Rachel Shelley | |
---|---|
Born | |
Occupation(s) | Actress, model |
Years active | 1994–present |
Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
Partner | Matthew Parkhill (1995–present) |
Children | 1 |
Rachel Shelley (born 25 August 1969) is an English actress, audio producer and model. She is best known for playing Helena Peabody in the Showtime series The L Word and Elizabeth Russell in the Oscar-nominated Bollywood epic Lagaan .
Rachel Irene Shelley was born on 25 August 1969 in Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom, and was brought up primarily in Cambridgeshire. She is the youngest of four children, she has an older sister and two older brothers. Shelley spent three years in Malta as a child before attending school in Huntingdon. After graduating from the University of Sheffield with a B.A. Hons in English and Drama in 1992, she joined a local theatre company in Edinburgh and set up a community theatre company in Sheffield before moving to London to further her acting career. [1] [2] [3]
Shelley is perhaps best known for playing Helena Peabody in the Showtime series The L Word . Other parts include Elizabeth Russell in the Oscar-nominated Hindi film Lagaan in 2001, and the beauty whose tragic loss drives Charles Castle mad in the 1997 film Photographing Fairies . In 2012 and early 2013, she played the recurring role of Yvonne Rippon, a police superintendent who had a relationship with established character Nick Jordan, in popular BBC medical drama Casualty . Shelley left the series on 19 January 2013. [4]
Apart from acting, Shelley has written articles for The Guardian and DIVA Magazine . [5] [6] [7] [8] Shelley graduated from Goldsmiths University with an MA in Radio Production - she has produced and edited a documentary for BBC Radio 4 and produces the weekly LGBTQIA podcast podDIVA.
Shelley lives in Notting Hill, London with her partner since 1995, Matthew Parkhill, who is a TV writer, director and producer. They have a daughter named Eden, born 8 September 2009. [9] [10]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | Broken Heart | Isabel | Short film |
1997 | Photographing Fairies | Mrs. Anne-Marie Castle | |
1999 | B.U.S.T.E.D | Clare | |
1999 | Lighthouse | Dr. Kirsty McCloud | |
2000 | Canone inverso - making love | Jeno's Mother | |
2000 | The Calling | Shelly Woodcock | |
2001 | Lagaan | Elizabeth Russell | Hindi Film |
2003 | The Bone Snatcher | Mikki | |
2004 | Seeing Other People | Lauren | |
2006 | Gray Matters | Julia Barlett | |
2008 | The Children | Chloe | |
2022 | Blank | Claire Rivers |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | Royce | Alana Maxwell | TV film |
1997 | The New Adventures of Robin Hood | Boadicea | Episode: "Heroes" Episode: "The Birthday Trap" |
1997 | Wycliffe | Sarah | Episode: "Dance of the Scorpions" |
1997 | Bugs | Jenna Spinks | Episode: "Renegades" |
1997 | Highlander: The Series | Sophie Baines | Episode: "Avatar" |
1998 | The Bill | Maggie Hamilton | Episode: "For Your Love" |
2001 | Baddiel's Syndrome | Marcia | Episode: "Huffa" Episode: "Hair Today" |
2001 | Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story | Harmonia | TV film |
2002 | Heartbeat | Sue Dixon, aka Denise Hurley | Episode: "Sympathy for the Devil" |
2002 | The American Embassy | Mandy | Episode: "Long Live the King" |
2002 | Coupling | Samantha | Episode: "Remember This" |
2002 | Cruise of the Gods | Yasmina | TV film |
2002 | The Dinosaur Hunters | Mary Mantell | TV film |
2003 | Sparkling Cyanide | Rosemary Barton | TV film |
2003 | Miss Match | Rebecca Hanley | Episode: "Something Nervy" |
2004 | Licensed by Royalty | Linda Kubrick | TV series |
2005–2009 | The L Word | Helena Peabody | 54 episodes |
2006 | Ghost Whisperer | Kate Payne (uncredited) | Episode: "Cat's Claw" |
2007 | Ghost Whisperer | Kate Payne | Episode: "Speed Demon" Episode: "The Collector" |
2008 | Under | Det. Underhill | TV film |
2008 | Ghost Whisperer | Kate Payne | Episode: "Deadbeat Dads" |
2011 | Episodes | Kendra | Episode: "Four" |
2011 | Strike Back | Maggie | Episode: "Project Dawn No. 5" Episode: "Project Dawn No. 6" |
2012–2013 | Casualty | Supt Yvonne Rippon | Recurring, 2012–2013 |
2012–2016 | Once Upon a Time | Milah | Episode: "The Crocodile" Episode: "Manhattan" Episode: "Devil's Due" |
2013 | Toast of London | Commander Scott-Gorham | Episode: "Submission" |
2013–2014 | Rogue | Shelley Morrison | Recurring |
2014 | Grantchester | Pamela Morton | Episode: "Episode 1" |
2017–2018 | Different for Girls | Brooke | Recurring |
2018–2019 | Deep State | Elliot Taylor | Recurring |
2023 | Kohrra | Clara Murphy | Indian TV series on Netflix |
Lynn Rachel Redgrave was an English actress. She won two Golden Globe Awards during her career.
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language epic musical sports drama film written and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. The film was produced by Aamir Khan, who stars alongside debutant Gracy Singh and British actors Rachel Shelley and Paul Blackthorne. Set in 1893, during the late Victorian period of India's colonial British Raj, the film follows the inhabitants of a village in Central India, who, burdened by high taxes and several years of drought, are challenged by an arrogant British Indian Army officer to a game of cricket as a wager to avoid paying the taxes they owe. The villagers face the arduous task of learning a game that is alien to them and play for a victory.
Gracy Singh is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi and Telugu films. She is best known for her role in the films Lagaan and Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. Singh is also a trained Bharatnatyam and Odissi dancer.
Shelley Alexis Duvall is an American actress and producer widely known for her portrayal of distinct, often eccentric characters. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Peabody Award and nominations for a British Academy Film Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Thomas Griffin Dunne is an American actor, film producer, and film director. Dunne studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. He is known for portraying Jack Goodman in An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Paul Hackett in After Hours (1985), for which he was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.
Ashutosh Gowariker is an Indian film director, actor, screenwriter and producer who works in Hindi cinema. He is known for directing films "set on a huge canvas while boasting of an opulent treatment".
Douglas Wright is an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 2004 for his play I Am My Own Wife. He also wrote the books to the Broadway musicals Grey Gardens in 2006, The Little Mermaid in 2007, Hands on a Hard Body in 2012, and War Paint in 2017. His play Good Night, Oscar made its Broadway debut in 2023.
Sarah Caroline Sinclair, known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. Known for her work in film and television, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Emmy Awards, three British Academy Television Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.
Paul Blackthorne is an English actor. Although born in Shropshire, he spent his early childhood on UK military bases in Britain and Germany.
Vidya Malvade is an Indian actress.
Jennifer Todd is an American film and television producer. She has a first look film deal at MGM Studios and is partnered with Thomas Kail in an exclusive television deal with 20th Television. She co-produced the 89th and 90th Academy Awards with Michael De Luca. She was nominated for an Emmy for producing both shows. She previously served as President of Pearl Street Films, the production company of actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
Michelle Duncan is a Scottish-Canadian actress, known for Driving Lessons (2006), Atonement (2007) and The Broken (2008). She portrayed Shelley Stern in the biographical drama film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).
Elizabeth Freya Garbus is an American documentary film director and producer. Notable documentaries Garbus has made are The Farm: Angola, USA,Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,Bobby Fischer Against the World,Love, Marilyn,What Happened, Miss Simone?, and Becoming Cousteau. She is co-founder and co-director of the New York City-based documentary film production company Story Syndicate.
Daniel Gwyn Evans is a Welsh actor and director.
Holliday Clark Grainger, also credited as Holly Grainger, is an English screen and stage actress. Some of her prominent roles are Kate Beckett in the BAFTA award-winning children's series Roger and the Rottentrolls, Lucrezia Borgia in the Showtime series The Borgias, Robin Ellacott in the Strike series, DI Rachel Carey in the Peacock/BBC One crime drama The Capture and Estella in Mike Newell's adaptation of Great Expectations.
Chris England is an English writer and actor. He is best known for the comedy play An Evening with Gary Lineker, which he wrote with Arthur Smith, and the book Balham to Bollywood.
Gabrielle Creevy is a Welsh actress, known for the leading role of Bethan Gwyndaf in the BBC series In My Skin. For her performance in the role, she won a BAFTA Cymru award.