Alice Evans

Evans was born in New Jersey, U.S.,^[2] the daughter of a professor in applied mathematics and a teacher of English literature, and was raised in Bristol, England. She attended Henbury School, along with her two brothers.^[3] She graduated from University College London with a focus in French and Italian.^[3]

After graduation, she enrolled at the Cours Florent in Paris. She gained work in French television, with her breakthrough role as French student Susan in the French sitcom, Elisa Top Model [fr], which ran for 18 months. Next, she went to Italy to play "Nathalie", in the 1998 Italian miniseries Le ragazze di Piazza di Spagna. Her first English-speaking role was in the Highlander episode 'Patient Number 7'. After making her first film, Monsieur Naphtali [fr] (1999), director Claude Lelouch cast Evans as Macha in Une pour toutes (1999), alongside Samy Naceri and Anne Parillaud.

In 1999, Disney cast Evans alongside Glenn Close, Gérard Depardieu, and her later husband, Ioan Gruffudd, in 102 Dalmatians.^[4][5]

After appearing in Blackball, she moved to Los Angeles in 2003. She has since appeared in both in films and in television series, including The Mentalist, Brothers & Sisters, Lost, and Grimm. Evans also had a recurring turn as the villainous Esther on The Vampire Diaries^[6] and The Originals.

Evans met actor Ioan Gruffudd during the filming of 102 Dalmatians.^[7] They became engaged on New Year's Day 2006 and married on 14 September 2007 in Mexico.^[8] They have two daughters, born in 2009 and 2013.^[9] In January 2021, Evans announced their separation, which Gruffudd initiated.^[10] In March 2021, Gruffudd filed for divorce from Evans.^[11] In February 2022, Gruffudd was granted a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Evans; he was then granted a three-year permanent restraining order in August 2022.^[12] In January 2023, Evans faced charges over allegedly breaching her restraining order on two occasions.^[13] Evans pleaded not guilty to the charges, which were dropped in March 2023.^[14] In February 2026, the restraining order was renewed for 5 years, due to repeated violations.^[15]

In 2017, following a slew of sexual assault allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, Evans claimed that Weinstein had made sexual advances towards her in 2002, which she had declined. Evans said that Weinstein insinuated that her rejection would affect her and Gruffudd's careers.^[16]