21 Facts About Embeth Davidtz

Embeth Jean Davidtz was born on August 11,1965 and is an American-South African actress and director.

In 2024 Davidtz made her directorial debut with Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, an adaptation of the best-selling memoir of the same name by Alexandra Fuller about growing up on a farm in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

Embeth Davidtz was born on August 11,1965, in Lafayette, Indiana, to South African parents John and Jean, while her father was studying chemical engineering at Purdue University.

The family later moved to Trenton, New Jersey, and then to South Africa when Embeth Davidtz was nine years old.

Embeth Davidtz had to learn Afrikaans before attending school classes in South Africa, where her father took up a teaching post at Potchefstroom University.

Embeth Davidtz graduated from The Glen High School in Pretoria in 1983 and studied at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

Embeth Davidtz won a DALRO Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the 1990 play Houd-den-bek.

In 1992, Embeth Davidtz played the part of Sheila in Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness alongside Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams.

In 1993, Embeth Davidtz played the role of Helen Hirsch in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List.

In 1995, Embeth Davidtz had a central role in the fact-based film Murder in the First, and the Merchant Ivory Productions Feast of July.

In 1998, Embeth Davidtz played a theologian helping Denzel Washington crack a supernatural wave of crimes in the mystery drama Fallen and a femme fatale linked to Kenneth Branagh in Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man.

In 1999, Embeth Davidtz portrayed a 19th-century woman of the world in Patricia Rozema's reworking of the Jane Austen comedy Mansfield Park and played a dual role opposite Robin Williams in the futuristic fable Bicentennial Man.

Embeth Davidtz guest-starred on the ABC drama series Grey's Anatomy as Dr Derek Shepherd's sister Nancy Shepherd in the Season 3 episode "Let the Angels Commit" and the season 15 episode "Good Shepherd".

Embeth Davidtz portrayed the unfaithful and unfortunate wife of Anthony Hopkins's character in the 2007 drama Fracture.

Embeth Davidtz played Felicia Koons, the wife of the dean and the mother of Becca's best friend, Chelsea, on Showtime's Californication.

Embeth Davidtz played Annika Blomkvist in the 2011 English language version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Embeth Davidtz appeared in the 2012 Spider-Man reboot The Amazing Spider-Man and its 2014 sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2 as Mary Parker, Peter Parker's missing mother.

Embeth Davidtz played the adult version of Maddox Cappa in Old in 2021, and Judith Sanders in Not Okay in 2022.

Embeth Davidtz married entertainment attorney Jason Sloane on June 22,2002, and they have two children.

In 2013, Embeth Davidtz underwent chemotherapy, immunological treatment, lymph-node-removal surgery and a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with Stage-3 breast cancer.

Embeth Davidtz rejected the use of a prosthetic as a substitute for her nipple during a nude scene in Ray Donovan, where she portrayed a character who was a breast-cancer survivor, choosing instead to incorporate her own partially reconstructed right breast into the storyline.