Hermione Norris

Last updated

Hermione Norris
David Jason millies (Hermione Norris cropped).jpg
Norris in 2012
Born
Paddington, London, England
OccupationActress
Years active1989–present
Spouse
​
(m. 2002)​
Children2

Hermione Norris is an English actress. She attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in the 1980s, before taking small roles in theatre and on television. In 1996, she was cast in her breakout role of Karen Marsden in the comedy drama television series Cold Feet . She appeared in every episode of the series from 1998 to 2003 and was nominated for a British Comedy Award.

Contents

From 2002 to 2005, Norris co-starred in the crime drama series Wire in the Blood as Carol Jordan, and from 2005 to 2009 co-starred in the BBC One spy drama Spooks as Ros Myers. Her role in Spooks won her the award for Best Actress at the 2008 ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards, and another nomination the next year. From 2007 to 2009, she co-starred in the ITV comedy drama Kingdom . In 2020, she appeared in the Australian thriller series Between Two Worlds.

Early life

Norris was born in Paddington, London, the second of four children. She has two sisters, a brother and two half-sisters. [1] Her parents, businessman Michael and health visitor Helen Norris (née Latham), divorced when she was four years old. [1] She moved with her mother and siblings to live with her grandmother in Derbyshire, but moved back to London a few years later. At age 12, she decided that she wanted to be a ballerina and won a scholarship at the Elmhurst School for Dance. [1] While there, she took up drama at an after-school club, performing alongside her dance studies until she left aged 17.[ citation needed ]

At age 19, she enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). On an exchange to the Moscow Art Theatre School, she played Nina in a production of The Seagull . [2]

Career

Norris on the set of Kingdom in 2008 Hermione Norris cropped.jpg
Norris on the set of Kingdom in 2008

Norris made her professional stage debut in a 1989 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream , which earned her her Equity card. She made her television debut in the 1991 BBC serial The Men's Room , playing the daughter of Bill Nighy's character. [3] Other early television roles include appearances in Agatha Christie's Poirot , the television serial Clarissa , and a 1991 episode of Drop the Dead Donkey . She continued to make guest appearances in series such as Between the Lines and Casualty . In 1995 she played Helen in the Royal Exchange, Manchester's production of Look Back in Anger .

After being out of work for four months in 1996, Norris considered quitting acting and studying for a degree in law, intending to become a solicitor. [4] However, she got a part in Cold Feet playing Karen Marsden, a middle-class woman who feels trapped by her middle-class lifestyle. [4] Norris appeared in every episode and was nominated for a British Comedy Award for Best Actress in 2001. [5]

During the six years Cold Feet ran, Norris appeared in a leading role in the BBC drama Berkeley Square , Killing Time: The Millennium Poem, starring opposite Christopher Eccleston, and the 2002 television film Falling Apart, playing a woman in a violent relationship. In 2002, she co-starred with Robson Green in Wire in the Blood , playing Detective Inspector Carol Jordan. She stayed with the series until 2005 when she was replaced by Simone Lahbib. Further film roles include an appearance in an adaptation of Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim , and in David Kane's Born Romantic .

At the end of 2005 she was cast in the BBC One spy drama Spooks , playing Ros Myers. [6] She appeared throughout the 2006 series, then in eight of the 10 episodes in the 2007 series before taking time off filming for maternity leave. She returned to the show for the 2008 series. For her part, she won the Best Actress award at the inaugural ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards. [7] She was nominated in the same category the next year. [8] She left the series in 2009 after four years. [9]

From 2007 to 2009, she appeared in three series of Kingdom playing Beatrice Kingdom, the half-sister of Stephen Fry's character. She took the role as a change of pace from the "ice maiden" characters she often portrays. [10] In 2010, she starred opposite Trevor Eve in the remake of Bouquet of Barbed Wire . [11] In 2010, she was cast in the television science fiction drama Outcasts as Stella Isen, the head of security on an extraterrestrial human colony. [12] Filming occurred on location in South Africa. From November 2010, Norris played Ruth Condomine in a national tour of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit . She starred opposite her Cold Feet co-star Robert Bathurst, and Alison Steadman. She also starred in The Crimson Field, a British Production about a field hospital in France in WW1.

On 4 October 2014, Norris guest-starred in episode 7 of the eighth series of the BBC's Doctor Who , 'Kill The Moon'. She played Lundvik, an astronaut.

Norris also starred as Jo in the Sky1 television film television film adaptation of the M. C. Beaton novel Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death .

Norris also starred in series five of Luther on BBC One in January 2019. Later that year, she was announced as the starring cast member of Seven Network's Between Two Worlds, created by Bevan Lee and directed by Kriv Stenders. [13] [14]

Personal life

In 2002, Norris began a relationship with Simon Wheeler, a writer on Wire in the Blood. The couple married in December 2002 in a ceremony at the Tower of London. [4] They have two children. [15] Norris's father-in-law is General Sir Roger Wheeler, the Chief of the General Staff from 1997 to 2000.

Acting credits

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1999 Mad Cows Petronella
2001 Born Romantic Carolanne
2003 Quicksand Sarah Direct-to-video
2005 Separate Lies Priscilla
2017 Love of My Life Tamara

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1990Blood RightsVirginiaTV series, 3 episodes
1991 The Men's Room Joanna CarletonTV Mini-Series, episode:1.4
Drop the Dead Donkey OctaviaEpisode: "The Gulf Report"
Casualty Abby LarwoodEpisode: "The Last Word"
Clarissa Anna HoweTV Mini-Series, 4 episodes
1991–1992 Spatz Wendy2 episodes
1992 Screen Two CarolineTV series, Episode: “The Count if Solar”
1993 Agatha Christie's Poirot CelestineEpisode: "Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan"
Between the Lines Gail MylesEpisode: "Manslaughter"
1994 Under the Hammer Anthea BovingtonEpisode: "The Spectre at the Feast"
CasualtyBobbie CroftEpisode: "The Facts of Life"
1997 Comedy Premieres: Cold Feet Karen MarsdenPilot
See You Friday Sophie1 series
Get Well Soon Vanessa Del RayEpisode: "The Whist Drive"
Cadfael MaryEpisode: "The Raven in the Foregate"
Hospital!Television film
Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse Hermia RedcliffeTelevision film
1998 The Bill Louise GoldingEpisode: "Friends in High Places"
Berkeley Square Victoria St. John1 series
1998–2003, 2016–2020 Cold Feet Karen Marsden9 series
1999 Peak Practice PennyEpisode: "New Beginnings"
Heartbeat Diane PalmerEpisode: "David Stockwell's Ghost"
2000Killing Time: The Millennium PoemMillennium WomanTelevision film
2002Falling ApartClareTelevision film
2002–2005 Wire in the Blood DCI Carol Jordan3 series
2003 Lucky Jim Carol GoldsmithTelevision film
2006The Kindness of StrangersFiona ChartersTelevision film
2006–2009 Spooks Ros Myers 4 series
2007–2009 Kingdom Beatrice Kingdom3 series
2010 Bouquet of Barbed Wire Cassie MansonTelevision serial
2011 Outcasts Stella Isen1 series
2012 A Mother's Son RosieTelevision serial
A Year in the Wild NarratorDocumentary
2013 Agatha Christie's Marple Evelyn HillingdonEpisode: "A Caribbean Mystery"
2014 The Crimson Field Grace CarterTV series, 6 episodes
In the Club Roanna2 series
Doctor Who LundvikEpisode: "Kill the Moon"
Agatha Raisin Jo Cummings BrowneTV series, episode: “The Quiche of Death”
2018 Innocent Alice MoffattTV Mini-Series, 4 episodes
2019 Luther Dr Vivien Lake Series 5
2020 Between Two Worlds Cate Walford
2022 Doc Martin Sophie Trent2 episodes
Riches Maureen Dawson
2024 Silent Witness CS Sheila Court2 episodes

Stage

YearTitleRoleNotes
1989 A Midsummer Night's Dream HelenaMercury Theatre, Colchester
Habeas Corpus Felicity RumpersMercury Theatre, Colchester
Daisy Pulls it Off Thorndike, Leatherhead
1991 Man and Superman Ann Whitfield Citizens Theatre
Three Judgements in OneDona ViolanteGate, Notting Hill
1992–1993 Pygmalion Clara Eynsford-HillOlivier (National)
1992Square RoundsVariousOlivier (National)
1994September TideCherryTour (Islington, Leatherhead, Liverpool)
1994–1995 Charley's Aunt Amy Spettigue Royal Exchange, Manchester
1995 Look Back in Anger Helena Charles Royal Exchange, Manchester
ReaderIrene / Jacqueline Traverse Theatre
1996Blinded by the SunBarbaraCottesloe (National)
2005PetronellaPetronella Old Vic
2010–2011 Blithe Spirit Ruth [16] Theatre Royal, Brighton
Cambridge Arts Theatre
Milton Keynes Theatre
Richmond Theatre
West End transfer
Apollo Theatre

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Hermione Norris: 'My father wasn't fully capable of stepping up to having six children'". The Guardian. 16 September 2016.
  2. ↑ McLeod, Pauline (9 November 2002). "My cultural life: Hermione Norris". The Times (Times Newspapers).
  3. ↑ Swann, Yvonne (17 February 2005). "Acting's in my blood". Daily Mirror (MGN): p. 57.
  4. 1 2 3 Tweedie, Neil (28 February 2008). "Hermione Norris: 'I nearly gave up acting to be a lawyer...' [ dead link ]". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group).
  5. ↑ Staff (16 December 2001). "Skinner crowned TV comedy king". BBC News. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
  6. ↑ Kilkelly, Daniel (31 December 2005). "'Cold Feet' star joins 'Spooks'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 22 November 2007.
  7. ↑ Rosser, Michael, (6 October 2008), "Morse author honoured at Crime Thriller Awards". Broadcastnow (Emap Media). Retrieved 7 October 2008.
  8. ↑ Allen, Kate (7 September 2009). "Coben, Cole, Atkinson vie for crime awards". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 10 September 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
  9. ↑ Power, Vicki (30 May 2010). "Richard Armitage: ‘I was a beanpole with a nose I hadn’t grown into’". Sunday Mirror (MGN).
  10. ↑ Wylie, Ian (2 May 2007). "Why star still gets Cold Feet over bedroom scenes". Manchester Evening News (M.E.N. Media).
  11. ↑ Hemley, Matthew (15 October 2009). "Hermione Norris joins cast of ITV’s A Bouquet of Barbed Wire Archived 14 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine ". The Stage.
  12. ↑ "Outcasts". BBC. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
  13. ↑ White, Peter (16 April 2019). "'Luther' Star Hermione Norris To Front Seven Network's Australian Thriller 'Between Two Worlds'". Deadline. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  14. ↑ "'Cold Feet' star Hermione Norris cast in Seven's 'Between Two Worlds'". IF Magazine. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  15. ↑ Staff (31 August 2007). "Cold Feet actress has baby girl". BBC News. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
  16. ↑ BWW News Desk (16 July 2010). "Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst Join Cast of BLITHE SPIRIT, Opens 3/2". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
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