Fenella Woolgar

Last updated

Fenella Woolgar
Born
Fenella Woolgar

(1969-08-04) 4 August 1969 (age 55)
Hillingdon, England
Education Durham University
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
OccupationActress
Years active1999–present
Spouse
Robert Harland
(m. 2006)
Children3
Website fenellawoolgar.com

Fenella Woolgar [1] (born 4 August 1969) is an English film, theatre, television and radio actress. She is known for her roles in films including Bright Young Things , Swallows and Amazons and Victoria and Abdul and for TV shows including Doctor Who , as crime novelist Agatha Christie, Inside Number 9 , Call the Midwife and The Buccaneers .

Contents

Early life

Woolgar was born in London. Her mother is of Irish descent and she has joint UK and Irish citizenship. Woolgar's early years were spent in New Canaan, Connecticut, USA. She was educated at Mayfield School, Durham University, and then Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). [1]

At university, along with acting she directed Murder in the Cathedral in Durham Cathedral and wrote and performed comedy in The Durham Revue.

Career

Following Woolgar's graduation from RADA she worked in rep at The Royal Exchange, Manchester, York Theatre Royal, Sheffield Crucible and for the BBC in both television and radio.

She was cast as Agatha in Stephen Fry's film Bright Young Things for which she was nominated for a number of awards. She subsequently went on to work with Mike Leigh in Vera Drake and Mr. Turner , and Woody Allen in Scoop and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger . Other notable films include Victoria and Abdul and Swallows and Amazons. [2]

Woolgar's recent TV work includes series 1 and 2 of The Buccaneers for Apple TV, The Deal for Bande Apart films and as Margaret Thatcher in The Reckoning for the BBC. She did two series as Alison Scotlock in Home Fires . She joined Call the Midwife as Sister Hilda for 4 series. She played Agatha Christie in Doctor Who . [3]

Woolgar has most recently worked in theatre at the Royal Court, the Donmar, the National Theatre, the Old Vic and in the West End. She worked with Conor McPherson in The Veil at the National Theatre. She won the Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Brian Friel’s adaptation of Hedda Gabler. She won the Sunday Times Culture Award for Stage Performance of the Year for playing Margaret Thatcher in Handbagged in the West End.

She is regularly heard on BBC radio and was nominated for Best Actress on the radio for An American Rose in which she played Rosemary Kennedy. Roles include Mrs Dalloway for BBC Radio 4 and Edith Wharton in both The Jinx Element and Ethan Frome . She starred in the titular role in BBC Radio 4 comedy Dot, written by Ed Harris. She has narrated many audiobooks and was nominated for Audio Book of the Year for Life after Life by Kate Atkinson. [4]

She also paints portraits in oils and won Celebrity Portrait Artist of the Year.

Awards and award nominations

Woolgar has been nominated for several awards, including:

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2003 Bright Young Things AgathaNominated - Empire Award for Best Newcomer
Nominated - London Film Critics' Circle Award for Supporting Actress of the Year
Nominated - British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer

Nominated - Evening Standard Film Awards Best Newcomer

Stage Beauty Aurelia Meresvale
Vera Drake Hester
2004 Wah-Wah June Broughton
2006 Scoop Jane Cook
2007 St Trinian's Miss Cleaver
2009 You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger Jane
2011 Cheerful Weather for the Wedding Nancy Dakin
2013 Mr. Turner Elizabeth Eastlake
2016 Swallows and Amazons Miss Crummock
Whisky Galore! Dolly
2017 Victoria & Abdul Miss Phipps
2019 Mr Jones Miss Stephenson
Judy Margaret Hamilton
2024 The Choral Lady Horsfall

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2000 Poirot EllisEpisode: "Lord Edgware Dies"
2001 People Like Us Episode: "The Bank Manager"
The Way We Live Now Lady Julia MonogramMini-Series
Mr CharityLady SophieSeries Regular
2003 Eroica Princess Marie LobkowitzTV film
2004 He Knew He Was Right Arabella FrenchMini-series
2006Mr. Loveday's Little OutingAngela MopingTV film
2007 Jekyll MinSeries regular
2008 Freezing Heidi1 episode
Doctor Who Agatha ChristieEpisode: "The Unicorn and the Wasp"
2010 Agatha Christie’s Poirot Miss WhittakerEpisode: "Hallowe'en Party"
2011 Silk Wendy FordTV series, 1 episode
Case Histories Amelia LandPart 1 & 2 "Case Histories"
2013 Spies of Warsaw Lady Angela HopeTV Mini-series, 4 episodes
2015-2016 Home Fires Alison ScotlockSeries regular
2016 War & Peace Catiche Kuragina3 episodes
2017 The Halcyon Lady Ashworth1 episode
Harlots Lady Repton4 episodes
Quacks Lady Campbell2 episodes
2018-2022 Call the Midwife Sister HildaSeries regular
2018 Inside No. 9 JuneEpisode: "And the Winner Is....."
Midsomer Murders Hazel WebsterEpisode: "Till Death Do Us Part"
2019 Plebs JocastaEpisode: "The Grumbrella"
2020 Unprecedented: Real Time Theatre from a State of IsolationTara1 episode
2021 Dalgliesh Sister Mavis Gearing2 episodes: "Shroud for a Nightingale"
2023 The Reckoning Margaret Thatcher 1 episode
2023-2024 The Buccaneers Lady BrightlingseaMain role
2024 The Deal Margaret DaviesMain role

Theatre

Radio

Includes:

Audio

Includes:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vanessa Redgrave</span> British actress (born 1937)

Dame Vanessa Redgrave is an English actress. Throughout her career spanning over six decades, she has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and an Olivier Award, making her one of the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. She has also received various honorary awards, including the BAFTA Fellowship Award, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, and an induction into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pam Ferris</span> Welsh actress (born 1948)

Pamela Ferris is a Welsh actress. She has starred in numerous British television series, including Connie (1985), The Darling Buds of May (1991–1993), Where the Heart Is (1997–2000), Rosemary & Thyme (2003–2006), and Call the Midwife (2012–2016). For her role as Peggy Snow in Where the Heart Is, Ferris was nominated three times for Most Popular Actress at the National Television Awards. Ferris is best known to younger audiences for her role as Miss Agatha Trunchbull in the film Matilda (1996).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Hancock</span> British actress (born 1933)

Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock is an English actress, singer, and author. She has performed in both plays and musicals in London’s theatre scene, and her Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr. Sloane (1966) earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eileen Atkins</span> English actress (born 1934)

Dame Eileen June Atkins, is an English actress. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Cranford. She is also a three-time Olivier Award winner, winning Best Supporting Performance in 1988 and Best Actress for The Unexpected Man (1999) and Honour (2004). She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1990 and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2001.

Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, and many others. Her most notable television role was as Dr. Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995). Other TV and film credits include Always and Everyone (1999–2002), The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995), The Closer You Get (2000), Agatha Christie's Marple, Midsomer Murders (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), In Love with Alma Cogan (2011), Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015), ChickLit, The Ghoul, The Virtues (2019), Death in Paradise (2021), and The Tower (2023). She has been nominated at IFTA for her performance in Too Good to be True (2003).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judy Parfitt</span> British actress (born 1935)

Judy Catherine Claire Parfitt is an English theatre, film, and television actress. She made her film debut in the 1950s, followed by a supporting role in the BBC television serial David Copperfield (1966). She also appeared as Queen Gertrude in Tony Richardson's 1969 film adaptation of Hamlet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Wimbush</span> English actress (1924–2005)

Mary Wimbush was an English actress whose career spanned sixty years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosalind Knight</span> English actress (1933–2020)

Rosalind Marie Elliott was an English actress. Her career spanned 70 years on stage, screen, and television. Her film appearances include Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957), Carry On Nurse (1959), Carry On Teacher (1959), Tom Jones (1963), and About a Boy (2002). Among her TV roles were playing Beryl in the BBC sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme (1999–2001) and Cynthia Goodman in Friday Night Dinner.

Kay Adshead is a poet, playwright, theatremaker, actress and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm Sinclair (actor)</span> British actor (born 1950)

Malcolm Sinclair is a British stage and television actor and former President of Trade Union, Equity 2010–18 when he stood down after 4 terms and was replaced by Maureen Beattie. He played Assistant Chief Constable Freddy Fisher in the television series Pie in the Sky from 1994 to 1997.

Lolita Chakrabarti is a British actress and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyndsey Marshal</span> English actress

Lyndsey Marshal is an English actress best known for her performance in The Hours, as the recurring character Cleopatra on HBO's Rome, and as Lady Sarah Hill in BBC period drama Garrow's Law.

Linda Bassett is an English actress. Her television credits include Victoria Wood's dinnerladies (1999), Lark Rise to Candleford (2008–11), Grandma's House (2010–12) and Call the Midwife (2015–present).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wunmi Mosaku</span> British-Nigerian actress (born 1986)

Oluwunmi Mosaku is a Nigerian-born British actress. She is known for her roles as Joy in the BBC Two miniseries Moses Jones (2009) and Holly Lawson in the ITV series Vera (2011–2012). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Gloria Taylor in the TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy (2016). In 2019, she starred in the fifth series of Luther. In 2020, she starred as Ruby Baptiste in HBO's Lovecraft Country, and starting in 2021, starred as Hunter B-15 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Loki, and reprised the role in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marion Bailey</span> British actress

Marion Bailey is an English actress. She is best known for her work with her partner, filmmaker Mike Leigh, including the films Meantime (1983), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Mr. Turner (2014), for which she was nominated Supporting Actress of the Year by the London Film Critics' Circle, and Peterloo (2018). In 2019 and 2020, she portrayed Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in the third and fourth seasons of The Crown on Netflix, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild award winner for best ensemble in 2020 and 2021.

Rachel Pickup is a British theatre, television and film actress. Her first major role was as Kaye Bentley in the 10-part BBC TV series No Bananas, with Alison Steadman and Tom Bell. She has since appeared in many British and American TV shows and has worked extensively in theatre, playing most of the major Shakespearean heroines. She played Portia in The Merchant Of Venice at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, opposite Jonathan Pryce.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoebe Fox</span> British actress (born 1987)

Phoebe Fox is an English actress, who was nominated for Olivier and Evening Standard awards for work in theatre. She has appeared in the Black Mirror episode "The Entire History of You" (2011), The Woman in Black: Angel of Death (2015), The Hollow Crown: Wars of the Roses (2016), and The Great (2020–2023).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Raine</span> British actress (born 1982)

Jessica Raine is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Jenny Lee in the television series Call the Midwife (2012–2014) and Verity Lambert in the television film An Adventure in Space and Time (2013). Raine portrayed Catherine Parr in Becoming Elizabeth, a historical drama featuring Elizabeth I as a teenager.

Handbagged is a play by the British playwright Moira Buffini, examining the relationship between Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

Joanne Mitchell is an English film, stage and TV actress. In 2011 she co-founded Mitchell Brunt Films with husband and Emmerdale colleague Dominic Brunt and has worked as producer/writer on several of the company's films.

References

  1. 1 2 "B.A.". University of Durham Congregation (27 June 10:40am). Durham: Durham University: 3. 1991.
  2. "Who is Fenella Woolgar? Portrait Artist of the Year star played in Judy with Renée Zellweger!". Reality Titbit. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  3. "Meet the cast of Call the Midwife series 9". Radio Times. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  4. "Fenella Woolgar". Audible.co.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  5. "Culture". The Sunday Times. 28 December 2014. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  6. "Fenella Woolgar and Paul Chahidi win Clarence Derwent awards". Retrieved 17 April 2014. [ permanent dead link ]
  7. 'Handbagged' programme. Vaudeville Theatre.