Michelle Beck | |
|---|---|
 Michelle Beck (right) with Jenni Barber at Brooklyn Academy of Music. | |
| Born | Billings, Montana, U.S. |
| Education | State University of New York at Purchase (BFA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2007–present |
Michelle Beck is an American actress based in New York City known for her performances in Shakespeare plays and other stage works. She has also appeared in film and television.
Born in Billings, Montana, Beck was raised in Charleston, South Carolina, and studied acting at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities. She continued her university training at the State University of New York at Purchase Acting Conservatory, where she graduated magna cum laude with a BFA in acting. [1] [2]
Beck began her career at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where she performed in The Winter's Tale and as Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac . She appeared as Sasha in Spinning into Butter (2007), a film about racism starring Sarah Jessica Parker.
Beck first garnered attention in 2007 as Ophelia in Hamlet at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., directed by Michael Kahn. [3] Later that year, she worked with director Daniel Fish, playing Marianne in his Tartuffe at the McCarter Theater and Yale Repertory Theater. [4] In 2009, Beck appeared as Viola in a Chicago Shakespeare Theater production of Twelfth Night , directed by Josie Rourke. [5] In 2008, she reprised her role as Ophelia in Hamlet. [6]
Beck next appeared in The Bridge Project, a joint venture between the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City and The Old Vic Theater in London, directed by Sam Mendes. Beck played Celia in As You Like It and Ceres in The Tempest (both in 2010). [7] She also appeared in Shakespeare productions at The Public Theater, including Karin Coonrod's production of Love's Labour's Lost as Lady Katharine (2011) and Amanda Dehnert's Richard III as Lady Anne (2012). She played Hero in the Theatre for a New Audience's production of "Much Ado About Nothing", directed by Arin Arbus (2013). [8]
Beck also appeared as the nurse in the 2013 LCT3 production of "A Kid Like Jake", written by Daniel Pearle and directed by Evan Cabnet at the Claire Tow Theater in Lincoln Center. [9] [10] Beck worked on the 2014 Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, starring Denzel Washington and directed by Kenny Leon, as the understudy for Beneatha. [11] At The Pearl Theatre Company in 2014, in Uncle Vanya , a reviewer wrote: "Beck steals the show as Sonya, revealing her to be the most intelligent and sensible character in the play. She's the glue holding this house together" [12] With Epic Theater Ensemble and National Black Theater in 2015, she played Isabella in Measure for Measure . [8] She also played Kelly in The Sentinels by Matthew Lopez at 59E59 Theaters. [13]
In 2014, she played Hayden in a short film adaptation of The Third Option. She played Julia in, and co-directed, the independent film Sam & Julia (2015). Her television credits include Madam Secretary [14] and Homeland (2015).
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Spinning into Butter | Sasha | |
| 2017 | Ambition's Debt | Antony's Servant |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Madam Secretary | Paramedic | Episode: "Face the Nation" |
| 2015 | Homeland | ICU Nurse #1 | Episode: "A False Glimmer" |
| 2018 | Luke Cage | Drea Powell | 3 episodes |
| 2020 | Manifest | ADA Wilcox | Episode: "False Horizon" |
| 2021–2022 | Power Book II: Ghost | Camille | 4 episodes |
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. Hamlet is considered among the "most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language", with a story capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others". It is widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time. Three different early versions of the play are extant: the First Quarto ; the Second Quarto ; and the First Folio. Each version includes lines and passages missing from the others.
Jennifer Anne Ehle is an American actress. She gained recognition and acclaim for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice (1995), for which she received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. Known for her roles on Broadway and the West End, she has won two Tony Awards as well as a nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award.
Rosemary Ann Harris is an English actress. She is the recipient of an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and three Laurence Olivier Awards. Harris was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1986, and she won the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre in 2017.
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost (2006–2010) and as Harold Finch in the CBS series Person of Interest (2011–2016). Other prominent roles include Zep Hindle in the horror film Saw (2004) and as Dr. Leland Townsend in the Paramount+ thriller series Evil (2019–2024).
Regina Taylor is an American actress and playwright. She has won several awards throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award and NAACP Image Award. In July 2017, Taylor was announced as the new Denzel Washington Endowed Chair in Theater at Fordham University.
Brian Bedford was an English actor. He appeared in film and on stage, and was an actor-director of Shakespeare productions. Bedford was nominated for seven Tony Awards for his theatrical work, winning once.
Margaret Webster was an American-British theater actress, producer and director. Critic George Jean Nathan described her as "the best director of the plays of Shakespeare that we have."
Prince Hamlet is the title character and protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet (1599–1601). He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew to the usurping Claudius, and son of King Hamlet, the previous King of Denmark. At the beginning of the play, he is conflicted whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own sanity along the way. By the end of the tragedy, Hamlet has caused the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, two acquaintances of his from childhood. He is also indirectly involved in the deaths of his love Ophelia (drowning) and of his mother Gertrude.
Emily Betsy Mann is an American director, playwright and screenwriter. She served as the artistic director and resident playwright of the McCarter Theatre Center from 1990 to 2020.
Libby Appel served as the fourth artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) from 1995 to June 2007. Appel directed more than 25 productions at OSF, and her artistic vision influenced the 11 plays presented each year during her tenure. Despite the festival's name, she placed increased emphasis on new works. “We have made major connections with world playwrights, artists whose voices we’re particularly interested in.” Appel said. “We commission playwrights, we develop plays here; we have playwrights in residence. We’re a world force now, and I’m really proud of that.”
Barbara Walsh is an American musical theatre actress who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions. Walsh is known for her Drama Desk Award and Tony Award nominated role as Trina in the original Broadway production of Falsettos, as well as her turn as Joanne in the 2006 Broadway Revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company.
Polona Juh is a Slovenian actress. She is the daughter of the Slovenian actors Mojca Ribič and Boris Juh. After finishing her studies at High School for Ballet, she entered to study acting at the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, where she graduated. Since 1995, she is a permanent member of Slovenian National Theatre Drama in Ljubljana.
The Ian Charleson Awards are theatrical awards that reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under age 30. The awards are named in memory of the British actor Ian Charleson, and are run by the Sunday Times newspaper and the National Theatre. The awards were established in 1990 after Charleson's death, and have been awarded annually since then. Sunday Times theatre critic John Peter (1938–2020) initiated the creation of the awards, particularly in memory of Charleson's extraordinary Hamlet, which he had performed shortly before his death. Recipients receive a cash prize, as do runners-up and third-place winners.
Jane Greenwood is a British costume designer for the stage, television, film, opera, and dance. Born in Liverpool, England, she works both in England and the United States. She has been nominated for the Tony Award for costume design twenty-one times and won the award for her work on The Little Foxes.
Sarah Woodward is a British actress who won an Olivier Award in 1998 for Tom & Clem and was Tony nominated in 2000 for The Real Thing. Sarah is the daughter of actor Edward Woodward and his first wife, actress Venetia Barrett. She is sister of actor Tim Woodward, and actor, voice artist, and screenwriter Peter Woodward, and half-sister to actress Emily Woodward, whose mother is actress Michele Dotrice.
Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival is an international theatre festival devoted to the idea of the Elizabethan theatre, and especially to the works of William Shakespeare. The event was first organized in 1993, on the initiative of Theatrum Gedanense Foundation, which had been created by Professor Jerzy Limon and Władysław Zawistowski, with Charles, Prince of Wales as its patron. Its original name, "Gdańsk Shakespeare Days" was transformed into "Gdańsk Shakespeare Festival" in 1997, during the celebration of Gdańsk's millennium.
Laura Carmichael is an English actress, most widely known for her performance as Lady Edith Crawley in the ITV (UK) and PBS (US) television period drama series Downton Abbey. Her other work includes television series Marcella (2016), and the feature film A United Kingdom (2016).
Seth Numrich is an American stage, television, and film actor.
Pippa Nixon is an English actress. She trained at Manchester School of Theatre.
Aaron Posner is an American playwright and theatre director. He was co-founder of the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia and was the artistic director of Two River Theater from 2006 to 2010. He has directed over 100 productions at major regional theater companies across the country. He has won six Helen Hayes Awards, two Barrymore Awards, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the John Gassner Prize, a Joseph Jefferson Award, a Bay Area Theatre Award, and an Eliot Norton Award.
