Charlotte Rampling Biography

Sensual and slinky Charlotte Rampling is an English actress known for her long career in international films, including 2015’s 45 Years, the one that brought her an Oscar nomination. Educated in France and England, she began her career in the 1960s as a fashion model. Her breakout role in the movies was as the sassy roommate in 1966’s Georgy Girl; Rampling became known in hip fashion circles as “The Look,” a reference to her sultry, heavy-lidded gaze. Although she has been in the occasional comedy, Rampling is best known for unusual and intense dramatic roles, often in daring films. She was in 1969’s The Damned, and during the 1970s, her films included Zardoz (1974, starring Sean Connery), The Night Porter (1974), Farewell My Lovely (1975, starring Robert Mitchum) and The Far Side of Paradise (1976, starring Peter O’Toole and Max von Sydow).

Living in Paris and raising children then replaced making movies for the most part, although Rampling still made appearances in films, including Stardust Memories (1980, by Woody Allen), The Verdict (1982, starring Paul Newman) and Angel Heart (1987, starring Mickey Rourke). Since then, she has worked steadily but sparingly, notably in  films such as The Wings of the Dove (1987), Swimming Pool (2003) and Melancholia (2011, starring Kirsten Dunst). On television, she’s been in the final season of Dexter (2013, starring Michael C. Hall), and in the British series London Spy (2015) and Broadchurch (2015). On stage, Rampling has toured doing readings of Sylvia Plath poems.