Actress Profile: Natalie Dormer


 
From the Natalie Dormer website:

Natalie is an English Actress who was born on the 11 of February 1982 in Reading, Berkshire, England, UK. She is most well known for her role in Casanova as Victoria and the ill-fated Tudor Queen, Anne Boleyn in Showtime’s award winning series The Tudors. Natalie is also a decedent of Jane Dormer, the close friend (or fool) of Queen Mary Tudor. Natalie attended Chiltern Edge Secondary School before moving on to Reading Blue Coat School in the sixth form. She grew up with her Stepfather, Mother, her Sister Samantha and her Brother Mark. Natalie was a victim to school bullies but still to this day cannot place why.

During her schooling years she trained in dance at the Allenova School of Dancing, Natalie described herself as the ‘Academic hopeful’ of the family as she was due to read history at University but instead decided to train at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Natalie also loves fencing and is a member of the London Fencing Academy, she also has a fondness for poker and competed in a contest during 2008 run by PartyPoker.com and placed second in the Celebrity Heats. Natalie says that Cate Blanchett has been an influence in her career as an actress.

Natalie’s career debuted in her role as Victoria in the 2005 movie Casanova where she starred alongside Heath Ledger. Natalie impressed Lasse Hallstrom so much that he expanded her part. Natalie’s love for stage combat flourished in the film, only Natalie wishes there was more, “The swordplay in Casanova is beautiful. I’m actually disappointed that there isn’t more,” says Dormer. “I suppose I’m quite violent. I took a stage combat class at school and developed quite a sword collection.” Furthermore, based upon Natalie’s brilliant performance she signed a three movie deal with Disney, but this has yet to be exercised.


Through Natalie’s role in Casanova she proved to the acting world that she was not only naturally talented but that she was destined for bigger and greater things. In 2007 Natalie landed the role as Anne Boleyn in Showtime’s lavish Television Series The Tudors. Natalie’s portrayal of Anne was critically acclaimed despite being snubbed by the Emmy’s in 2008. It was said by many critics that Anne’s death (Natalie’s departure) had left a irreplaceable void. In mid 2008 it was announced that Natalie would be working on Fencewalker a film shrouded in mystery by its director Chris Carter.

In 2009 Natalie voiced Serafina for Sarah Dunat’s novel Sacred Hearts. Serafina (which Natalie voiced) is a 16 year old girl living in Renaissance Italy who is forced into a convent by her parents due to her love her music teacher. Also in the same year Natalie appeared in Miss Marple: Why didn’t they ask Evans?. In December the same year she attended the Dubai Film Festival to promote her new movie City of Life. There was a whisper about a TV series Natalie would star in called Masterwork, where Natalie plays a MI5 Agent traveling the world in search for stolen artifacts, but the series is yet to be picked up.


In the early part of 2010 Natalie was cast into a play called Sweet Nothings by Arthur Schnitzle. Natalie travelled around Europe performing two shows a day and also managed to find time to return to The Tudors (much to everyone’s delight!) as a ghostly Anne Boleyn in the final season. Katherine and Jane also appeared and this marked the end of King Henry and the end of The Tudors.

In the middle of 2010 Natalie was cast as the favorite Queen Mother, Elizabeth Parker-Bowles in W.E, a story of the love affair between Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII. Natalie also signed on for the role of Niamh Cranitch in the new television series called Silk, a legal drama.



In September 2014, Deadline Hollywood announced Dormer was cast in Screen Gems' action thriller Patient Zero, alongside Matt Smith and Game of Thrones co-star John Bradley. The film was directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky based on a script by Mike Le. Patient Zero was released through video on demand on 14 August 2018, before receiving a limited theatrical release on 14 September 2018, by Vertical Entertainment. A February 2017 press-release announced Dormer was cast as schoolteacher Mrs Hester Appleyard in Picnic at Hanging Rock, an adaptation of the 1967 Australian novel of the same name by Joan Lindsay. The six episode feature aired on Amazon Prime and on BBC2 in the United Kingdom. Dormer's performance was described as "commanding" and "delicious"

Dormer returned to the stage at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in October 2017 for the lead role in David Ives' Venus in Fur. The Telegraph described her performance as "sensational" while Lyn Gardner says Dormer was "dominant in every way". In May 2018, Dormer co-wrote and starred as a blind pianist in revenge thriller In Darkness. Following her audio work on Neverwhere, a August 2018 press-release announced Dormer would narrate the audiobook for Pottermore Publishing’s Harry Potter: A History of Magic. Of the role, Dormer says she "always adored the Harry Potter books" and it was "fun to join the wizarding world family"

In 2019, she was the voice of Onica in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. In 2020, she starred in Showtime's series, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, playing multiple roles; she received praise for her work on the series, and she was nominated for an award at the upcoming Critics' Choice Super Awards. She will play Vivien Leigh in miniseries Vivling. The series focuses on Leigh's classic films, including Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire; Dormer will develop and produce the show. Vivling will be Dormer’s first series of a first-look production deal with Fremantle, a press-release announced in November 2018.

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