Anna Friel

Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. Born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, she has been acting professionally since age 13. Friel achieved fame with her portrayal of Beth Jordache on the British soap opera ''Brookside'' (1993–1995), and came to international prominence when she played Charlotte "Chuck" Charles on ABC's ''Pushing Daisies'' (2007–2009). She is the recipient of several accolades, including an International Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award, a National Television Award, an RTS Award, and an honorary degree, as well as nominations for BAFTA Award, Golden Globe Award, Satellite Award, Saturn Award, Genie Award and Czech Lion Award.

Friel made her film debut in ''The Land Girls'' (1998). She has since appeared in various features, such as ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', ''Rogue Trader'' (both 1999), ''Sunset Strip'' (2000), '' Me Without You'' (2001), ''Timeline'' (2003), '' Goal!'' (2005) and its sequel (2007), '' Bathory'' (2008), ''Land of the Lost'' (2009), ''London Boulevard'', ''You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger'' (both 2010), '' Limitless'' (2011), '' The Look of Love'' (2013), '' The Cleanse'', '' I.T.'' (both 2016), and ''Books of Blood'' (2020).

Outside film, Friel has starred in numerous British and American television series, such as '' The Jury'' (2004), ''Odyssey'' (2015), ''The Girlfriend Experience'' (2017), ''Butterfly'' (2018), and ''Marcella'' (2016–2020). Her stage work includes Patrick Marber's '' Closer'' (Broadway, 1999), and West End productions of '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'' (2009) and ''Uncle Vanya'' (2012).

Early life

Anna Louise Friel was born on 12 July 1976 in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Her mother Julie (''née'' Bamford) is a special needs teacher. Her father, Desmond "Des" Friel, was born in Belfast and raised in County Donegal, Ireland. He is a former French teacher and folk guitarist, who now owns a web design company. Her brother Michael is a physician, who in his youth did television advertising work for Hovis.

Friel attended Crompton House School, and later Holy Cross College. She began her training as an actress at Oldham Theatre Workshop.

Career

1990s

Friel made her professional acting debut at age 13, playing the daughter of Michael Palin's character in the television miniseries '' G.B.H.'', which aired in the UK in 1991 and was nominated for several BAFTAs. This led to appearances on ''Coronation Street'' and ''Emmerdale''. In 1992, she was cast as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap opera ''Brookside''. She played the role for two years, and was involved in some of the series' most famous plots, including the death of her on-screen father and a storyline featuring the first ever pre-nine-o'clock watershed lesbian kiss in British television history. The kiss went on to be broadcast around the world (including in 76 countries where homosexuality is illegal) when it was featured as part of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. She later said, "For a very long time I was defined by that kiss. And I didn't want to be. I spent years turning down other lesbian roles because it felt like going back to Beth. ut itdid also make me want to take on parts that showed extreme sides of women". In 1995, Friel won a National Television Award in the category of Most Popular Actress for her work on ''Brookside''.

Upon leaving the show, Friel was cast in an episode of ''Tales from the Crypt'' alongside Imelda Staunton, and appeared in Stephen Poliakoff's television film '' The Tribe'' (1998), which drew controversy for its inclusion of a ''ménage à trois'' sex scene. She then played leading roles in small-screen adaptations of Charles Dickens' ''Our Mutual Friend'' and Robert Louis Stevenson's '' St. Ives'' (both 1998), and co-starred in several British films, such as ''The Land Girls'' (1998), with Rachel Weisz; ''Rogue Trader'' (1999), with Ewan McGregor; and ''Mad Cows'' (1999), with Joanna Lumley. Next, she appeared as Hermia in the 1999 film version of Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''.

During this period, Friel made her Broadway debut in a production of Patrick Marber's '' Closer'', which ran for 172 performances at the Music Box Theatre in New York. The show was applauded by critics, many of whom mentioned Friel as a highlight. Charles Isherwood of ''Variety'' wrote, "... it's the exquisitely lovely Friel who is the discovery here. Her Alice is both the nihilistic core of the play and its tender center, and the paradoxical mixture of toughness and fragility hebrings to it are essential to the play's deepest truths. It'a a star-making performance". Later that year, Friel won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.

2000s

In 2001, Friel made her West End stage debut in an adaptation of Frank Wedekind's ''Lulu''. Her film appearances during this time included lead roles in ''An Everlasting Piece'' (2000), directed by Barry Levinson and co-starring Billy Connolly; ''Sunset Strip'' (2000), opposite Jared Leto; '' Me Without You'' (2001), opposite Michelle Williams; and Richard Donner's big-budget fantasy-adventure film ''Timeline'' (2003), in which she played Gerard Butler's love interest. She also starred in the Canadian film '' The War Bride'' (2001), for which she received a
Genie Award nomination for Best Actress.

Friel's next starring role was in the television film ''Watermelon'' (2003). She was then cast as Attorney Megan Delaney in '' The Jury'', an American legal drama series that ran on Fox for a single season in 2004. Speaking about the experience, which was her first role on American television, she later reflected, "Everyone was saying, 'you will never believe how much hard work it is', and I was telling them not to worry because I'm used to it ... but my God were they right ... You run off the set from one scene and get changed and run back on. It is so fast and so very well organised but it is hard, hard bloody work".

In 2005, Friel played a Geordie nurse in the sports drama '' Goal!''. The following year, she starred in the Canadian film ''Niagara Motel'', and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Bolton for contributions to the performing arts.

In 2007, Friel was cast as lead character Charlotte "Chuck" Charles in ''Pushing Daisies'', an American comedy-drama television series created by Bryan Fuller, which aired on ABC from 2007 to 2009. The show received favourable reviews during its two-season run, and Friel's performance won her a Golden Globe nomination. However, it was revealed in November 2008 that ''Pushing Daisies'' had been cancelled due to declining ratings. Subsequently, Friel was offered six television roles during the following year's pilot season, but declined all of them in favour of focusing on her film career. Next, she starred as the title character in '' Bathory'' (2008), an historical drama directed by Juraj Jakubisko. Friel was nominated for a Czech Lion Award for her performance.

The following year, Friel co-starred with Will Ferrell in ''Land of the Lost'', a big-budget adventure film based on the television series of the same name. Also that year, she returned to the West End as Holly Golightly in an adaptation of Truman Capote's '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'', which played at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and gained attention for its addition of nudity. The production received mixed reviews, but Friel's portrayal of Holly Golightly (one of her "all time favourite heroines") was praised; Alice Jones of ''The Independent'' described her as "infectious", adding, "Gorgeously gamine and wrapped, like a treat from Tiffany's, in an array of ever more extravagantly bowed cocktail dresses, she's a bewitching stage presence, at once perilously provocative and child-like". Friel appeared nude in the production; an image of her nude scene, taken during a preview performance, ended up on the Internet, which prompted increased security at performances.

In November 2009, Friel received an RTS Award for her portrayal of a struggling single mother in the British drama series ''The Street''.

2010s

In 2010, Friel appeared with Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts in the Woody Allen-directed comedy ''You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger''. That same year, she starred opposite Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley in the crime drama ''London Boulevard'', and co-starred with Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro in the sci-fi thriller '' Limitless''.

In 2011, Friel appeared as a fictionalised version of herself in an episode of the mockumentary series '' Come Fly with Me''. That same year, she starred in ''Neverland'' on the SyFy channel (a prequel to J.M. Barrie's ''Peter Pan''), and earned critical acclaim with her performance in the ITV drama ''Without You''. Friel then returned to the West End to play the role of Yelena in an adaptation of Chekhov's ''Uncle Vanya'', for which she received strong reviews. Next, she starred in the BBC
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