Rosamund Pike's Real Name: Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike

Quick answer: Rosamund Pike's full name is Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike. She was born on January 27, 1979, in Hammersmith, London. She is the English actress of Die Another Day, Pride & Prejudice, and Gone Girl, which earned her an Academy Award nomination. She acts under her birth name (National Youth Theatre Archive; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

The National Youth Theatre's official archive says that "Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike was born in Hammersmith, London, in January 1979." It describes her as the only child of opera singers Julian Pike and Caroline Friend. The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Pike, Rosamund, 1979-" and gives her birth date as January 27, 1979, in Hammersmith. LOC also records the misspelling "Rosemund," which appeared on an audiobook credit, as a variant.

The NYT archive says her family traveled around Europe for her parents' work until she was seven. She learned piano and cello and won a scholarship to Badminton School in Bristol. She joined the National Youth Theatre as a teenager in the mid-1990s and played Juliet in its Romeo and Juliet. During that run she was spotted by agent Dallas Smith. Several drama schools turned her down, and she read English at Wadham College, Oxford, rather than going professional right away.

Career highlights

Her early TV work included the BBC dramas Wives and Daughters (1999) and Love in a Cold Climate (2001). Her film debut was as Bond girl Miranda Frost in Die Another Day (2002), which won her the Empire Award for best newcomer. On stage she played the title role in Hitchcock Blonde at the Royal Court in 2003.

LOC citations add credits in Pride & Prejudice and Wrath of the Titans. The NYT archive lists Jack Reacher (2012), Hostiles (2017), and the series State of the Union (2019). David Fincher cast her as Amy Dunne in Gone Girl (2014) because he wanted an actress audiences could not easily read. The film grossed more than $356 million worldwide and earned her an Oscar nomination for best actress.

In 2025 she returned to the stage after a 15-year absence in Inter Alia at the National Theatre. The NYT archive reports that she won best actress at the 2026 Olivier Awards. She has also narrated audiobooks, including William Boyd's Restless, according to LOC.

Name notes for searchers

Pike is her family surname. "Mary Ellen" are her middle names, so "Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike" is her full name and she has no stage name. The spelling is Rosamund, with an "a," not "Rosemund."