Ruth Wilson
Birthdate: Jan 13, 1982
Birthplace: Ashford, Surrey, UK
Ruth Wilson is an actor whose career has been remarkably balanced between work for the screen, stage, and television. Her best-known roles have been as Alice in the BBC series, Luther (2010), and as Alison in Showtime’s series, The Affair (2014-2018), but she has amassed some notable screen credits, starting with the Joe Wright/Tom Stoppard version of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (2012), with Keira Knightley and Jude Law.
Wilson had a minor role in Disney’s box-office bomb, The Lone Ranger (2013), with Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Tom Wilkinson, and Helena Bonham Carter. Wilson’s next movie was a far more successful Disney project, Saving Mr. Banks (2013), a lovely imagining of the making of Mary Poppins (1964) starring Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, and Paul Giamatti. Wilson’s interesting third film role was purely as a vocal, off-screen character on the phone with Tom Hardy in Steven Knight’s stylish drama, Locke (2013).
Wilson’s first starring film role was in Osgood Perkins’ gothic horror film, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), with Bob Balaban and Paula Prentiss (in her first major film role in 30 years). Entering the world of author Neil Gaiman, Wilson played support to Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, and Nicole Kidman in John Cameron Mitchell’s Gaiman adaptation, How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017), premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. Ruth Wilson starred under writer-director Clio Barnard’s vision in the deeply atmospheric drama, Dark River (2017), with Mark Stanley and Sean Bean.
Working with another stylish filmmaker, Lenny Abrahamson, Wilson co-starred with Domhnail Gleeson, Will Poulter, and Charlotte Rampling in The Little Stranger (2018), released by Focus Features. Assuming the role of producer-star (along with fellow producer Jude Law), Wilson led the cast of co-writer-director Harry Wootliff’s True Things, based on Deborah Kay Davies’ 2011 novel, True Things About Me.
In a lighter vein, Wilson joined the ensemble of the American-British mystery comedy, See How They Run (2022), starring Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, and David Oyelowo. Wilson then starred in the AIDS-themed drama, The Book of Ruth (date to be announced), directed by Michael Arden, and written by Kas Graham and Rebecca Pollock.
Personal Details
Born in the southwest London suburb of Ashford, England, Ruth Wilson was raised, in the Surrey community of Shepperton, by Nigel Wilson and Mary Metson. Wilson is the youngest of four, including brothers Tobias, Matthew, and BBC journalist Samuel Wilson. Raised as a Catholic, Wilson attended Notre Dame School in Cobham, England, and then Esher College, before studying history at the University of Nottingham, and graduating in 2003. When she was 16, Wilson worked as a model. She studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, graduating in 2005. Wilson’s height is 5’ 6”.
Filmography
actor
Previous (4)
- 2022 | See How They RunasPetula Spencer
See How They Run
In the West End of 1950s London, plans for a movie version of a smash-hit play come to an abrupt halt after a pivotal member of the crew is murdered.
- 2018 | The Little StrangerasCaroline Ayres
The Little Stranger
After a doctor is called to visit a crumbling manor, strange things begin to occur.
- 2018 | Dark RiverasAlice Bell
Dark River
Following the death of her father, Alice (Ruth Wilson) returns to her home village for the first time in 15 years, to claim the tenancy to the family farm she believes is rightfully hers.
- 2018 | How to Talk to Girls at PartiesasPT Stella
How to Talk to Girls at Parties
An alien touring the galaxy breaks away from her group and meets two young inhabitants of the most dangerous place in the universe: the London borough of Croydon.
Some Facts About Ruth Wilson
Credo: Ruth Wilson has commented that her professional remit has always been: “I want to do something different from the last thing I’ve done.”
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