
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
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.

as Maggie

as Lady Crane
2011

as Dame Sylvia
2025

as Maggie
2003

as Nancy Bradley
2022

as Maggie
2003

as Phryne Fisher
2012

as Alison Blount
1994

as Alison
2024

as Vera Herrick
2017

as Elizabeth Woodville
2017

as Marella (voice)
2010

as Mrs. Arable
2006
as Bunny King
2021

as Narrator (voice)
2023

as Helen
2021

as Bunny King
2021

as Anna
2020

as Phryne Fisher
2020

as Ellen Kelly
2019

as Mary Lynch
2016

as Patricia Deville
2016

as Self
2015

as Amelia Vanek
2014

as Caitlin Thomas
2014

as Karen
2011

as Alma Stanley
2010

as Marella (voice)
2010

as Jane
2010

as Katherine
2008

as Grace Blueburger
2008

as Mrs. Arable
2006

as Juliet Moore
2006

as Mrs Lovett
2006

as Orla
2005

as Catharina Bolnes Vermeer
2003

as Maggie
2003

as Doctor
2003
as Nancy Bradley
1 ep.

as Lady Crane
3 episodes

as Dame Sylvia
8 episodes

as Nancy Bradley
1 episodes

as Phryne Fisher
34 episodes

as Alison Blount
1 episodes

as Alison
4 episodes

as Vera Herrick
1 episodes

as Elizabeth Woodville
8 episodes

as Cath Carney
6 episodes

as Sister Iphigenia
4 episodes

as Julie Morgan
2 episodes

as Self
2 episodes

as Natalie Dal-Bello
6 episodes

as Martha Franklin
5 episodes

as Anouk
8 episodes

as Beth
2 episodes

as Dolly Pickles
3 episodes

as Mary Costello
2 episodes
Associate Producer