Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. She rose to fame in the UK as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap Brookside. In the USA, she is probably best known for her movie work or as Charlotte "Chuck" Charles in Pushing Daisies.
Anna was born in Rochdale the daughter of Julie, a special needs teacher, and Des Friel, a former teacher of French and owner of a web design company.[1][2] Anna's Irish Catholic father, a former folk guitarist, was born in Belfast, and grew up in County Donegal.[3][4][5] Her brother, Michael, starred in Hovis television adverts.[6]
She attended Crompton House Church of England High School (High Crompton), and later attended Holy Cross College (Bury).[7] She began her training as an actress at Oldham Theatre Workshop.
Acting career
At the age of 13, she was hired for her first professional acting job in the Channel 4 drama serial G.B.H., as the daughter of Michael Palin's character. Her performance led to a series of appearances on various British television shows, including Emmerdale. In 1992, she was added to the cast on the Channel 4 soap operaBrookside, where she gained greater exposure in the role of Beth Jordache. She stayed on the programme for two years.Template:Citation needed Anna's on-air lesbian kiss was the first in British soap history.[8] In 1995, Anna won the National Television Award for Most Popular Actress for her work on Brookside.[9]
In 1996, Anna courted further controversy when she appeared in the television film The Tribe by Stephen Poliakoff, which included nudity and a much discussed ménage à trois sex scene between characters played by Friel, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Jeremy Northam.[10]
In 2001, she made her West End stage début in London in a fringe production of Lulu, which also transferred to Broadway.[11]
Anna's film credits include playing Nick Leeson's wife Lisa in Rogue Trader opposite Ewan McGregor; David Leland's The Land Girls, which also starred Rachel Weisz and Catherine McCormack;Template:Citation neededAdam CollisSunset Strip as Tammy Franklin, opposite Jared Leto, Simon Baker and Nick Stahl; All for Love with Richard E. Grant; A Midsummer Night's Dream as Hermia, opposite Christian Bale, Dominic West and Calista Flockhart; Timeline as Gerard Butler's object of affection; Me Without You opposite Michelle Williams; and Goal! and Goal II: Living the Dream.
Her television work includes the short lived The Jury for the Fox and ITV1's Watermelon which was based on the novel by Marian Keyes. In 2007, she started playing Charlotte "Chuck" Charles in Pushing Daisies, a new television series from the creator of Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, on the American network ABC.[12] Although popular with critics, in November 2008, creator Bryan Fuller stated that it had been cancelled due to poor ratings.[13] The show ran for two seasons.
In the pilot season following the cancellation of Pushing Daisies, Anna was offered six pilots but declined all six roles in favour of focusing on her film career.[14]
In November 2006, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Bolton for contributions to the performing arts.[15]
She has also been seen as the face of PantenePro-V Ice shine in the United Kingdom, appearing in both television advertisements and print advertising. She has also appeared in adverts on television for 3 Mobile and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
In September 2009, Anna starred in a West End adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.[16]
Anna and her husband David Thewlis.
In April 2010, she was cast in the psychological thriller film The Dark Fields[17] (now entitled Limitless and released in March 2011). In November 2010, Anna starred in London Boulevard alongside Ray Winstone, Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley and her then husband David Thewlis.[18]
Anna appears in the video for the Manic Street Preachers' September 2010 single "(It's Not War) Just the End of Love" opposite Welsh actor Michael Sheen, with whom she co-starred in the 2003 film Timeline.[19]
In January 2011, Anna appeared in a episode of the BBC series Come Fly with Me as a fictionalised version of herself[20]. In the show she is bald and has lost her wig.
In December 2011, she played the star role (Ellie Manning) in ITV's series drama Without You.[21] That same month, she starred as Captain Elizabeth Bonny in the SyFy network's production of Neverland, a prequel to J.M. Barrie's classic story Peter Pan.
In March 2012, Anna began filming for The King of Soho, a biographical movie about "porn baron" Paul Raymond, in which she plays Raymond's wife Jean alongside Steve Coogan as Raymond.[22]
Personal life
Anna and her husband David Thewlis while she was pregnant with their daughter.
In May 2001, Anna began a relationship with actor David Thewlis, after the pair met on a flight to Cannes, and they married later the same year.[23][24][25][26] Shortly after they married, Anna collapsed and was rushed to hospital, needing emergency surgery and two blood transfusions for a burst ovarian cyst.[1][2]
It was later discovered that she suffers from endometriosis and would have great difficulty conceiving. However, she did eventually manage to conceive, and gave birth to a daughter, Gracie Ellen Mary Thewlis,[27][28][29] on 9 July 2005 at Portland Hospital in London. Anna reportedly had a very difficult labour, and was passing in and out of conciousness repeatedly, due to the fact that the baby had not turned properly. Due to the difficult situation, the doctors were on the verge of performing an emergency caesarian section when the baby turned and was delivered normally. In December 2010, Anna and David divorced after ten years together.[30]
In 2008, Anna began supporting the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.[31]
Anna also advocates the work of the Burma Campaign UK, an NGO committed to bringing about change in the nation.
Awards and nominations
2009 Royal Television Society North West Award – Best Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series for The Street
2008 Golden Globe – Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical Nomination for Pushing Daisies (nominee)
1999 Drama Desk Awards – Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for "Closer"
1995 TV Times Awards – Best Actress
1994 TV Quick Magazine – Best Newcomer
Honorary degree, awarded by the University of Bolton.
Filmography
Year
Title
Role
Other notes
1991
G.B.H.
Susan Nelson
TV mini-series
1992
Emmerdale
Poppy Bruce
Episodes
1993
Medics
Holly Jarrett
Episode (No.3.3)
1993–1995
Brookside
Beth Jordache
Episodes
1995
The Imaginatively Titled Punt & Dennis Show
Episode (No.2.1)
1996
Tales from the Crypt
Angelica
Episode ("About Face")
Cadfael (TV series)
Sioned
Episode ("A Morbid Taste for Bones")
1998
The Land Girls
Prue (Prudence)
Our Mutual Friend
Bella Wilfer
Episodes (No.1.1, No.1.2)
The Stringer
Helen
The Tribe
Lizzie
St. Ives
Flora Gilchrist
1999
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Hermia
Rogue Trader
Lisa Leeson
Mad Cows
Maddy
2000
Sunset Strip
Tammy Franklin
An Everlasting Piece
Bronagh
2001
The Fear
Storyteller
Recurring
The War Bride
Lily
Me Without You
Marina
2002
Fields of Gold
Lucia Merritt
TV film
2003
Watermelon
Claire Ryan
TV film
Last Rumba in Rochdale
Bodney
Voice actor
Timeline
Lady Claire
2004
Perfect Strangers
Susie Wilding
2005
Goal!
Roz Harmison
2006
Irish Jam
Maureen
Niagara Motel
Denise
2007
Goal! 2: Living the Dream...
Roz Harmison
Rubbish
Isobel
2007–2008
Pushing Daisies
Charlotte "Chuck" Charles
Main cast
2008
Bathory
Countess Erzsébet Báthory
2009
Land of the Lost
Holly Cantrell
The Street
Dee Purnell
Episodes (No.3.2 and No.3.3)
2010
London Boulevard
Briony
Angel Makers
Lizzie
upcoming film
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Iris
2011
Neverland
Elizabeth Bonny
TV film
Treasure guards
Victoria Eckhart
TV film
Come Fly with Me
Herself
Comedy series
Without You
Ellie
TV Series
Limitless
Melissa
2012
Public Enemies
Paula Radnor
Drama series
Trivia
A rare picture of Anna wearing her wedding ring.
Although she was married to David Thewlis for nine years, Anna only rarely wore her wedding ring.
Ranked #21 in Wizard magazine's Sexiest Women of TV list (March 2008).
Was one of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People in the world (2008).
Was the runner up for Helena Bonham Carter's role in Fight Club.
