Garnering Emmy and Golden Globe^® nominations for her role as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey, Elizabeth McGovern is also a past Academy Award^® nominee—for her performance in Miloš Forman’s 1981 film Ragtime, in which she played notorious chorus girl Evelyn Nesbit.

McGovern’s other Masterpiece work includes Broken Glass, A Room with a View, and Poirot. Her impressive career dates to her starring role opposite Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford, which she landed while studying at the Juilliard School in New York City. In 1984, she starred with Robert De Niro and James Woods in Sergio Leone’s cult gangster movie Once Upon a Time in America, and later opposite Mickey Rourke in Johnny Handsome.

Since moving to England and starting a family of her own, McGovern continues to work in theater and television. In 2010, she was featured in both Clash of the Titans and Kick-Ass. Most recently, she starred in Angel’s Crest, opposite Kate Walsh and Jeremy Piven, and Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, opposite Felicity Jones. Born in Illinois, McGovern is also a singer-songwriter and has just recorded her second album with the band she formed and fronts, Sadie and the Hotheads.