Joanne Whalley

Joanne Whalley (born 25 August 1964) is a British actress.

Born in Salford, she was brought up in Stockport, and initially appeared in bit parts in soap operas, especially Coronation Street and Emmerdale. Her film roles include an early, unspeaking part in Pink Floyd's The Wall; the fantasy adventure Willow; the mystery noir Shattered and the part of Christine Keeler in Scandal, about the Profumo Affair.

Her most significant roles on British television were as Emma Craven in Troy Kennedy Martin's Edge of Darkness (1985), and Nurse Mills in the Dennis Potter-penned serial The Singing Detective (1986) both for BBC Television. She also starred in 1989 as Christine Keeler in the movie Scandal highlighting the Profumo Affair alongside stars John Hurt and Sir Ian McKellen. In 1994 she became only the second actress to play Gone With the Wind heroine Scarlett O'Hara when she appeared in a made-for-TV adaptation of the sequel novel, Scarlett.

She was married to actor Val Kilmer from 1988 to 1996 and has two children. During her marriage, she used the name Joanne Whalley-Kilmer.

In 2005, she appeared as Mary I of England in The Virgin Queen, a BBC TV series about Elizabeth I starring Anne-Marie Duff in the title role, shown on PBS in the U.S. in 2005 and the UK in 2006.

In 2003, she collaborated with the pop-punk band blink-182 to read a letter in the song "Violence."