British actor Natascha McElhone has found transatlantic success with starring roles in the likes of The Truman Show, Californication, Solaris, Ronin, Designated Survivor, and Revelations. She recently starred in The First, a Hulu drama series about a group of astronauts preparing to travel to Mars, and has also been cast in a television series based on the iconic Halo video game.

Born in Surrey, McElhone grew up in Brighton and London, training as an actor and dancer. She initially had a quintessentially British acting career, starring in various open-air Shakespeare productions in London’s Regent’s Park and making her initial television appearances in the classic early 1990s likes of Bergerac, Absolutely Fabulous, and The Ruth Rendell Mysteries. She made her film debut in 1996, co-starring alongside Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore in Surviving Picasso. Between then and the end of the decade, she established herself in Hollywood with roles in The Truman Show, Ronin, and The Devil’s Own. In 2002, she was nominated for a Saturn Award for her role in the sci-fi film Solaris.

From the 2000s onwards, McElhone increasingly worked in America, most notably co-starring with David Duchovny in seven seasons of comedy-drama Californication and alongside Kiefer Sutherland in the first two seasons of political thriller Designated Survivor. She has, however, also continued to act on stage in England and returned to her Shakespearean roots in the 2013 film adaptation of Romeo & Juliet. With ambitious series such as The First and Halo among the recent additions to her resume, however, McElhone is still pushing forwards.