💕 Jane Austen’s 1990s Golden Age:15 Beloved Actors and Actresses⏳30 Years Later: Where Are They Now?
Step back into the drawing rooms and country estates of Jane Austen's England, where three of the 1990s' most beloved adaptations — Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion and Emma — brought Austen's wit, longing and heartbreak to a whole new generation between 1995 and 1996.
Thirty years on, the casts who brought Barton Cottage, the windswept seafront at Lyme and the village of Highbury to life remain etched into the memories of period drama lovers around the world.
The late Alan Rickman's steadfast Colonel Brandon, the patient suitor who waited, beloved the world over as Severus Snape and mourned since 2016. Kate Winslet's headstrong Marianne Dashwood, just nineteen here and only two years from becoming Rose in Titanic and a global star. Emma Thompson's quietly aching Elinor, who didn't only star but won an Academy Award for writing the screenplay herself. Hugh Grant's bashful Edward Ferrars, fresh from Four Weddings and a Funeral and on his way to becoming Britain's favourite romantic lead.
Ciarán Hinds's smouldering Captain Wentworth, who would go on to rule Rome as Julius Caesar and earn an Oscar nomination for Belfast. Jeremy Northam's faultless Mr Knightley, later the principled Sir Thomas More in The Tudors. Amanda Root's tender Anne Elliot, the beating heart of Persuasion, lately seen in Wolf Hall and Baby Reindeer. Toni Collette's sweet Harriet Smith, soon Oscar-nominated for The Sixth Sense and now a beloved leading lady. Greg Wise's dashing, faithless Willoughby, who met his future wife Emma Thompson on this very film and later played Lord Mountbatten in The Crown.
Fiona Shaw's spirited Mrs Croft, unforgettable as Aunt Petunia in Harry Potter and the formidable Carolyn in Killing Eve. Ewan McGregor's charming Frank Churchill, on the very brink of Star Wars and worldwide fame as Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sophie Thompson's comic Mary Musgrove — Emma Thompson's real-life sister — an Olivier Award-winning stage actress and EastEnders favourite. Juliet Stevenson's gloriously overbearing Mrs Elton, treasured for Truly, Madly, Deeply and Bend It Like Beckham. The late Susan Fleetwood's wise Lady Russell, a celebrated Royal Shakespeare Company star, in one of her final roles before her passing in 1995. And Gwyneth
Paltrow's matchmaking Emma Woodhouse, just two years from an Academy Award of her own for Shakespeare in Love.
Some are still beloved screen presences, some have stepped quietly away, and two we have sadly lost. Join us for a tender then-and-now journey through the casts of three of Jane Austen's most cherished adaptations.
Chapter Index
00:00 Kate Winslet
00:20 Alan Rickman
00:40 Emma Thompson
01:00 Hugh Grant
01:20 Greg Wise
01:40 Amanda Root
02:00 Ciarán Hinds
02:20 Susan Fleetwood
02:40 Fiona Shaw
03:00 Sophie Thompson
03:20 Gwyneth Paltrow
03:40 Jeremy Northam
04:00 Toni Collette
04:20 Ewan McGregor
04:40 Juliet Stevenson
05:02 Outro
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