

In 2022, O’Connor debuted as a writer-director with Emily, a biographical film about the life of author Emily Brontë, starring Emma Mackey.

She and her long-time partner, actor Gerald Lepkowski, had a son in 2005. They were married in 2011 at her mother’s home in Australia.