Embeth Davidtz
Biography
Embeth Jean Davidtz (born August 11, 1965) is an American-born South African actress and director. She has appeared in movies such as Schindler's List, Matilda, Bridget Jones's Diary, and The Amazing Spider-Man, and in the television series In Treatment, Californication, and Mad Men.
In 2024 Davidtz made her directorial debut with Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, an adaptation of the best-selling memoir of the same name by Alexandra Fuller about growing up on a farm in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. The film had its Canadian premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Davidtz was born on August 11, 1965, in Lafayette, Indiana, to South African parents John and Jean, while her father was studying chemical engineering at Purdue University. The family later moved to Trenton, New Jersey, and then to South Africa when Davidtz was nine years old
Davidtz has Dutch, English, and French ancestry. She had to learn Afrikaans before attending school classes in South Africa, where her father took up a teaching post at Potchefstroom University. Davidtz graduated from The Glen High School in Pretoria in 1983 and studied at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.
In 1992, Davidtz played the part of Sheila in Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness alongside Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. The third movie in the Evil Dead franchise would eventually become a big cult classic worldwide. In 1993, Davidtz played the role of Helen Hirsch in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List.
In 1995, Davidtz had a central role in the fact-based film Murder in the First, and the Merchant Ivory Productions Feast of July.
Ask the Vault
Ask anything about Embeth Davidtz.
Full filmography
- Grey's Anatomy (2005) as Nancy Shepherd (uncredited)
- Grey's Anatomy (2005) as Nancy Shepherd
- Mad Men (2007) as Rebecca Pryce
- Scrubs (2001) as Maddie
- Californication (2007) as Felicia Koons
- In Treatment (2008) as Amy
- Ray Donovan (2013) as Sonia Kovitzky
- The Morning Show (2019) as Paige Jacobs
- Schindler's List (1993) as Helen Hirsch
- The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) as Mary Parker
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) as Mary Parker
- Screen Two (1985) as Older Karen
- Matilda (1996) as Miss Honey
- Love, Victor (2020) as Mrs. Campbell
- Army of Darkness (1992) as Sheila
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) as Annika Blomkvist Giannini
- Old (2021) as Adult Maddox
- Fallen (1998) as Gretta Milano
- Thir13en Ghosts (2001) as Kalina
- Fracture (2007) as Jennifer Crawford
- Tales of the Walking Dead (2022) as Amanda
- Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) as Natasha
- The Hole (2001) as Dr. Philippa Horwood
- Bicentennial Man (1999) as Little Miss / Portia