Amanda Root

For the American social reformer, see Amanda Lane Root.

Amanda Root
Born	1963 (age 60–61) Chelmsford, Essex, England
Alma mater	Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1983 – present

Amanda Root (born 1963) is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her starring role as Anne Elliot in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Persuasion. A familiar face on both stage and screen, she worked regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company during her early career, performing as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet , and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth , among other roles. In 2009, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as Sarah in Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests .

Her film roles include The Iron Lady (2011), Their Finest (2016), The Black Prince (2017) and Summerland (2020). Root is also known for her television roles, including Dolly in Anna Karenina (2000), Mrs Davilow in Daniel Deronda (2002), and Winifred Dartie in The Forsyte Saga (2002−2003). In 2018, she played Carol Finch in ITV crime drama Unforgotten (2018), and in 2023, she portrayed Sue Farquhar in BBC drama The Sixth Commandment (2023).

Life and career

Root was born in Chelmsford, Essex, to Ken and Maureen Root. ^[1] Her father was an accountant, whilst her mother had performed in amateur dramatic productions as a child. ^[2] Both were supportive of her ambitions to become an actor. She attended Philip Morant School in Colchester, studying drama at O Level; she joined the Essex Youth Theatre as a teenager. After graduating from the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, she began her career at the Leeds Playhouse in 1983 when she played Essie in George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple. She worked regularly with the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon and London from 1983 to 1991, including playing the role of Juliet to Daniel Day-Lewis's Romeo; a very young Lady Macbeth; Cressida to Ralph Fiennes's Troilus, and Rosaline to his Berowne. She also appeared as Jessica opposite Ian McDiarmid's Shylock in The Merchant of Venice .

She was a remarkably complete actress even in her early twenties, when physically she looked little more than a child. With her dark soulful eyes she could command a stage, and the Royal Shakespeare Company saw her talent very early on. ^[3]

She worked regularly with the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon and London from 1983 to 1991, including playing the role of Juliet to Daniel Day-Lewis's Romeo; a very young Lady Macbeth; Cressida to Ralph Fiennes's Troilus, and Rosaline to his Berowne. ^[3]

In 1985, Root made her television debut in the pilot episode of Ladies in Charge , as one of a trio of women setting up an agency to help others in postwar London. She then starred as the title character in Mary Rose, a television drama based on the play by J.M. Barrie. In 1988, she featured as the Storyteller in five episodes of children's series Jackanory , and the following year voiced Sophie in animated feature The BFG. The film was aired on ITV on Christmas Day. In 1991, she reprised her role as Adela in a Channel 4 adaptation of The House of Bernarda Alba alongside Glenda Jackson, having originally played the character in a 1986 stage production at the Lyric Hammersmith. ^[4] She also starred as Nina in Chekhov's The Seagull at the Barbican Theatre. In 1993, Root played Hilda Maxwell in ITV period drama The Man Who Cried, opposite Ciarán Hinds. ^[5] The series, adapted from the novel by Catherine Cookson, received positive reviews and was watched by 12.7 million viewers.

In 1994, she appeared in BBC comedy drama series Love on a Branch Line as Miss Mounsey. That same year, Root was sought by the actress Emma Thompson for the role of Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, based on the 1811 novel by Jane Austen. She participated in a read through in London with the cast but was unable to take on the role (it would later go to Kate Winslet) as she had already committed to star as Anne Elliot in another Austen adaptation, Persuasion. ^[6] The film, made by the BBC for drama anthology series Screen Two, reunited Root with Ciarán Hinds, who played Captain Wentworth. It was broadcast on BBC Two in April 1995, and later gained a limited cinematic release in the United States, grossing over five million dollars. ^[7] Well received by critics, it went on to win five TV BAFTAs, including for Best Single Drama. ^[8] In 1996, she played Patricia “Pat” Green in Breaking the Code. Root's character was inspired by Bletchley code-breaker Joan Clarke, and starred Derek Jacobi as Alan Turing.

In 1998, Root starred in BBC crime drama Mortimer's Law , as Rachel Mortimer, a barrister who relocates to rural Wales to take up a vacant coroner's post. The series ran for six episodes but was not recommissioned. In 2000, she played Dolly in Anna Karenina, and later appeared as Mrs. Davilow in Daniel Deronda. That same year, Root returned to the stage in Yasmina Reza's Conversations After a Burial at the Almeida Theatre. She also made guest appearances in various crime dramas, including A Touch of Frost , Foyle's War , Waking the Dead, Poirot and Midsomer Murders . In 2004, she appeared in ten episodes of period drama The Forsyte Saga as Winifred Dartie. The following year, she featured in the docudrama Julian Fellowes Investigates, playing murder victim Vera Sidney. ^[9] In 2006, she portrayed Alice Hoschede, wife of Impressionist painter Claude Monet, in the BBC miniseries The Impressionists. She also made her third appearance at the Almeida Theatre as Polina Bardin in Enemies by Maxim Gorky, in a new interpretation by David Hare. ^[10]

In 2008, Root was cast as Sarah in Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests . It was first staged at the Old Vic Theatre in London, before making its Broadway transfer to the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York. The production, directed by Matthew Warchus, was positively received by critics, and gained seven Tony nominations, winning Best Revival. Root was nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Play; her performance was described as “remarkable” by The New York Times. ^[11] The cast were also nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Company Performance.

In 2011, she starred as Hester Collyer in a stage production of The Deep Blue Sea at the Chichester Festival Theatre. ^[12] She also played Amanda in Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady opposite Meryl Streep and continued to make further guest appearances in television crime dramas, such as DCI Banks , The Tunnel and Death in Paradise. In 2016, she appeared as Cecy in wartime comedy drama Their Finest . In 2017, Root featured in an episode of hit BBC drama Sherlock as Emma Welsborough. Later that same year, she starred as Queen Victoria in historical drama The Black Prince; the film explored the complex relationship between Victoria and Duleep Singh, the last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire. In 2018, she played Carol Finch in six episodes of ITV drama Unforgotten , and Virginia Scott-Watson in Patrick Melrose. On stage, she played governess Miss Madrigal in a Chichester Festival Theatre production of The Chalk Garden . In 2020, she appeared on television in popular BBC drama Call the Midwife and ITV thriller miniseries The Sister, and on film in British drama Summerland as social worker Mrs Lawrence.

In 2021, she played Sister Brumfett in one episode of Dalgliesh. The following year, she played Cynthia in a film adaptation of Alan Bennett's 2018 play Allelujah! . She also appeared in BBC mystery thriller The Capture. In 2023, Root featured in two episodes of romantic comedy drama series You & Me. She also had a supporting role in true-life crime drama The Sixth Commandment, based on the murder of Peter Farquhar. Root played Farquhar's sister-in-law Sue Farquhar. ^[13] In 2024, she featured in three episodes of black comedy drama Baby Reindeer as Elle. The series premiered on Netflix on 11 April to critical acclaim. ^{[14] [15]}

Philanthropy

In 2010, after hearing a talk by American attorney and former International Justice Mission president Gary Haugen, Root founded Talitha Arts, ^[16] a non-profit organisation that uses the creative arts to provide therapeutic support for survivors of trafficking and domestic abuse throughout the UK and overseas. ^[17] The organisation gained charitable status in 2015, ^[18] and has since expanded to support children, refugees, ex-offenders, and people experiencing homelessness as well as those living with dementia. ^[19] In 2016, Root was awarded a Point of Light Award by Prime Minister Theresa May in recognition of her work. ^[20] She was also shortlisted for Lorraine Kelly's Inspirational Woman of the Year Award; she was informed of her nomination in a surprise live announcement on the Lorraine programme. ^[21] In 2020, Root announced that she was stepping down as Artistic Director after ten years in the role. ^[22]

Theatre

Her stage credits include:

• Essie in The Devil's Disciple (Bernard Shaw), Leeds Playhouse, 1983
• Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream , RSC small-scale tour 1983; The Other Place 1984
• Jessica in The Merchant of Venice , RSC Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1984
• Moth in Love's Labours Lost , RSC Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1984
• Lucy Ellison in Today by Robert Holman, RSC The Other Place, October 1984; The Pit Barbican Centre, May 1985
• Apricot in The Dragon's Tail by Douglas Watkinson, Apollo Theatre, October 1985
• Neuroza in Tell Me Honestly (Kenneth Branagh), Not the RSC Festival, Almeida Theatre 1985
• Adela in The House of Bernarda Alba (Federico García Lorca, directed by Núria Espert), Lyric Hammersmith, September 1986; Globe Theatre, January 1987
• Harriet in The Man of Mode (George Etherege), RSC Swan Theatre, July 1988; The Pit, April 1989
• Lady Macbeth in Macbeth , RSC Barbican Theatre, May 1989
• Betty McNeil in Some Americans Abroad (Richard Nelson), RSC The Pit, July 1989
• Cordelia in King Lear , RSC Almeida Theatre. September 1989
• Cressida in Troilus and Cressida , RSC Swan Theatre, April 1990; The Pit, June 1991
• Rosaline in Love's Labours Lost RSC Royal Shakespeare Theatre, September 1990; Barbican Theatre, March 1991
• Nina in The Seagull (Anton Chekhov), RSC Swan Theatre; November 1990; Barbican Theatre July 1991
• Cleopatra in Caesar and Cleopatra (Shaw), co-starring with Alec McCowen, Greenwich Theatre, February 1992
• Nora in The Plough and the Stars (Sean O'Casey), West Yorkshire Playhouse, April 1993
• The Manageress in 50 Revolutions (Murray Gold), Oxford Stage Company, Whitehall Theatre, September 1999
• Edith in Conversations After a Burial (Yasmina Reza), Almeida Theatre, September 2000
• Polina Bardin in Enemies (Maxim Gorky in a version by David Hare), Almeida Theatre, May 2006 ^[23]
• Sarah in The Norman Conquests , an interlinked trilogy by Alan Ayckbourn, Old Vic, October 2008 ^[24]
• Corinne in The Country, Arcola Theatre (Martin Crimp), September 2010
• Hester Collyer in The Deep Blue Sea (Terence Rattigan), Chichester Festival Theatre, July 2011
• Bea in Jumpy (Nina Raine), Duke of York's Theatre, August 2012
• Carol in The Herd (Rory Kinnear), Bush Theatre, September 2013
• Zhenya in Donkey Heart (Moses Raine), Trafalgar Studios, January 2015
• Heather Espy in Racing Demon (David Hare), Theatre Royal Bath, June 2017
• Miss Mardrigal in The Chalk Garden (Enid Bagnold), Chichester Festival Theatre, June 2018

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	The BFG	Sophie	voice
1991	The House of Bernarda Alba	Adela
1995	Persuasion	Anne Elliot
1996	Jane Eyre	Miss Temple
	Deep in the Heart	Kate Markham
1999	Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?	Margaret Robinson
2004	Girl Afraid		short
	Bloom	Helen Chapman	short
2011	The Iron Lady	Amanda
2016	Their Finest	Cecy/Mrs Brown
2017	The Black Prince	Queen Victoria
2020	Summerland	Mrs Lawrence
2023	Allelujah	Cynthia

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1985	Storyboard	Polly Swift	Episode: "Ladies in Charge"
	Time for Murder	Sarah Penwarden	Episode: "This Lightning Always Strikes Twice"
1986	Worlds Beyond	Julia	Episode: "Guardian of the Past"
1987	Mary Rose	Mary Rose	Television film
1988	The South Bank Show	Claire Clairmont	Episode: "Birth of Frankenstein and Dracula"
1993	The Man Who Cried	Hilda Maxwell	Television film
	The Buddha of Suburbia	First TV Producer	Miniseries
1993−2022	Casualty	Heather Croft / Barb Edmonds / Evelyn Winnell / Joyce Paice	4 episodes
1994	Hildegard of Bingen	Ricardis	TV documentary
	Love on a Branch Line	Miss Mounsey	4 episodes
	Shakespeare: The Animated Tales	Kate	Episode: "The Taming of the Shrew"
1996	Breaking the Code	Patricia "Pat" Green	Television film
1997	Harry Enfield and Chums	Miss Hetherington	Episode: "Episode #2.6"
	Turning World	Evelyn Sharples	3 episodes
	Original Sin	Frances Peverell	3 episodes
	Sunnyside Farm	Dawn	Episode: "A Rare Visitor"
	Dangerfield	Alice Stratton	Episode: "Guilt"
1998	Mortimer's Law	Rachel Mortimer	6 episodes
	Big Cat	Alice	Television film
2000	Anna Karenina	Dolly	Miniseries
2001	Holby City	Abbie Sawyer	Episode: "Snakes and Ladders"
	A Small Summer Party	Karen	Television film
2002	Waking the Dead	Lorna Gyles	2 episodes
	Daniel Deronda	Mrs. Davilow	Miniseries; 4 episodes
	The Forsyte Saga: To Let	Winifred Dartie née Forsyte	Miniseries (4 episodes)
2002−2003	The Forsyte Saga	Winifred Dartie née Forsyte	10 episodes
2003	Midsomer Murders	Ruth Scholey	Episode: "A Talent for Life"
	Love Again	Maeve Brennan	Television film
	A Touch of Frost	Dolores Delmonte	Episode: "Another Life"
	Little Britain	Baby's Mother	Episode: "Most People in a Mini"
	Foyle's War	Elizabeth Lewes	Episode: "Fifty Ships"
	The Adventure of English	Anne Elliott	Episode: "Speaking Proper"
2004	Peter Ackroyd's London	Charlotte Brontë	Television film
	Rose and Maloney	Marsha Campese	Episode: "Episode #1.2"
2005	The Robinsons	Maggie Robinson	6 episodes
	Empire	Noella	Miniseries
	Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder	Vera Sidney	Episode: "The Case of the Croydon Poisonings"
2006	The Afternoon Play	Andrea	Episode: "The Last Will and Testament of Billy Two-Sheds"
	The Impressionists	Alice Hoschedé	Miniseries; 2 episodes
	Brief Encounters	June Makenzie	Episode: "Lost and Found"
2006−2009	Star Trek: New Voyages	Federation Ambassador	3 episodes
2007	The Robber Bride	Tony Fremont	Television film
	Miss Marie Lloyd – Queen of The Music Hall	Mrs. Chant	Television film
2008	Fiona's Story	Julie	Television film
	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Mrs. Rendell	Episode: "Mrs McGinty's Dead"
2010	Law & Order: UK	Patricia Smith	Episode: "Defence"
	Thorne: Sleepyhead	Teresa Maxwell	Television film
2012	DCI Banks	Mary Rothwell	2 episodes
2013	Zou	Voice	Episode: "Zou the Chef"
	The Tunnel	Doctor Cross	Episode: "Episode #1.8"
2015	Count Arthur Strong	Karen	Episode: "The Heist"
	Death in Paradise	Teresa Gower	Episode: "Episode #4.3"
	New Tricks	Eleanor	Episode: "Lottery Curse"
2017	Sherlock	Emma Welsborough	Episode: "The Six Thatchers"
2018	The Other Side of the Coin	Wife	Television film
	Unforgotten	Carol Finch	6 episodes
	Patrick Melrose	Virginia Watson-Scott	Miniseries; Episode: "Some Hope"
2019	Silent Witness	Olivia Walsh	Episode: "Deathmaker: Part 1"
	MotherFatherSon	Interviewer	Episode: "Episode #1.6"
2020	Call the Midwife	Florrie Watkins	Episode: "Episode #9.2"
	The Sister	June Fox	4 episodes
2021	Dalgliesh	Sister Brumfett	2 episodes: "Shroud for a Nightingale"
2022	The Capture	Margaret	Episode: "The Flip"
	Safe Space	Unknown	Television pilot
2023	You & Me	Nurse Richards	2 episodes
	The Sixth Commandment	Sue	3 episodes
2024	Baby Reindeer	Elle	3 episodes

References

1. "Colchester actress nominated for US showbiz award". Gazette. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
2. "'I'm so much happier now'". Woman Alive. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
3. Trowbridge, Simon (2008). "Amanda Root". Stratfordians, a dictionary of the RSC. Oxford, England: Editions Albert Creed. pp. 429–430. ISBN   978-0-9559830-1-6.
4. "Production of The House of Bernarda Alba | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
5. Whyte, Michael (3 January 1993), The Man Who Cried (Drama), Ciarán Hinds, Kate Buffery, Amanda Root, Festival Film & Television, retrieved 18 October 2023
6. "Emma Thompson: Write for the Part". EW.com. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
7. "Persuasion". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
8. "BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
9. "Vera Sidney | True Crime Library". 20 October 2015.
10. Benedict, David (28 May 2006). "Enemies". Variety. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
11. Wolf, Matt (21 October 2008). "At the Old Vic, a 'Norman Conquest' that's better for the retelling". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 18 October 2023.
12. Billington, Michael (26 July 2011). "The Deep Blue Sea – review". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 18 October 2023.
13. "The Sixth Commandment cast: Who stars in the BBC drama?". Radio Times. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
14. Nicholson, Rebecca (11 April 2024). "Baby Reindeer review – features the most chilling TV episode of the entire year". The Guardian.
15. "'Baby Reindeer' Review: A Devastating Examination of Trauma and Abuse". Forbes .
16. https://www.talitha.org.uk/
17. "Who We Are". Talitha Arts. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
18. "TALITHA ARTS - Charity 1162475". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
19. Farrah, Sophie (24 August 2017). "The art of therapy". Essential Surrey & SW London. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
20. McBride, Jake (6 December 2016). "Talitha". Points of Light. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
21. Inspirational Woman Of The Year Award - Surprising Amanda Root | Lorraine , retrieved 18 October 2023
22. Gaudet, Natalie (10 July 2020). "A Message From Founder Amanda Root". Talitha Arts. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
23. "Theatre, dance, opera and cabaret reviews". The Stage. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
24. "Theatre, dance, opera and cabaret reviews". The Stage. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 8 October 2008.

• Theatre Record and its annual Indexes

Citations

• The Journal, "Dame 'Kate' Scores Double Triumph", 21 January 1993, Page 1.

External links

• Amanda Root at IMDb