Jenny Agutter was born on December 20, 1952, in Taunton, Somerset, England, UK. The daughter of an army officer, she spent her childhood traveling and living in different countries. Her film career began at the age of 12 in East of Sudan (1964), which was quickly followed by Disneyland: Ballerina: Part 1 (1966) and Disneyland: Ballerina: Part 2 (1966), and A Man Could Get Killed (1966). Other films and television appearances in her early career include Gates to Paradise (1968), Boy Meets Girl: Long After Summer (1967), Star! (1968), I Start Counting (1969), The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens (1970) and BBC Play of the Month: The Wild Duck (1971).
In 1970, she appeared in what was her real big break as a child star: The Railway Children (1970), as “Bobbie”. The next year, Hollywood called and she spent several years there, appearing in such works as BBC Play of the Month: The Cherry Orchard (1971), Walkabout (1971) and The Snow Goose (1971) with Richard Harris, for which she received an Emmy Award. She also appeared in the critically acclaimed A War of Children (1972) and Shelley (1972).
In 1976, Jenny really came to the attention of US film audiences with her starring role in the science-fiction classic Logan’s Run (1976) with Michael York. Though not a critical favorite, it was a huge box-office success and spawned a television series. She also starred alongside Richard Chamberlain in a well-received made-for-TV version of the famous Dumas tale The Man in the Iron Mask (1977) and turned in a solid performance in the WW II thriller The Eagle Has Landed (1976) with Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland. The next year, she starred in Peter Shaffer’s weighty Equus (1977) as “Jill Mason”, alongside Richard Burton. Among her other TV and film work during the 1970s were Dominique (1979), BBC2 Playhouse: School Play (1979) and The Riddle of the Sands (1979).
In 1981, she played “Desdemona” opposite William Marshall in The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice (1981). Other Shakespeare performances include “King Lear”, Love’s Labour’s Lost (1985) as “Rosaline” for the BBC and Romeo & Juliet (1993) as “Lady Capulet”. During the in numerous films and television series, including Sweet William (1980), Beulah Land (1980), The Survivor (1981), Amy (1981) and one of the films for which she is most fondly remembered, An American Werewolf in London (1981). She also appeared in This Office Life (1984), Secret Places (1984), Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe (1985), Dark Tower (1989), Miss Right (1982) and King of the Wind (1990).
In the 1990s, she concentrated mainly on television, with roles in TECX (1990); Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less (1990); Red Dwarf (1988); The All New Alexei Sayle Show (1994); The Buccaneers (1995); And the Beat Goes On (1996); September (1996) with Edward Fox, Michael York, Virginia McKenna and Jacqueline Bisset; A Respectable Trade (1998) with Warren Clarke, Anna Massey and Richard Briers. Her theatrical films during this period included Darkman (1990) with Liam Neeson; and Blue Juice (1995) with Sean Pertwee, Ewan McGregor and Catherine Zeta-Jones. She also appeared as “Mrs. Bruce” in two feature-length episodes of the popular ITV series Bramwell (1995) in which she starred with Jemma Redgrave. She has also made several guest appearances in TV shows such as Le nain rouge (1998); Boon (1986); The Equalizer (1985) with Edward Woodward; The Twilight Zone (1985); Magnum, P.I. (1980) and The Six Million Dollar Man (1974).
Jenny has been married to Johan Tham since the late 1980s. They have one son Jonathan, born in 1990, and live in Cornwall, England, UK. Her particular love is charity work for The Diabetic Association and NCH Action for Children – a charity which provides home and other help for homeless children – with which she has been involved for five years.
