Born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills in London in 1946, she is the daughter of the great actor Sir John Mills and the well-known novelist-playwright Mary Hayley Bell. Her sister is the actress Juliet Mills. She grew up in her parents' home, an outgoing, funny child, and, because she spent so much time with her parents and their friends, very intelligent. When she went to boarding school at age nine, however, she became very shy around kids her own age. She found solace in theater productions at her school. She was noticed playing at her parent's home in 1958 by director J. Lee Thompson, who immediately cast her opposite her father in the thriller Tiger Bay. Her debut performance turned heads around the world, from Germany, where she won an award at the Berlin Film Festival, to Hollywood, when Walt Disney came knocking at her door. He signed her to a five-year contract. For her first film for the studio, Pollyanna, she won critical raves, box-office success, and a special Juvenile Academy Award. Her second Disney film, The Parent Trap, in which she played twins, was even more popular. She continued to appear in routine Disney films like In Search of the Castaways and Summer Magic, as well as films outside the studio like Whistle Down the Wind, based on her mother's novel, and The Chalk Garden, again co-starring with her father. Though Disney gave her a somewhat more adult role in the mystery film The Moon-Spinners, she had begun to tire of her sunny, innocent Pollyanna image. After completing That Darn Cat!, she left the studio for good. That Darn Cat! was still a success, as was her first post-Disney film, Columbia's The Trouble with Angels. Then, she shocked her fans by appearing in the comedy The Family Way with her father. There was an even bigger surprise in store when she fell in love with the film's director, Roy Boulting, who was 33 years her senior. She lived with Boulting for five years after he divorced his wife. They married in 1971 and had a son, Crispian Mills, in 1973. By this time, he'd taken control of her career, and, as a result, she made many bad film choices that left critics and audiences cold. By 1976, her film career had pretty much tanked. She divorced Boulting that year and moved in with actor Leigh Lawson, with whom she had a son, Jason. They separated in 1984. She appeared in three TV-movie sequels to The Parent Trap in the late 1980's, and also appeared in the BBC miniseries The Flame Trees of Thika and the TV series Good Morning, Miss Bliss, later re-titled Saved by the Bell. She hasn't done much film work in several years, preferring to concentrate on her burgeoning career in theater. Her greatest success in theater, so far, has been the role of Anna in "The King and I", which she has played in many touring stage productions throughout the 1990's.
Her second son, Jason, was born of her relationship with actor Leigh Lawson Sister of Juliet Mills and Jonathan Mills. Daughter of playwright Mary Hayley Bell and actor John Mills. Her son is Crispian Mills, lead singer of Kula Shaker. Signed with Sony; their second single went straight to number 2 in UK charts. He is now part of The Jeevas. Sister-in-law of actor Maxwell Caulfield. Aunt of Sean and actress Melissa Caulfield. Her movie The Trouble with Angels is the favorite of Elizabeth Smart, the Salt Lake City girl who was kidnapped from her bedroom in June 2002 and found alive on March 12, 2003. She watched the movie with her family the day she was found and reunited with them. Is the god-daughter of Sir Laurence Olivier. Is the goddaughter of Sir Noel Coward. In the movie That Darn Cat!, her habit of biting her nails precluded her from using her own hands in close-ups. A studio worker, Tricia Blain, who just happened to be hanging around the set watching the filming was selected to serve as a double in those shots that required close-ups of the actress' hands. Niece of Annette Mills. She and her father John Mills were the first Oscar-winning father-daughter couple Of the Oscar-winning father-daughter couples, she and her father are one of two couples (the other is Jane Fonda/Henry Fonda) where the daughter won an Academy award before the father did. Invited to join AMPAS in 2006 At the age of 16 she was offered the title role in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962) but her parents decided against it because they feared that the film's steamy subject matter might taint her wholesome image. The part went to Sue Lyon instead. In later years, Mills admitted that she regretted not taking the part.