Evans, the daughter of educators and the granddaughter of a coal miner, was born in Bristol, to British parents, mathematician David Evans and Janet Evans. She was raised in Bristol, along with her two brothers, Anthony and Philip. She graduated from University College London with a in French and Italian.
Career
After graduation, she enrolled at the Cours Florent in Paris. She gained work inFrench television, with her breakthrough role as French student Susan in the popular French sitcom, Elisa Top Modele, 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, Oscar-winning director Claude Lelouch cast Evans as Macha in Une pour toutes, alongside Samy Naceri and Anne Parillaud. In 1999, Disney cast Evans alongside Glenn Close, Gérard Depardieu and her future husband, Ioan Gruffudd, in 102 Dalmatians. Evans' mother died at age 59, the day before Evans's final screen test for the role, which introduced her to British viewers. After appearing in Blackball, she moved to Los Angeles in 2003. She has since appeared in both television and film, such as The Mentalist, Brothers & Sisters, Lost, and Grimm. Evans also had a recurring turn as the villainous Esther on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals.
Personal life
Evans first met actor Ioan Gruffudd during the filming of 102 Dalmatians, while she was in her eight-year relationship with Olivier Widmaier Picasso, a grandson of painter Pablo Picasso. She lived with Picasso in Paris, and they became engaged but later broke up. Gruffudd said he and Evans became engaged on New Year's Day 2006 after Evans gave him an ultimatum, declaring that after 7 years together she wasn't going to hang around any longer unless she was his wife. They married on 14 September2007 in Mexico. The couple resides in Los Angeles, California, and have two daughters, born in 2009 and 2013.
