Rebecca Maria Hall (born 3 May 1982) is an English actress and filmmaker. She made her first onscreen appearance at age 10 in the 1992 television adaptation of The Camomile Lawn, directed by her father, Sir Peter Hall. Her professional stage debut came in her father's 2002 production of Mrs. Warren's Profession, which earned her the Ian Charleson Award.
In 2006, following her film debut in Starter for 10, Hall got her breakthrough role in Christopher Nolan's thriller film The Prestige. In 2008, she starred as Vicky in Woody Allen's romantic comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Hall then appeared in a wide array of films, including Ron Howard's historical drama Frost/Nixon (2008), Ben Affleck's crime drama The Town (2010), the horror thriller The Awakening (2011), the superhero film Iron Man 3 (2013), the science fiction film Transcendence (2014), the psychological thriller The Gift (2015), the live-action/CGI fantasy adventure film The BFG (2016), the biographical drama Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) and the monster film Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). In 2016, Hall was praised by critics for her portrayal of news reporter Christine Chubbuck in the biographical drama Christine. She made her directorial debut with Passing (2021), receiving critical acclaim.
Hall has also made several notable appearances on British television. She won the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 2009 Channel 4 miniseries Red Riding: 1974. In 2013, she was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her performance in BBC Two's Parade's End.
Early life and education
Hall was born on 3 May 1982 in London, the daughter of American opera singer Maria Ewing and English stage director and Royal Shakespeare Company founder Sir Peter Hall. Her mother was born in Detroit, to an African-American mixed-race father and a Dutch mother; she is a descendant of Revolutionary War veteran Bazabeel Norman, a free black man. On Finding Your Roots, Hall discovered that, while her maternal grandfather, Norman Isaac Ewing, had performed as a Native American figure and was recorded as a Sioux chief in newspapers, he had been born to mixed-race African-American parents, and had no Native American ancestry. His own father, Hall's great-grandfather John William Ewing, had been born into slavery and became a prominent figure in Washington, D.C.'s black community. Rebecca has 91% European DNA and 9% sub-Saharan African DNA according to an Ancestry.com DNA test.
Hall's parents separated when she was still young, eventually divorcing in 1990. Hall has five paternal half-siblings: stage director Edward Hall, producer Christopher Hall, actresses Jennifer Caron Hall and Emma Hall, and set designer Lucy Hall.
Hall attended Roedean School, where she became head girl. She studied English literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, before dropping out in 2002, just before her final year. During her time at Cambridge, she was active in the student theatre scene and also set up her own theatre company. She was a member of the Marlowe Society and performed in several productions alongside housemate Dan Stevens, an English literature student at Emmanuel College.
