Embeth Davidtz

Embeth Jean Davidtz born August 11 1965 is an Americanborn South African actress and director She has appeared in movies such as Schindlers List Matilda Bridget Joness Diary and The Amazing SpiderMan and in the television series In Treatment Californication and Mad Men In 2024 Davidtz made her directorial debut with Dont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight an adaptation of the bestselling memoir of the same name by Alexandra Fuller about growing up on a farm in Rhodesia now Zimbabwe The film had its Canadian premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival TIFF 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 Davidtz was nine years old Davidtz has Dutch English and French ancestry She had to learn Afrikaans before attending school classes in South Africa where her father took up a teaching post at Potchefstroom University Davidtz graduated from The Glen High School in Pretoria in 1983 and studied at Rhodes University in Grahamstown In 1992 Davidtz played the part of Sheila in Sam Raimis Army of Darkness alongside Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams The third movie in the Evil Dead franchise would eventually become a big cult classic worldwide In 1993 Davidtz played the role of Helen Hirsch in Steven Spielbergs Schindlers List In 1995 Davidtz had a central role in the factbased film Murder in the First and the Merchant Ivory Productions Feast of July