Elizabeth McGovern

Elizabeth McGovern made her film debut in Ordinary People (1980) while studying at Juilliard. In 1981, she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Ragtime and followed with Beginners (1982). She starred in Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Racing with the Moon (1984), Johnny Handsome (1989), The Handmaid’s Tale (1989), A Shock to the System (1990), and The Favor (1994). Later film credits include Woman in Gold (2015), The Chaperone (2018), which she also produced, and the Downton Abbey films in 2019, 2022, and 2025.

On television, McGovern appeared in productions including The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999–2000), Thursday the 12th (2000), The Practice (2000), and The West Wing (2000–2006), where she played Dr. Nancy McNally. Additional credits include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2007), Daphne (2007), Agatha Christie’s Poirot (2008), Freezing (2008), Nurse Jackie (2009), and Downton Abbey (2010–2015), in which she portrayed Cora Crawley. She reprised the role in the franchise’s feature films released in 2019, 2022, and 2025.

McGovern has also maintained an extensive stage career. New York theatre credits include Love Letters (1989), Hamlet (1992), Time and the Conways (2017), and Ava: The Secret Conversations at New York City Center (2025). Her additional U.S. stage work has included productions of Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1987), Three Sisters, As You Like It, and Ava: The Secret Conversations at Geffen Playhouse (2023).

After relocating to London, McGovern appeared in productions including The Misanthrope (1996), Hurlyburly (1997), Three Days of Rain (1999), Dinner with Friends (2001), The Scarlet Letter (2005), Aristo (2008), Complicit (2009), The Shawl (2009), Sunset at the Villa Thalia (2016), God of Carnage (2018, 2020), The Starry Messenger (2019), Ava: The Secret Conversations (2022), and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2023). She received the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Will Award in 2013.

In music, McGovern formed the band Sadie and the Hotheads in 2008. The group released the albums I Can Wait (2008), How Not To Lose Things (2012), Still Waiting (2014), and The Collection (Everybody’s Got A Song) (2016). McGovern later released The Truth (2019) under her own name and Let’s Stop Fighting (2025) with Sadie and the Hotheads. The band toured throughout the UK and Europe in 2013, including performances at the Isle of Wight Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe.