Joanne Whalley (born 25 August 1961) is an English film and television actress. She was credited as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer from 1988 to 1996 during her marriage to Val Kilmer.
Whalley came to fame through television with appearances in drama serials Edge of Darkness (1985), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, and The Singing Detective (1986). She has also appeared in both British and American feature films, including Willow (1988), where she met Kilmer, and Scandal (1989). On the stage, her performance in Saved earned her a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in 1985.
Whalley's subsequent career has seen her cast as a number of iconic historical and fictional figures, including Scarlett O'Hara in Scarlett (1994), Jackie Kennedy in Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (2000), Queen Mary I in The Virgin Queen (2005), and Catherine of Aragon in Wolf Hall (2015).
Early life and education
Joanne Whalley was born on 25 August 1961 in Salford, Lancashire. She later moved to Levenshulme, Manchester and then to Stockport, Greater Manchester. and the Braeside School of Speech and Drama in Marple.
She made her feature film debut as a young Beatles fan in Richard Marquand's biographical film, Birth of the Beatles, in 1979. She flirted with the fringes of the Manchester new wave scene by briefly being a member of a Stockport-based band called the Slowguns but left before the release of the first of their two singles later that year. Her television work continued with early appearances in episodes of popular series including Juliet Bravo and The Gentle Touch.
At this time she was also the lead singer of the pop group Cindy & The Saffrons; they recorded the Shangri-Las' song "Past, Present and Future" in 1982 at Abbey Road Studios, and the track made the UK singles charts, peaking at #56. The next year they recorded "Terry", written and originally recorded by Twinkle, but this single failed to chart. The group split up soon afterward.
Continuing her theatrical work, Whalley played the title role in the first production of Daniel Mornin's Kate at the Bush Theatre in 1983. That year she also appeared in episodes of popular TV series Bergerac and Reilly, Ace of Spies. Her work for the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre continued with performances as Pam in Danny Boyle's production of Saved and June in Max Stafford-Clark's The Pope's Wedding from 1984 to 1985.
Rise to prominence
Whalley found early success on British television with a lead role in Troy Kennedy Martin's highly regarded and influential drama serial Edge of Darkness (BBC, 1985), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress. At this time she appeared in Alan Bleasdale's comedy film No Surrender (1985) and two films for Mike Newell: The Good Father (FilmFour, 1985) and the critically acclaimed Dance with a Stranger (Goldcrest, 1985). Whalley also concluded her work at the Royal Court Theatre that year by performing the role of Bianca in William Gaskill's production of Women Beware Women and then moved to the Royal National Theatre appearing as Dewey Dell in Peter Gill's productions of As I Lay Dying at the Cottesloe Theatre.
Further television success came with the key role of Nurse Mills in Dennis Potter's drama serial The Singing Detective (BBC, 1986). Whalley concluded her work with the Royal National Theatre that year by performing as Euphie and 1st Cutie in Peter Gill and John Burgess's The Women. The following year she performed as Masha in Bill Kenwright and Elijah Moshinsky's production of Three Sisters at the Albery Theatre and the Greenwich Theatre.
Further theatrical work came with her performance in the title role of Lulu in Ian McDiarmid's production of The Lulu Plays at the Almeida Theatre in 1990 to 1991. Later that year she gave birth to her first child, Mercedes, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Whalley recreated Margaret Mitchell's iconic heroine Scarlett O'Hara, originally played by Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939), in the Emmy Award-winning TV miniseries Scarlett (CBS, 1994). That same year she also played the lead role in Heywood Gould's legal thriller Trial by Jury (1994). In that same year, Whalley was also a regular in the ITV miniseries Flood with Robert Carlyle amongst others.
Whalley played one of the female leads, Vannozza dei Cattanei, mistress of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, future Pope Alexander VI, in the Showtime historical drama series The Borgias (2011), for which she was nominated for a Best Actress Golden Nymph Award at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival.
She guest-starred as Princess Sophie in season 4 of Gossip Girl. With the cast of 44 Inch Chest, she shared the Best Ensemble Award at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2010. The film reunited her with John Hurt, with whom she had done two films. In 2014 she played Aunt Patience in Jamaica Inn for BBC One. In 2015 she played Claudia, the wife of Pontius Pilate, in A.D. The Bible Continues and Catherine of Aragon in the BBC miniseries Wolf Hall.
Whalley has appeared in a number of streaming shows: as Sister Maggie in the third season of Daredevil (2018), reprising her role of Sorsha from the Willow film (Lucasfilm, 1988) in the Willow series (Disney+, 2022), and a starring appearance in an episode of the second season of Carnival Row (Prime, 2023) as the "Puck" Leonora.
In 2020 Whalley starred in Eleanor Coppola's anthology film Love Is Love Is Love. It was scheduled to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2020, but the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film later premiered at the Deauville American Film Festival in France in September.
Personal life
Whalley met American actor Val Kilmer while filming the movie Willow.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1979
| Birth of the Beatles
| rowspan="2" | Groupie
|
|-
| 1982
| Pink Floyd – The Wall
|
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1985
| Dance with a Stranger
| Christine
|
|-
| No Surrender
| Cheryl
|
|-
| The Good Father
| Mary Hall
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1988
| Willow
| Sorsha
|
|-
| To Kill a Priest
| Anna
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1989
| Scandal
| Christine Keeler
| rowspan=10|as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
|-
| Kill Me Again
| Fay Forrester
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1990
| Navy SEALs
| Claire Varrens
|-
| The Big Man
| Beth Scoular
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1991
| Shattered
| Jenny Scott
|-
| Storyville
| Natalie Tate
|-
| 1993
| The Secret Rapture
| Katherine Coleridge
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1994
| Mother's Boys
| Colleen 'Callie' Harland
|-
| A Good Man in Africa
| Celia Adekunle
|-
| Trial by Jury
| Valerie Alston
|-
| 1997
| The Man Who Knew Too Little
| Lori
|
|-
| 1999
| A Texas Funeral
| Miranda
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2000
| The Guilty
| Natalie Crane
|
|-
| Breathtaking
| Caroline Henshaw
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2002
| Before You Go
| Mary
|
|-
| Virginia's Run
| Jessie Eastwood
|
|-
| 2005
| The Californians
| Luna
|
|-
| 2006
| Played
| Maggie
|
|-
| 2007
| Flood
| Commissioner Patricia Nash
|
|-
| 2009
| 44 Inch Chest
| Liz Diamond
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2011
| Golf in the Kingdom
| Agatha McNaughton
|
|-
| Twixt
| Denise
|
|-
| 2017
| Muse
| Jacqueline
|
|-
| 2018
| Paul, Apostle of Christ
| Priscilla
|
|-
| 2020
| Love Is Love Is Love
| Joanne
|
|-
| 2025
| Tornado
| Vienna Crawford
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1974, 1976
| Coronation Street
| Pamela Graham
| 3 episodes
|-
| 1975
| Joby
| Molly McLeod
| 2 episodes
|-
| 1976, 1978
| Crown Court
| Janice Scott/Linda Mason
| 4 episodes
|-
| 1977
| Emmerdale Farm
| Angela Read
| 6 episodes
|-
| 1976–79
| How We Used to Live
| Marjorie Dawson/Sarah Hughes
| 20 episodes
|-
| 1978
| The One and Only Phyllis Dixey
| Doris
| ITV television film
|-
| 1979
| Omnibus
| Little Red Riding Hood/Madge
| 2 episodes
|-
| rowspan=3 | 1980
| ITV Playhouse
| Lindsey
| Episode: "Too Close to the Edge"
|-
| Juliet Bravo
| Maureen Maskell
| Episode: "Shot Gun"
|-
| Scene
| Evelyn
| Episode: "And Mum Came Too"
|-
| 1980–81
| Coming Home (1980 TV series)|Coming Home
| Travel agent
| 2 episodes
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1981
| The Gaffer
| Nancy
| Episode: "The Trouble with Women"
|-
| Noddy
| Mary
| Television film
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1982
| A Kind of Loving
| Ingrid Rotherwell (Brown)
| Main role, 8 episodes
|-
| The Gentle Touch
| Dany
| Episode: "Dany"
|-
| rowspan=2 | 1983
| Bergerac
| Christine Bolton
| Episode: "Always Leave Them Laughing"
|-
| Reilly, Ace of Spies
| Ulla
| Episode: "The Visiting Fireman"
|-
| 1984
| A Christmas Carol
| Fan
| CBS television film
|-
| 1985
| Edge of Darkness
| Emma Craven
| 5 episodes
|-
| 1986
| The Singing Detective
| Nurse Mills
| 6 episodes
|-
| 1987
| Screen Two
| Jackie
| Episode: "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"
|-
| 1994
| Scarlett
| Scarlett O'Hara
| CBS television miniseries; lead role; as Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2000
| Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis
| Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis
| CBS television film
|-
| Run the Wild Fields
| Ruby Miller
| Showtime original television film
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2005
| The Virgin Queen
| Mary I
| Television miniseries
|-
| Child of Mine
| Tess Palmer
| TV film
|-
| 2006
| Justice League Unlimited
| Emerald Empress
| Voice, episode: "Far from Home"
|-
| 2009
| Diverted
| Marion Price
| CBC television miniseries
|-
| 2011–12
| Gossip Girl
| Princess Sophie Grimaldi
| 7 episodes
|-
| 2011–13
| The Borgias
| Vanozza Cattaneo
| Main role, 25 episodes
|-
| 2013
| The Challenger Disaster
| Gweneth Feynman
| BBC television film; also known as The Challenger Disaster
|-
| 2014
| Jamaica Inn
| Patience Merlyn
| rowspan="3" | Miniseries
|-
| rowspan=3 | 2015
| Wolf Hall
| Catherine of Aragon
|-
| The Ark
| Emmie
|-
| A.D. The Bible Continues
| Claudia, wife of Pontius Pilate
| Main role, 12 episodes
|-
| 2016
| Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands
| Rheda
| Main role, 13 episodes
|-
| 2017
| The White Princess
| Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy
| Miniseries
|-
| 2018
| Daredevil
| Sister Maggie
| Main role, 9 episodes
|-
| 2020
| Tin Star
| Mary James
| Season 3
|-
| 2022–2023
| Willow
| Sorsha