The daughter and granddaughter of actors, Emily Lloyd began acting on stage as a teenager in her native Britain. After auditioning and being initially rejected, director David Leland hired her for her film debut, in "Wish You Were Here" (1987), based on the early life of future brothel madame Cynthia Payne. The petite blonde blue-eyes actress earned stellar notices and the National Society of Film Critics Best Actress Award for her spirited portrait of a low-rent Lolita fond of the catchphrase "Up yer bum!" Hollywood beckoned and Lloyd went on to play the defiant daughter of a Brooklyn mobster in Susan Seidelman's underrated "Cookie" and the Appalachian niece of Vietnam veteran Bruce Willis in the uneven "In Country" (both 1989).
Lloyd gave a strong performance as a tarty music hall performer who embarks on a murderous spree with her American boyfriend in the based-on-fact "Chicago Joe and the Showgirl" (1990). Despite having established an ingratiating screen presence, she was subsequently relegated to supporting roles (her forthright young woman romanced by Craig Sheffer in "A River Runs Through It" 1992) or has outshone her material (a virginal bride in "Scorchers" 1991; the young wife with big dreams in "Under the Hula Moon" 1995).