Natasha Richardson made her feature film debut in the role of "Mary Shelley" in Ken Russell's 1987 feature film Gothic (1986). Her performance caught the attention of director Paul Schrader who cast her in the title role in his 1988 film Patty Hearst (1988). Since then, Ms. Richardson has achieved notable success in such films as Pat O'Connor's Month in the Country, A (1987), Roland Joffe's Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) and Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish, The (1991), featuring Bob Hoskins and Jeff Goldblum. For her performance in Volker Schlondorf's The Handmaid's Tale and Paul Schrader's Comfort of Strangers, The (1990), Richardson earned The London Evening Standard Award for Best Actress of 1990; and for _Widow's Peak (1994)_ , also starring Mia Farrow and Joan Plowright, she received the Best Actress Award at the 1994 Karlovy Vary Festival. 

In 1995, she co-starred with Jodie Foster and Liam Neeson in Nell (1994), and, in 1998, in Parent Trap, The (1998), with Dennis Quaid. Her recent films include Blow Dry (2001) released in 2001, and Ethan Hawke's Chelsea Walls (2001).

Trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, Richardson has performed extensively on stage in roles including "Helena" in A Midsummer's Night's Dream, and "Ophelia" in Hamlet at the Young Vic. In 1986, she garnered the London Drama Critics' Most Promising Newcomer Award for her performance as "Nina" in The Seagull, with Vanessa Redgrave and Jonathan Pryce. In 1987, she performed the role of "Tracey Lord" in Richard Eyre's musical High Society. She performed the title role of Anna Christie, first in London, where she was voted London Drama Critics' Best Actress Award in 1992; then on Broadway at the Roundabout in 1993, where she was nominated for a Tony for Best Actress in a Play, a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut of an Actress, and a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress. For her performance as Sally Bowles in Sam Mendes' production of Cabaret, she won the 1998 Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actress in a Musical. She then appeared on Broadway in Patrick Marber's Tony nominated play Closer. This December, she will play "Miss Julie" on Broadway with Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by David Leveaux for Roundabout Theatre.

Richardson's television credits include Ibsen's Ghosts for the BBC, also starring Judi Dench, Michael Gambon and Kenneth Branagh; the HBO cable feature Hostages; the BBC film Suddenly Last Summer, based on the play by Tennessee Williams, and also starring Maggie Smith and Rob Lowe. In 1993, she starred as "Zelda Fitzgerald" in the TNT movie Zelda, co-starring Timothy Hutton and directed by Pat O'Connor (cable Ace nomination for Best Actress). She played Ruth Gruber in the 2001 CBS mini-series "Haven" based on Ms. Gruber's autobiography.

Credit: cinema.com