With a passion for acting that can be traced in her genes, Joely Richardson is no stranger to the world of performing arts. Born on January 9, 1965 to actress Vanessa Redgrave and late director Tony Richardson, she is an English actress raised in London. The granddaughter of Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, she is also the sister of actress Natasha Richardson and niece of Lynn and Corin Redgrave. She was educated at The Thatcher School in Ojai, California and to no one’s surprise, began her acting career at an early age. However, she decided on a professional tennis career as well, spending two years at a tennis academy in Florida.
Joely Kim Richardson appeared as an extra at the age of three in the 1968 version of The Charge of the Light Brigade directed by her father. After an early leading role in Peter Greenaway's cult success Drowning by Numbers, her first major role in front of a mass audience was as Joanna Farley in a 1989 television episode of Poirot, the Agatha Christie-based detective series. She later appeared as a fictional Finnish princess, Anna, in the 1991 comedy King Ralph. Two years later, she appeared as Lady Chatterley in a television drama of the same title. One year later she played opposite Mel Gibson in the successful film, The Patriot , loosely based on the American Revolution. In 2003, she took on the major role of playing Julia McNamara in the controversial television drama Nip/Tuck based on the lives of two dysfunctional plastic surgeons in Miami. Her mother has appeared in several episodes playing her character's mother. Some of her other film credits include Shoreditch, The Affair of the Necklace, Freezing and 2007’s The Last Mimzy. She has also been known for starring in the Disney live-action remake of the animated 101 Dalmatians, opposite Glenn Close. Her other notable roles were in the popular drama The Echo, and the sci-fi movie Event Horizon.
Her real mother, Vanessa Redgrave, plays the mother of Joely's character on the TV series "Nip/Tuck".
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)
Graduated from RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in 1985. Is now an Associate Member
Irish actor Liam Neeson (Schindler's List, Rob Roy, Batman Begins) is her brother-in-law.
Is just 12 years older than John Hensley, who plays her son on "Nip/Tuck".