Essie Davis is an Australian actress. Born and raised in Hobart, Tasmania, she is the daughter of locally famed artist George Davis. She emerged from the Old Nick Company at the University of Tasmania in the late 1980s and has gone on to appear in Hollywood movies. She is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney. Her career started after her role in the all Australian movie Dad and Dave: On Our Selection (1995), also starring other prestigious actors such as Geoffrey Rush, Leo McKern, and Joan Sutherland. Her most famous movie roles are in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Richard Flanagan's 1998 Tasmanian film The Sound of One Hand Clapping, and Girl with a Pearl Earring. In 2003 she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for her UK performance in the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. In 2004 she starred in a Broadway production of Tom Stoppard's Jumpers, for which she earned a Tony nomination. In 2005 she appeared as Mrs. Nellie Lovett in the BBC production of Sweeney Todd with Ray Winstone. In the 2008 film Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger she plays Esther's controlling mother.

Filmography

• Alien: Earth — Dame Sylvia
• Apple Cider Vinegar — Natalie Dal-Bello
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North — Lynette Maison
• One Day — Alison
• Faraway Downs — Cath Carney
• 2023Fungi: The Web of Life — Narrator (voice)
• Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities — Nancy Bradley
• 2021Nitram — Helen
• 2021The Justice of Bunny King — Bunny King
• 2020Babyteeth — Anna
• 2020Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears — Phryne Fisher, Associate Producer
• 2019Emu Runner — Thanks
• Lambs of God — Sister Iphigenia
• 2019True History of the Kelly Gang — Ellen Kelly
• Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams — Vera Herrick
• The Last Post — Martha Franklin
• The White Princess — Elizabeth Woodville
• 2016Assassin's Creed — Mary Lynch
• 2016Mindhorn — Patricia Deville
• 2014A Poet in New York — Caitlin Thomas
• 2014The Babadook — Amelia Vanek
• Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries — Phryne Fisher
• 2011Burning Man — Karen
• Cloudstreet — Dolly Pickles
• Game of Thrones — Lady Crane
• The Slap — Anouk
• 2010Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole — Marella (voice)
• 2010South Solitary — Alma Stanley
• 2010The Wedding Party — Jane
• 2008Australia — Katherine
• 2008Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger — Grace Blueburger
• 2006Charlotte's Web — Mrs. Arable
• 2006Sweeney Todd — Mrs Lovett
• 2006The Silence — Juliet Moore
• 2005Isolation — Orla
• 2003After the Deluge — Beth
• After the Deluge — Beth
• 2003Code 46 — Doctor
• 2003Girl with a Pearl Earring — Catharina Bolnes Vermeer
• 2003The Matrix Reloaded — Maggie
• 2003The Matrix Revolutions — Maggie
• 2003The Pact — Helene Davis
• Young Lions — Julie Morgan
• Kings in Grass Castles — Mary Costello
• 1998The Sound of One Hand Clapping — Jean
• 1997Blackrock — Det. Gilhooley
• 1997River Street — Wendy Davis
• 1997The Ripper — Evelyn Bookman
• 1997The Two-Wheeled Time Machine — Young alice
• 1996Lilian's Story — Zara
• 1995Dad and Dave: On Our Selection
• Halifax f.p. — Alison Blount
• 1994The Custodian — Jilly
• Unspeakable — Judith

Appearances as themselves (2)

• 2015They Call Him Mister Babadook: The Making of The Babadook — Self
• Play School — Self