Emily Alice Lloyd-Pack (born 29 September 1970), known as Emily Lloyd, is a British retired actress. At the age of 16, she starred in her debut and breakthrough role in the 1987 film Wish You Were Here, for which she received critical acclaim and Best Actress awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the Evening Standard British Film Awards. She subsequently relocated to Manhattan at 17, received numerous film offers, and starred in the 1989 films Cookie and In Country.
Lloyd's mental health began to decline in her late teens, and she missed out on several prominent roles due to a combination of factors. She turned down the lead role in the 1990 film Pretty Woman as she had already agreed to star in Mermaids, from which she was later recast. She was fired from the 1992 film Husbands and Wives as her deteriorating health affected her ability to work, and was also replaced in the 1995 film Tank Girl. In 1997, a journalist said Lloyd was "in danger of becoming better known for the parts she has lost than those she has played". a theatrical agent who was a long-time secretary at Harold Pinter's stage agency. Her grandfather, Charles Lloyd-Pack, was also a stage and film actor. Lloyd's parents separated when she was 18 months old; her father moved out of the family home and Emily continued to live with her mother in Milner Square, Islington. Her mother married telephone engineer Martin Ball and, when Lloyd was five, had a second daughter, Charlotte; the couple separated two months after her birth. Her father married Jehane Markham in 2000; they had three sons: Hartley, Louis and Spencer.
Film career
At the age of 15, Lloyd was taking acting lessons at the Italia Conti School in London. In 1986, director David Leland cast her as Lynda, the leading role in his film Wish You Were Here. The film was based loosely on the memoirs of Cynthia Payne. Lloyd's younger half-sister Charlotte played the 11-year-old Lynda in a flashback sequence. Wish You Were Here received an International Federation of Film Critics award at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, and Lloyd received widespread acclaim for her performance. Roger Ebert said she was the key to the film's performance, calling it "one of the great debut roles for a young actress". and also at the 1987 Evening Standard British Film Awards. She was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in 1988.
Following her success, Steven Spielberg warned her not to get involved in the film industry and to "be a kid and go to Disneyland". Her next role was in the 1989 film In Country opposite Bruce Willis, though the two stars reportedly did not get along during filming. Rick Groen from The Globe and Mail praised Lloyd's performance as "letter perfect – her accent impeccable and her energy immense". Lloyd had been coached on dialect for American roles by Tim Monich.
Lloyd had to turn down an offer for the lead role in Pretty Woman; she had already been contracted to star in the 1990 film Mermaids. Lloyd was cast as the daughter of the character played by the film's star, Cher. Cher, however, thought that Lloyd did not look enough like her to portray her daughter and complained about her casting. The original director of the film, Lasse Hallström, was fired at Cher's insistence, and Lloyd was subsequently told she was no longer required. Her part was given to Winona Ryder. Lloyd sued Orion Pictures for breach of contract and received $175,000 in damages. Shortly thereafter she began dating musician Gavin Rossdale. According to Lloyd the relationship was troubled, and one night at his apartment alone, she attempted suicide by taking aspirin and slashing her wrists. She was found by one of Rossdale's friends and spent the next six weeks in hospital. She was cast in Woody Allen's 1992 film Husbands and Wives, but was fired by him after two weeks due to her ill health. Allen complained Lloyd was spending too much time in her trailer; Lloyd later stated that was because she was making herself vomit. In 1995, she was initially cast as the eponymous lead character for the film Tank Girl. The film's director, Rachel Talalay, states she fired Lloyd for refusing to shave her head for the role. Lloyd, who had spent four months training for the film, disputes this. She offered to reschedule her appointment with the film's hair stylist to the following day because the stylist had a dinner date. Talalay ostensibly fired her for "being difficult". Lloyd said she was actually fired due to their personality clashes. Lloyd states she "went to pieces" after Tank Girl, believing she was cursed.
In 1996, she appeared in the Sean Bean football film When Saturday Comes, then had a supporting role in the critically acclaimed film Welcome to Sarajevo. In 1997, Lloyd went to India where she took the anti-malaria drug mefloquine, which is contraindicated for people with mental disorders. Lloyd became sick on the trip and was also bitten by a stray dog. Lloyd attributes her subsequent mental breakdown to the combination of the drug and the attack. She lost on the two-week trip, and developed obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) afterward. The following year, she starred in the film Riverworld. In 1997, she was cast as Eliza Doolittle in the Albery Theatre production of Pygmalion, produced by Bill Kenwright. It was to be her West End debut. Shortly after rehearsals began, the original director Giles Havergal walked out, with reports he found Lloyd impossible to work with. Lloyd later left the production herself, citing an issue with another member of the cast. A journalist from The Independent subsequently commented that Lloyd was "in danger of becoming better known for the parts she has lost than those she has played". In 2003, she appeared as Ophelia in Hamlet at the Shakespeare Festival in Leeds and Brighton. Lloyd spoke positively of her experience in the play, though, according to The Daily Telegraph, one reviewer said her performance left audiences "visibly cringing".
In April 2013, Lloyd stated that she had been calm and stable for the past few years. She said she had no regrets regarding her life, though wished "that on a few occasions [she'd] been able to enjoy the experiences fully". In May 2013, Lloyd published an autobiography, Wish I Was There. In October 2014, Lloyd had a daughter with her partner, vocalist Christian Jupp.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1987
|Wish You Were Here
|Lynda Mansell
|
|-
|1989
|Cookie
|Carmela 'Cookie' Voltecki
|
|-
|1989
|In Country
|Samantha Hughes
|
|-
|1990
|Chicago Joe and the Showgirl
|Betty Jones
|
|-
|1991
|Scorchers
|Splendid
|
|-
|1992
|'
|Jessie Burns
|
|-
|1994
|Override
|Avis
|Short
|-
|1995
|Under the Hula Moon
|Betty Wall
|
|-
|1996
|Livers Ain't Cheap
|Lisa Tuttle
|
|-
|1996
|When Saturday Comes
|Annie Doherty
|
|-
|1996
|Masculine Mescaline
|Charlotte
|Short
|-
|1996
|Dead Girl
|Mother
|
|-
|1997
|Welcome to Sarajevo
|Annie McGee
|
|-
|1998
|Boogie Boy
|Hester
|
|-
|1998
|Brand New World
|Kim Patterson
|
|-
|2002
|'
|Catherine
|
|-
|2003
|Hey Mr DJ
|Angela
|
|-
|2008
|'
|Audition Monitor
|Short
|-
|2016
|No Reasons
|Yvonne
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1988
|Tickets for the Titanic
|Polly
|Episode: "Everyone a Winner"
|-
|1994
|Override
|Avis
|TV short
|-
|1996
|Strangers
|Jennie
|Episode: "Costumes"
|-
|2001
|Dark Realm
|Emma
|Episode: "Emma's Boy"
|-
|2003
|Riverworld
|Alice Lidell Hargreaves
|TV film
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders unsortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! style="width:5%;"| Year !! Organisation !! Award !! Film !! Result
!
|-
!scope="row" rowspan="2"|1987
|National Society of Film Critics
|rowspan="3"|Best Actress
|rowspan="3"|Wish You Were Here
|rowspan="2"
|