Hayley Atwell (born 5.4.1982) Hayley Atwell is an English actress, working both in film and television.
Childhood: Hayley Atwell was born in London, to Allison and Grant Atwell. Her mother is a motivational speaker and her father a massage therapist, shaman and photographer. Allison is English and Grant is American. They separated when Hayley was two years old.
She was educated at the Sion-Manning Roman Catholic Girls' School in West London and she took her A Levels at the London Oratory School, before training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Career: Hayley Atwell's debut screen performance came in 2005, when she appeared in an advert for Pringles crisps. She also appeared in a number of TV films such as Mansfield Park and The Ruby in the Smoke.
Two years later, Hayley Atwell made her first major film breakthrough, when she appeared in the Woody Allen film, Cassandra's Dream, playing the role of a stage actress. The film also starred Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell.
She was also employed in some radio dramas, including a Doctor Who adaptation, in which she played the role of Asha in Doctor Who: Blood of the Daleks on BBC 7.
In 2008, Hayley Atwell played the role of Bess Foster in The Duchess. Other notable actors in the film include Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling and Dominic Cooper. The same year, she appeared in Brideshead Revisited, playing Lady Julia Flyte. The film also featured Emma Thompson, Matthew Goode and Michael Gambon.
Atwell's West End debut came in 2009, when she appeared in Lindsay Posner's A View from the Bridge at the Duke of York's Theatre. She earned herself a Laurence Olivier award nomination for the performance. Later that year, in the TV series The Prisoner, Hayley Atwell landed the role of '415'. It was a remake of the 1960s show of the same name.
2011 saw Atwell playing the role of Peggy Carter in the superhero film Captain America: The First Avenger and she was named a 'Breakout Star to Watch for in 2011 by the MTV networks nextmovie.com site.
Biography by Contactmusic.com
