Anna Louise Friel (born 12
July 1976) is an English
actress. She rose to fame in the UK
on Channel 4 soap Brookside, and has had a successful career
since in UK and US TV and cinema.
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 the Hovis television
adverts.
She attended Crompton House Church of England High
School
, in High
Crompton
, Shaw and
Crompton
.
She then
attended Holy Cross
College
in Bury
.
Friel became interested in acting at an early age and received
frequent praise for her work at local talent shows.
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. Though she only stayed on the programme for two
years, Friel's lesbian kiss remains one of the most talked-about
moments 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 1998
she appeared in the original Broadway
run of Closer
by Patrick Marber at the Music Box Theatre in Manhattan
, United
States
winning a Drama Desk
Award and a Theatre World award for her performance as
Alice. In 2001, she made her West
End
stage debut 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;
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.
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. She has also appeared in adverts on television
for
3 Mobile and
Virgin Atlantic Airways.
In May
2009, Friel confirmed that she will star in a West
End adaptation of the novel Breakfast at
Tiffany's. The show started in September 2009 at the
Theatre
Royal Haymarket
.
Friel is due to star in a film
London Boulevard alongside
Ray Winstone,
Colin
Farrell, and
Keira Knightley
which is expected to be released in 2010. It also stars her real
life partner David Thewlis.
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 2008 Friel began supporting the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer
campaign in support of
Breakthrough Breast Cancer,
alongside fellow celebrities,
Alan Carr,
Angela Griffin,
Natalie Imbruglia,
Edith Bowman and
Twiggy.
Friel advocates the work of the
Burma
Campaign UK, an NGO committed to bringing about change in the
deeply troubled nation.
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)
- 2008 Satellite Awards – 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
References
- http://www.annafriel.org/afsh95.htm
-
http://www.bryanappleyard.com/article.php?page=10&article_id=124
- http://www.annafriel.org/aflk99.html
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/1998/aug/09/williamleith
- http://www.annafriel.org/aftm96.html
- AskMen.com
Retrieved on 20 December 2007.
-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3646815/Post-natal-confession.html
- Fashion Targets Breast Cancer
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