Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born April 5, 1982) is a British and American actress. Born and raised in London, Atwell studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and made her stage debut in the 2005 play Prometheus Bound. She made her feature film debut in Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream (2007), with Colin Farrell, Sally Hawkins, Ewan McGregor, and Tom Wilkinson. Other early roles include How About You (2007), with Vanessa Redgrave, Joss Ackland, Brenda Fricker, and Imelda Staunton; and Brideshead Revisited (2008), with Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Greta Scacchi, Jonathan Cake, and Patrick Malahide.
She subsequently appeared in multiple West End productions and on television, and was recognised for her breakthrough role as Lady Elizabeth Foster in The Duchess (2008), with Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Charlotte Rampling, Dominic Cooper, Simon McBurney, Aidan McArdle, and John Shrapnel – for which she was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. She earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for her leading performance in the miniseries The Pillars of the Earth (2010), with Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Matthew Macfadyen, Eddie Redmayne, and Sarah Parish.
Atwell rose to international prominence with her portrayal of Agent Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superhero film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), with Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Sebastian Stan, Cooper, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, and Stanley Tucci. She would reprise the role in the action-adventure series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014) and Agent Carter (2015–2016), and the films Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man (both 2015), and Avengers: Endgame (2019), before portraying a superhero version of the character, Captain Carter, in the animated series What If…? (2021).
Other films in the 2010s include I, Anna (2012), with Charlotte Rampling, Gabriel Byrne, and Eddie Marsan; The Sweeney (2012), with Ray Winstone, Ben Drew, Steven Mackintosh, Paul Anderson, Alan Ford, and Damian Lewis; Jimi: All Is by My Side (2014), with André 3000, Imogen Poots, and Burn Gorman; Testament of Youth (2014), with Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton, Colin Morgan, Emily Watson, Dominic West, and Miranda Richardson; Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella (2015), with Lily James, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden, Stellan Skarsgård, Holliday Grainger, Derek Jacobi, and Helena Bonham Carter; Christopher Robin (2018), with McGregor, Mark Gatiss, and the voices of Jim Cummings, Brad Garrett, Nick Mohammed, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Okonedo, Sara Sheen, and Toby Jones; and Gurinder Chadha’s Blinded by the Light (2019), with Viveik Kalra, Rob Brydon, Kulvinder Ghir, and Nell Williams.
Films in the 2020s include a voice role in Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021), with Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, and David Oyelowo, the voices of James Corden, Elizabeth Debicki, Lennie James, and Margot Robbie; Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023), with Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga and Henry Czerny; Paddington in Peru (2024), with Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas and the voice of Whishaw.
Other TV movie and miniseries include Whatever Love Means (2005), with Olivia Poulet and Laurence Fox; Fear of Fanny (2006), with Gatiss and Julia Davis; The Ruby in Smoke (2006), with Billie Piper, Walters, JJ Field, and Matt Smith; The Line of Beauty (2006), with Dan Stevens; Mansfield Park (2007), with Piper, Michelle Ryan, and Blake Ritson; The Prisoner (2009), with Ian McKellen, Jim Caviezel, Ruth Wilson, Lennie James, Rachael Blake, and Jamie Campbell Bowe; Any Human Heart (2010), with Jim Broadbent, Matthew Macfadyen, Sam Claflin, Gillian Anderson, Kim Cattrall, and Holliday Grainger; Falcón (2012), with Marton Csokas, Charlie Creed-Miles, Santiago Cabrera, Emilia Fox, Kerry Fox, and James Floyd; Restless (2012), with Rufus Sewell, Michelle Dockery, Gambon and Charlotte Rampling; Life of Crime (2013), with Richard Coyle, Julian Lewis Jones, Con O’Neill, Joel Beckett, and Ray Panthaki; Howard’s End (2017), with Macfadyen, Philippa Coulthard, Joseph Quinn, Joe Bannister, Rosalind Eleazar, Alex Lawther, Bessie Carter, Jonah Hauer-King, Tracey Ullman, and Julia Ormond; and The Long Song (2018), with Tamara Lawrance, Jack Lowden, Jordan Bolger, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Gordon Brown, Ayesha Antoine, Leo Bill, Lenny Henry, and Madeleine Mantock.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Whatever Love Means (2005) – directed by David Blair – TV movie
- The Line of Beauty (2006) – directed by Saul Dibb – miniseries
- Fear of Fanny (2006) – directed by Coky Giedroyc – TV movie
- The Ruby in the Smoke (2006) – directed by Brian Percival – TV movie
- Mansfield Park (2007) – directed by Iain B. MacDonald – TV movie
- Cassandra’s Dream (2007) – directed by Woody Allen
- The Shadow in the North (2007) – directed by John Alexander – TV movie
- How About You (2007) – directed by Anthony Byrne
- Brideshead Revisited (2008) – directed by Julian Jarrold
- The Duchess (2008) – directed by Saul Dibb
- Love Hate (2009) – directed by Blake & Dylan Ritson – short
- The Prisoner (2009) – directed by Nick Hurran – miniseries
- The Pillars of the Earth (2010) – directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan – miniseries
- Any Human Heart (2010) – directed by Michael Samuels – miniseries
- Thrush (2010) – directed by Gabriel Bisset-Smith & Graham Turner – short
- Tomato Soup (2010) – directed by Gabriel Bisset-Smith – short
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)* – directed by Joe Johnston
- I, Anna (2012) – directed by Barnaby Southcombe
- The Sweeney (2012) – directed by Nick Love
- Restless (2012) – directed by Edward Hall – TV movie
- Life of Crime (2013) – directed by Jim Loach – miniseries
- Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter (2013) – directed by Louis D’Esposito – short
- Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013) – directed by John Ridley
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)* – directed by Anthony & Joe Russo – cameo
- Testament of Youth (2015) – directed by James Kent
- Cinderella (2015) – directed by Kenneth Branagh
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)* – directed by Joss Whedon – cameo
- Ant-Man (2015)* – directed by Peyton Reed – cameo
- The Complete Walk: Cymbeline (2016) – directed by Sam Yates
- Chicken/Egg (2017) – directed by James D’Arcy – short
- Howard’s End (2017) – directed by Hettie Macdonald – miniseries
- Christopher Robin (2018) – directed by Marc Forster
- The Long Song (2018) – directed by Mahalia Belo – miniseries
- Blinded by the Light (2019)* – directed by Gurinder Chadha
- Avengers: Endgame (2019)* – directed by Anthony & Joe Russo – cameo
- Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021) – directed by Will Gluck
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)* – directed by Sam Raimi – cameo
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) – directed by Christopher McQuarrie
- The Imaginary (2023) – directed by Yoshiyuki Momose – English dub
- Paddington in Peru (2024) -directed by Dougal Wilson
- Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (2025) – directed by Christopher McQuarrie
- Grand Prix of Europe (2025) – directed by Waldemar Fast
- Rogue Trooper (2025) – directed by Duncan Jones
- Avengers: Doomsday (2026) – directed by Anthony & Joe Russo
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