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 the 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

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.
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