Joely Richardson (born 9 January 1965) is a British actress, who was born into a theatrical family. She is the daughter of screen legend Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson, the granddaughter of Sir Michael Redgrave, sister of Natasha Richardson and niece of Lynn Redgrave. Joely Richardson appeared as an extra at the age of three in the 1968 version of The Charge of the Light Brigade directed by her father.

After an early leading role in Peter Greenaway's cult success Drowning by Numbers, her first major role in front of a mass audience was as Joanna Farley in a 1989 television episode of Poirot, the Agatha Christie-based detective series. She later appeared as a fictional Finnish princess, Anna, in the 1991 comedy King Ralph. Two years later, she appeared as Lady Chatterley in a televison drama of the same title.

In 1996 she played the fashion designer Anita in the popular Disney film 101 Dalmatians opposite Glenn Close as Cruella deVil. In 1998 in the popular television drama The Echo she played sultry Amanda Powell.

Two years later she played opposite Mel Gibson in the successful film, The Patriot loosely based on the American Revolution. Later that year she was modelling on a necklace, when director Charles Shyer noticed her resemblance to doomed 18th-century royal Marie Antoinette. Thus, she secured the role of that queen in the 2001 film The Affair of the Necklace.

In 2003, she took on the major role of playing Julie McNamara in the controversial television drama Nip/Tuck based on the lives of plastic surgeons.