Embeth Davidtz
Born: 1965-08-11 in Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Known For: Acting
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.
Filmography
2025
- Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight as Nicola Fuller
2023
- Retribution as Heather Turner
2022
- Tales of the Walking Dead as Amanda
- Not Okay as Judith
2021
- Old as Adult Maddox
2020
- Love, Victor as Mrs. Campbell
2019
- The Morning Show as Paige Jacobs
2018
- An Oral History of: Schindler's List as Self (archive footage)
- Schindler's List: 25 Years Later as Self
2015
- The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe as Natasha Lytess
2014
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Mary Parker
- Nelson Mandela Redrawn as Self
2013
- Ray Donovan as Sonia Kovitzky
- Europa Report as Dr. Samantha Unger
- Paranoia as Judith Bolton
- Miracle Rising: South Africa as Self
2012
- The Amazing Spider-Man as Mary Parker
2011
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as Annika Blomkvist Giannini
2010
- 3 Backyards as The Actress
2009
- Winged Creatures as Lydia Jaspersen
2008
- In Treatment as Amy
2007
- Mad Men as Rebecca Pryce
- Californication as Felicia Koons
- Fracture as Jennifer Crawford
2005
- Grey's Anatomy as Nancy Shepherd (uncredited)
- Junebug as Madeleine
- My Movie About Making 'Matilda' by Mara Wilson as Self
- Matilda's Movie Magic: The Making of 'Matilda' as Self
2002
- Shackleton as Rosalind Chetwynd
- The Emperor's Club as Elizabeth
2001
- Scrubs as Maddie
- Bridget Jones's Diary as Natasha
- Thir13en Ghosts as Kalina
- The Hole as Dr. Philippa Horwood
- Citizen Baines as Ellen Baines Croland
1999
- Bicentennial Man as Little Miss / Portia
- Mansfield Park as Mary Crawford
- Simon Magus as Leah
- Last Rites as Dr. Lauren Riggs
1998
- Fallen as Gretta Milano
- The Gingerbread Man as Mallory Doss
1997
- The Garden of Redemption as Adriana
1996
- Matilda as Miss Honey
1995
- Murder in the First as Mary McCasslin
- Feast of July as Bella Ford
1993
- Schindler's List as Helen Hirsch
1992
- Army of Darkness as Sheila
- Till Death Us Do Part as Katherine Palliko
- Deadly Matrimony as Dianne Masters
1991
- The Night of the 19th as Tessa van Dyk
1990
1989
- Mutator as Jennifer
- A Private Life as Older Karen