Rebecca Hall

Biography:

Rebecca Maria Hall was born in London, England, to American opera singer Maria Ewing and renowned English stage director Sir Peter Hall, the founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her mother, originally from Detroit, was the daughter of a mixed-race African-American father and a Dutch mother, and a descendant of Bazabeel Norman, a free African man who served in the American Revolutionary War.

During her appearance on Finding Your Roots, Hall discovered that her maternal grandfather, Norman Isaac Ewing—once portrayed in newspapers as a Sioux chief—was actually of mixed African-American descent with no Native American ancestry. His father, John William Ewing, Hall’s great-grandfather, had been born into slavery but later became a respected member of Washington, D.C.’s Black community after the Civil War. A DNA test from Ancestry.com revealed that Hall’s heritage is approximately 91% European and 9% Sub-Saharan African. Her parents separated during her childhood and divorced in 1990. She has five paternal half-siblings: Edward Hall, Christopher Hall, Jennifer Caron Hall, Emma Hall, and Lucy Hall.

Hall attended Roedean School, where she was head girl, and later studied English literature at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. However, she left just before her final year in 2002. While at Cambridge, she was deeply involved in student theatre, co-founding her own company and performing with the Marlowe Society alongside her housemate Dan Stevens.

Her acting debut came at age nine, portraying young Sophy in her father’s TV adaptation of The Camomile Lawn (1992). She made her film debut in Starter for Ten (2006) and gained prominence that same year playing Sarah Borden in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. In 2007, she appeared in Stephen Poliakoff’s Joe’s Palace and several TV films, including Wide Sargasso Sea.

Hall’s breakthrough came with Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), directed by Woody Allen, earning her a Golden Globe nomination. She later appeared in Frost/Nixon (2008) and Dorian Gray (2009). Her performance in Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1974 (2009) won her the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to star in The Town (2010), The Awakening (2011), and Lay the Favorite (2012), and received another BAFTA nomination for Parade’s End (2012).

In 2013, Hall joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Maya Hansen in Iron Man 3, followed by Closed Circuit (2013) and Transcendence (2014). She later starred in Tumbledown and The Gift (2015), then earned widespread praise for portraying Christine Chubbuck in Christine (2016).

Hall went on to play psychologist Elizabeth Holloway Marston in Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) and appeared in A Rainy Day in New York. In 2018, after reconsidering her collaboration with Woody Allen due to abuse allegations, she donated her salary to the Time’s Up movement. She also voiced Mother in Mirai (2018), and in 2021 starred in The Night House and Godzilla vs. Kong.

That same year, Hall made her directorial debut with Passing, based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel. Drawing from her own mixed-race background, Hall wrote, directed, and co-produced the film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix for about $16 million.

Her stage career began in 2002 with Mrs. Warren’s Profession, earning her the Ian Charleson Award. She went on to perform in As You Like It, Man and Superman, Don Juan, and other classic works, frequently under her father’s direction. Hall made her Broadway debut in 2013 with Machinal at the American Airlines Theatre.

In her personal life, Hall dated director Sam Mendes from 2011 to 2013. She later met actor Morgan Spector during a Broadway production, and the two married in 2015. They welcomed their daughter, Ida, in 2018.

In 2025, Hall became a signatory of the Film Workers for Palestine boycott pledge.