Anna Friel

Anna Friel
Born	Anna Louise Friel 12 July 1976 (1976-07-12) Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1986–present
Partner	David Thewlis (2001–2010) Rhys Ifans (2011-present)
Children	Gracie Ellen Mary Friel
Website
http://www.annafriel.org

Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. She rose to fame in the UK as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap Brookside.

Early life

Friel was born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, the daughter of Julie, a special needs teacher, and Des Friel, a former teacher of French and owner of a web design company. Friel's Irish Catholic father, a former folk guitarist, was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Donegal, Ireland. Her brother Michael starred in Hovis television adverts.

She attended Crompton House Church of England High School, in High Crompton, Shaw and Crompton.^{[citation needed]} She then attended Holy Cross College in Bury.

She started off her Training at Oldham Theatre Workshop where she met Coronation Street actor Antony Cotton.

Acting career

At the age of 13, she was hired for her first professional acting job in the Channel 4 drama serial G.B.H., as the daughter of Michael Palin's character. Her performance led to a series of appearances on various British television shows, including Emmerdale. In 1992, she was added to the cast on the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside, where she gained greater exposure in the role of Beth Jordache. She stayed on the programme for two years.^{[citation needed]} Friel's on-air lesbian kiss was the first in British soap history. In 1995, Friel won the National Television Award for Most Popular Actress for her work on Brookside.

In 1996, Friel courted further controversy when she appeared in the television film The Tribe by Stephen Poliakoff, which included nudity and a much discussed ménage à trois sex scene between characters played by Friel, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Jeremy Northam.

In 2001, she made her West End stage début in London in a fringe production of Lulu, which also transferred to Broadway.

Friel's film credits include playing Nick Leeson's wife Lisa in Rogue Trader opposite Ewan McGregor; David Leland's The Land Girls, which also starred Rachel Weisz and Catherine McCormack;^{[citation needed]} Adam Collis Sunset Strip as Tammy Franklin, opposite Jared Leto, Simon Baker and Nick Stahl; All for Love with Richard E. Grant; A Midsummer Night's Dream as Hermia, opposite Christian Bale, Dominic West and Calista Flockhart; Timeline as Gerard Butler's object of affection; Me Without You opposite Michelle Williams; and Goal! and Goal! 2: Living the Dream....

Her television work includes the short lived The Jury for the Fox and ITV1's Watermelon which was based on the novel by Marian Keyes. In 2007, she started playing Charlotte "Chuck" Charles in Pushing Daisies, a new television series from the creator of Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, on the American network ABC. Although popular with critics, in November 2008, creator Bryan Fuller stated that it had been cancelled due to poor ratings. The show ran for two seasons.

In the pilot season following the cancellation of Pushing Daisies, Friel was offered six pilots but declined all six roles in favour of focusing on her movie career.

In November 2006, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Bolton for contributions to the performing arts.

Mulberry A/W 2001, Henry Bond's photograph depicts Anna with David Thewlis. The couple were reported to have been paid £50,000 to appear in the campaign.

She has also been seen as the face of Pantene Pro-V Ice shine in the United Kingdom, appearing in both television advertisements and print advertising.^{[citation needed]} She has also appeared in adverts on television for 3 Mobile and Virgin Atlantic Airways.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2009, Friel starred in a West End adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

In April 2010, she was cast in the psychological thriller film The Dark Fields (now entitled Limitless and released in March 2011). In November 2010, Friel starred in London Boulevard alongside Ray Winstone, Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley and her then partner David Thewlis.

Friel appears in the video for the Manic Street Preachers' September 2010 single "(It's Not War) Just the End of Love" opposite Welsh actor Michael Sheen, with whom she co-starred in the 2003 film Timeline.

In January 2011, Friel appeared in a episode of the BBC series Come Fly with Me as a fictionalised version of herself.^{[citation needed]} In the show she is bald and has lost her wig.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2011, she played the star role (Ellie Manning) in ITV's series drama Without You. That same month, she starred as Captain Elizabeth Bonny in the SyFy network's production of Neverland, a prequel to J.M. Barrie's classic story Peter Pan.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

In 2001, Friel began a relationship with actor David Thewlis, whom she met on a flight to Cannes. Their daughter, Gracie Ellen Mary Friel, was born on 9 July 2005 at Portland Hospital in London. In December 2010, Friel and Thewlis ended their relationship. She began dating fellow actor Rhys Ifans, with whom she acted in the SyFy mini series, Neverland, in 2011.

In 2008, Friel began supporting the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Awards and nominations

• 2009 Royal Television Society North West Award – Best Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series for The Street
• 2008 Golden Globe – Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical Nomination for Pushing Daisies (nominee)
• 1999 Drama Desk Awards – Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for "Closer"
• 1995 TV Times Awards – Best Actress
• 1994 TV Quick Magazine – Best Newcomer
• Honorary degree, awarded by University of Bolton.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1991	G.B.H.	Susan Nelson	TV mini-series
1992	Emmerdale	Poppy Bruce	Episodes
1993	Medics	Holly Jarrett	Episode (#3.3)
1993–1995	Brookside	Beth Jordache	Episodes
1995	The Imaginatively Titled Punt & Dennis Show		Episode (#2.1)
1996	Tales from the Crypt	Angelica	Episode ("About Face")
	Cadfael	Sioned	Episode ("A Morbid Taste for Bones")
1998	The Land Girls	Prue (Prudence)
	Our Mutual Friend	Bella Wilfer	Episodes (#1.1, #1.2)
	The Stringer	Helen
	The Tribe	Lizzie
	St. Ives	Flora Gilchrist
1999	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Hermia
	Rogue Trader	Lisa Leeson
	Mad Cows	Maddy
2000	Sunset Strip	Tammy Franklin
	An Everlasting Piece	Bronagh
2001	The Fear	Storyteller	Recurring
	The War Bride	Lily
	Me Without You	Marina
2002	Fields of Gold	Lucia Merritt	TV movie
2003	Watermelon	Claire Ryan	TV movie
	Last Rumba in Rochdale	Bodney	Voice actor
	Timeline	Lady Claire
2004	Perfect Strangers	Susie Wilding
2005	Goal!	Roz Harmison
2006	Irish Jam	Maureen
	Niagara Motel	Denise
2007	Goal! 2: Living the Dream...	Roz Harmison
	Rubbish	Isobel
2007–2008	Pushing Daisies	Charlotte "Chuck" Charles	Main cast
2008	Bathory	Countess Erzsébet Báthory
2009	Land of the Lost	Holly Cantrell
	The Street	Dee Purnell	Episodes (#3.2 and #3.3)
2010	London Boulevard	Briony
	Angel Makers	Lizzie	upcoming film
	You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger	Iris
2011	Neverland	Elizabeth Bonny	TV movie
	Treasure guards	Victoria Eckhart	TV movie
	Come Fly with Me	Herself	Comedy series
	Without You	Ellie	TV Series
	Limitless	Melissa
2012	Public Enemies	Paula Radnor	Drama series

External links

• Anna Friel at the Internet Movie Database
• Anna Friel's Sentimental Journey Horkins, Tony Page Six Magazine Oct. 19, 2008