Bio: For Joely, the theatre must be in her genes. Born in Marylebone, London, England, she is the daughter of director Tony Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave, granddaughter of Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, niece of Lynn Redgrave, and sister of Natasha Richardson, all actors. Former husband Tim Bevan is a producer. However the genes were slow - as a child she saw her older sister Natasha interested in acting but she was imagining a career in tennis. Her father put his foot down, and tennis was out. British by birth, she considers herself a sort of honorary Yank, having attended boarding school at Thacher in Ojai, California. Beginning in the '80s film became her life, from small parts in Wetherby (1985) to BBC dramas such as Lady Chatterley (1993) to today's Disney studio going to the dogs in 101 Dalmatians (1996).
Tivia: Her real mother, Vanessa Redgrave, plays the mother of Joely's character on the TV series Nip/Tuck (2003).She and her mother Vanessa Redgrave both appear in Anonymous (2011) as the same character "Queen Elizabeth I" at different ages during the story.In the joint ventures made with her real-life mother Vanessa Redgrave, Joely has either played her mother's character as a young woman (Wetherby (1985), The Fever (2004), Anonymous (2011)) or her screen daughter (Nip/Tuck (2003)).Graduated from RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in 1985. Is now an Associate Member.Both she and her sister Natasha Richardson starred in remakes of classic Disney movies. Joely starred in 101 Dalmatians (1996), while Natasha starred in The Parent Trap (1998).Both she and her mother Vanessa Redgrave have played an historical queen who was executed by beheading. Richardson played Marie Antoinette in The Affair of the Necklace (2001) while her mother played the title character in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971).Is only 12 years older than John Hensley, who plays her son on Nip/Tuck (2003).She has played the wife of two former English kings; Wallis Simpson (Wallis & Edward, 2005), wife of the abdicated Edward, Duke of Windsor, and Henry VIII's final consort Catherine Parr in The Tudors (2010).She has three roles in common with her mother Vanessa Redgrave: (1) they both played Jean Travers in Wetherby (1985), (2) they both played the unnamed protagonist in The Fever (2004), and (3) they both played Queen Elizabeth in Anonymous (2011).Former sister-in-law of Robert Fox.