Alex Kingston

Alex Kingston (b. 1963) is an English actress best known as Dr. Elizabeth Corday (ER) and as River Song (Doctor Who). Born in Surrey, England, she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to join the Royal Shakespeare Company.

She has also been seen as Mrs. Bennett in Lost in Austen, as awesome defense attorney Miranda Pond in Law and Order SVU, and as Inspector Fiona Banks in Flash Forward 2009. She played Moll Flanders in two separate adaptations, and had a minor role in Private Practice as Marla, who romances Sheldon, where she put on a very solid American accent.

With River Song a major part of the sixth series of Doctor Who to the point of fans finally knowing her identity, Kingston has become even more recognizable worldwide, as the show gains momentum outside the Commonwealth (at this point, she mentioned in an interview that she was surprised she's recognized more for Who than for ER). 2011 also saw her star in the miniseries Marchlands, which tells the story of three families in three eras that occupied one particular house and the supernatural events that result.

2012 saw her in the revived Upstairs Downstairs, as Sir Hallam's aunt Dr Blanche Mottershead, a bisexual archaeologist.

One of Us -- she has been caught sporting a "Hogwarts" t-shirt at least once and grew up watching Doctor Who. Incidentally, as per her interview on The Late Late Show, her favorite Doctor is Jon Pertwee.

Tropes

 * Action Girl: Arguably. She played Boudica and mentioned one of her favorite parts of playing River is getting to do stunts (something that was denied to her during her time on ER) and during episodes of Confidential always seemed very giddy and excited any time she got to do something physical.
 * Digging Yourself Deeper: One question about rabbits from Craig Ferguson, and she ended up spending five minutes digging herself into a hole that Jeff Murdock would be envious of.
 * Eighties Hair
 * Hot Mom
 * One of Us