Rebecca Pidgeon

Rebecca Pidgeon, born October 10, 1965, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is an American-British actress, singer, and songwriter. Her father, Carl R. Pidgeon, was a visiting professor at MIT at the time of her birth, and her mother, Elaine, is a yoga teacher. Her paternal grandmother, Monica Pidgeon, edited Architectural Design and was the sister of artist Olga Lehmann and academic Andrew George Lehmann. The family relocated to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1970. Pidgeon later trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where her classmates included Clive Owen and Liza Tarbuck. She holds dual American and British citizenship.

Pidgeon's performing career began in music. Between 1986 and 1990, she served as lead singer of the British folk and pop group Ruby Blue, departing shortly after the band signed to a major record label. Her solo recording career launched with The Raven in 1994, followed by The New York Girls' Club in 1996 and The Four Marys in 1998, the last of which drew on traditional Celtic folk songs. Tough on Crime, released in 2005, featured Walter Becker on guitar and Billy Preston on keyboards. Behind the Velvet Curtain appeared in 2008 and included a cover of the Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice," and Slingshot followed in 2012. Her discography also includes Blue Dress On, Bad Poetry, Sudden Exposure to Light/Comfort, Parts of Speech Pieces of Sound, and Songs of LA, as well as guest appearances on recordings by Luciana Souza, Madeleine Peyroux, and Chris Connelly.

Her screen acting began with the 1988 feature film The Dawning. She subsequently developed a sustained working relationship with writer and director David Mamet, appearing in his film Homicide and originating the lead role in his play Oleanna, a part Mamet wrote specifically for her. She also composed the music for the film adaptation of Oleanna, in which Debra Eisenstadt took on her stage role. Pidgeon went on to appear in several additional Mamet films, including The Spanish Prisoner in 1997, The Winslow Boy in 1999, State and Main in 2000, Heist in 2001, and Redbelt in 2008. She had a supporting role in Red in 2010, and in the 2013 television film Phil Spector she appeared in a supporting capacity and sang "Spanish Harlem" over the closing credits. Her television work includes the series The Unit, in which she played Charlotte Ryan, and the 2007 television film Jesse Stone: Sea Change, where she portrayed murder and bank robbery suspect Leeann Lewis.

Pidgeon made her Broadway debut in 1997 in The Old Neighborhood, originating from Cambridge, Massachusetts. She met David Mamet while appearing in his play Speed-the-Plow at the National Theatre in London, and the two are married. Together they have two children, Clara and Noah; Mamet also has two older children, Willa and Zosia. Pidgeon was raised in a non-practising Christian family and is a student of yoga as taught by B.K.S. Iyengar.