Frances Ann O'Connor (born 12 June 1967) is an English-born Australian actress. She is best known for her roles in the films Mansfield Park (1999), Bedazzled (2000), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), and Timeline (2003). O'Connor has won an AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Blessed (2009), and earned Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film nominations for her performances in Madame Bovary (2000) and The Missing (2014).
O'Connor was born in Wantage, Oxfordshire, England, to a pianist mother and nuclear physicist father; her family moved to Perth, Australia, when she was two years old. She is the middle of five children, with one older brother, one older sister, and two younger sisters. O'Connor was raised Roman Catholic, and attended the Mercedes College in Perth. She then went on to attend the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature from Curtin University in Western Australia.