Janet Ruth Montgomery (born 29 October 1985) is an English film and TV actress. She is known for her role as Ames in the second season of Fox's Human Target, and also for her appearances in The Hills Run Red and Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead, as well as her role as Eric Murphy's assistant Jennie in HBO's Entourage. She recently played protagonist Martina Garretti in the short-lived Made in Jersey. As of 2014, she stars as the lead character, Mary Sibley, in the WGN America series, Salem. She is also known for her role as the mother of Gardner Elliot, Sarah Elliot in the 2017 film The Space Between Us.
Career
Although trained as a dancer at the Stella Mann College of Performing Arts, Bedford, Montgomery chose to pursue acting rather than dance professionally. Her lack of drama school training made it difficult for her to obtain acting representation initially. She achieved her breakthrough after producing a play with her friend Gethin Anthony.
In 2008, Montgomery was cast as the love interest of the character Tony Stonem in an episode of the teenage drama Skins. She also appeared in both the TV movie Dis/Connected and the short film Flushed.
The following year, Montgomery appeared in two straight-to-DVD horror-genre releases filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria â€" The Hills Run Red and the finale of the Wrong Turn trilogy, Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead and played the role of Fallyn Werner, a teenage killer in the Lifetime film Accused at 17.
In 2010, Montgomery appeared in her first theatrically released films, playing Ruth in the mystery The Rapture, Giselle in the independent horror film Dead Cert and the supporting role of Madeline in the Academy Award nominated psychological thriller Black Swan â€" playing a Little Swan to Natalie Portman's Oscar-winning portrayal of the Black Swan.
That same year Montgomery also signed on to play Paul Rudd's love interest in Our Idiot Brother. After seeing her audition tape in Los Angeles, producers worked around her schedule on Entourage and flew her to New York to begin shooting. This was her first comedy movie and one in which she received rave reviews. While working on Entourage, Montgomery was invited to appear on The League, a critically acclaimed semi-improvised show about American football, and played Ambrosia the stripper in the first episode of the second season. Barely recognisable and improvising in an American accent paved the way for her offer from Human Target producers for the role of Ames.
In December 2011, Montgomery starred as Princess Mithian, a love interest of King Arthur, in Series 4 Episode 11 of Merlin, later returning in Series 5 Episode 4 (alongside James Fox).
In 2012, Montgomery played the lead role in the CBS television series Made in Jersey. The series was cancelled after two episodes aired. Despite the early cancellation, Montgomery received huge compliments and a career boost from the short lived series. Two new episodes aired on 22 December 2012.
Montgomery attracted the attention of Stephen Poliakoff via an audition tape she sent to casting director Andy Pryor for the role of Sarah in Dancing on the Edge. Poliakoff was impressed and offered her the job via Skype. The five-part miniseries aired 4 February 2013 on BBC Two.
She also played opposite David Tennant in BBC Four's Spies of Warsaw. The drama received mixed reviews. She played Grace Van Helsing, "the prodigal daughter who returns to run the family newspaper (and presumably stake a few vampires)" in the unsold ABC pilot Gothica. Actor Chris Egan plays her love interest, the character Dorian Gray.
In December 2014, The Hollywood Reporter announced Montgomery was cast to star as a prostitute in the comedy Amateur Night alongside Jason Biggs.
In October 2016, Montgomery started recurring in NBC's This Is Us.
Personal life
Montgomery was born in Bournemouth, England. Her uncle was bass player Mike "Monty" Montgomery of Zoot Money's Big Roll Band.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
- Janet Montgomery on Internet Movie Database