
Olivia Williams
Department: Acting
Biography
Olivia Haigh Williams (born July 26, 1968) is a British actress who has appeared in British and American films and television. Williams studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first significant screen role was as Jane Fairfax in the British television film Emma (1996), based on Jane Austen's novel. She made her film debut in 1997's The Postman, followed by Rushmore (1998) and The Sixth Sense (1999). Williams also acted in the British films Lucky Break (2001), The Heart of Me (2002) and An Education (2009). She continued acting in films such as The Ghost Writer (2010), Hanna (2011), Anna Karenina (2012), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), Maps to the Stars (2014), Victoria & Abdul (2017), and The Father (2020). From 2017 to 2019, she played Emily Silk in the science fiction television series Counterpart. In 2022, Williams portrayed Camilla Parker Bowles in the Netflix historical drama The Crown in its fifth season, a role she is set to reprise in its sixth and final season.
Known For

The Sixth Sense
1999

Tara Road
2005

Four Dogs Playing Poker
2000

Rushmore
1998

Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures
2004

The Ghost Writer
2010

An Education
2009

The Heart of Me
2004

Below
2002

The Postman
1997

Flashbacks of a Fool
2008

The Body
2001

Born Romantic
2000

Lucky Break
2001

Valiant
2005

Dead Babies
2000

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
2010

The Man from Elysian Fields
2001

Miss Austen Regrets
2008

To Kill a King
2003

Hanna
2011

Now Is Good
2012

Wild Bill
2011

Anna Karenina
2012

Hyde Park on Hudson
2012

Krakatoa: The Last Days
2006

Collaborator
2011

Sabotage
2014

Justin and the Knights of Valour
2013

Broken Lines
2008

Maps to the Stars
2014

The Last Days on Mars
2013

The Impact
2022

My Name Is Leon
2022

Salting the Battlefield
2014

Peter Pan
2003

Seventh Son
2014

Altar
2014

Emma
1996

Man Up
2015

Another End
2024

The Trouble with Jessica
2024

Magpie
2014

The Hotel In Amsterdam
2004

The Guest
2013

The White King
2016

X-Men: The Last Stand
2006

Victoria & Abdul
2017

Nyet!
2019

The Father
2020

Damage
2007

National Theatre Archive: Mosquitoes
2017

The Making of 'Rushmore'
2000

National Theatre Live: Mosquitoes
2017

The Escape
2017

Pigs
2024

Emma, Change the Locks
2015

Dune: Prophecy - Behind the Scenes
2024

Spaced
1999

Van der Valk
1972

Dollhouse
2009

OK! TV
2011

Case Sensitive
2011

Manhattan
2014

Dune: Prophecy
2024

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
1987

Friends
1994

Terriers
2010

The Halcyon
2017

The Crown
2016

Counterpart
2017

Jason and the Argonauts
2000

The Nevers
2021

Homemade
2020

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
2022

Funny Woman
2023

The Good Daughter
—

The Wheel of Time
2021

Monster: The Ed Gein Story
2025

Unknown Belize
2024

Playhouse Presents
2012