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Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July
1976) is an English actress. She rose to fame in the UK on Channel 4 soap
Brookside, and has had a successful career since in UK and US TV and
cinema.
Friel was born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, the daughter of Julie, a
special needs teacher, and Des Friel, a former teacher of French and owner
of a Web Design Company. Friel's Irish Catholic father, a former folk
guitarist, was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Donegal,
Ireland. Her brother Michael starred in the Hovis television adverts. She
attended Crompton House Church of England High School, in High Crompton,
Shaw and Crompton. She then attended Holy Cross College in Bury. Friel
became interested in acting at an early age and received frequent praise
for her work at local talent shows.[
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 opera Brookside, where she gained greater
exposure in the role of Beth Jordache. Though she only stayed on the
programme for two years, Friel's lesbian kiss remains one of the most
talked-about moments in British soap history. In 1995, Friel won the
National Television Award for Most Popular Actress for her work on
Brookside.
In 1996, Friel courted further controversy when she appeared in the
television film The Tribe by Stephen Poliakoff, which included nudity and
a much discussed ménage ŕ trois sex scene between characters played by
Friel, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Jeremy Northam.
In 1998 she appeared in the original Broadway run of Closer by Patrick
Marber at the Music Box Theatre in Manhattan, United States winning a
Drama Desk Award and a Theatre World award for her performance as Alice.
In 2001, she made her West End stage debut in London in a fringe
production of Lulu which also transferred to Broadway.
Friel'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; 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!
2: 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, Spoon and Wonderfalls,
on the American network ABC. Although popular with critics, in November
2008, creator Bryan Fuller stated that it had been cancelled due to poor
ratings. The show ran for two seasons.
In the pilot season following the cancellation of Pushing Daisies, Friel
was offered six pilots but declined all six roles in favour of focusing on
her movie career.
In November 2006, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University
of Bolton for contributions to the performing arts.
She has also been seen as the face of Pantene Pro-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 May 2009, Friel confirmed that she will star in a West End adaptation
of the novel Breakfast at Tiffany's. The show started in September 2009 at
the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
Friel is due to star in a film London Boulevard alongside Ray Winstone,
Colin Farrell, and Keira Knightley which is expected to be released in
2010. It also stars her real life partner David Thewlis.
In 2001, Friel began a relationship with actor David Thewlis, whom she met
on a flight to Cannes. Their daughter, Gracie Ellen Mary Friel, was born
on 9 July 2005, at Portland Hospital in London.
In 2008 Friel began supporting the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign
in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, alongside fellow celebrities,
Alan Carr, Angela Griffin, Natalie Imbruglia, Edith Bowman and Twiggy.
Friel advocates the work of the Burma Campaign UK, an NGO committed to
bringing about change in the deeply troubled nation. |
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Angel Makers (2010) ....
Lizzie
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
London Boulevard (2010) .... Briony
"The Street" .... Dee (2 episodes, 2009)
- Episode #3.3 (2009) TV episode .... Dee
- Episode #3.2 (2009) TV episode .... Dee
Land of the Lost (2009) .... Holly Cantrell
"Pushing Daisies" .... Charlotte 'Chuck' Charles (22 episodes,
2007-2009)
- Kerplunk (2009) TV episode .... Charlotte 'Chuck' Charles
- Water & Power (2009) TV episode .... Charlotte 'Chuck' Charles
- Window Dressed to Kill (2009) TV episode .... Charlotte 'Chuck'
Charles
- The Norwegians (2008) TV episode .... Charlotte 'Chuck' Charles
- The Legend of Merle McQuoddy (2008) TV episode .... Charlotte
'Chuck' Charles
(17 more)
Bathory (2008) .... Erzsébet Báthory
Rubbish (2007) .... Isobel
Goal II: Living the Dream (2007) .... Roz Harmison
Niagara Motel (2006) .... Denise
Irish Jam (2006) .... Maureen Duffy
Goal! (2005) .... Roz Harmison
... aka Goal! The Dream Begins (USA)
... aka Goal!: The Impossible Dream (Europe: English title: DVD box
title)
Perfect Strangers (2004) (TV) .... Susie Wilding
"The Jury" .... Megan Delaney (2 episodes, 2004)
- The Honeymoon Suite (2004) TV episode .... Megan Delaney
- Three Boys and a Gun (2004) TV episode .... Megan Delaney
Timeline (2003) .... Lady Claire
Last Rumba in Rochdale (2003) (voice) .... Bodney
Watermelon (2003) (TV) .... Claire Ryan
Fields of Gold (2002) (TV) .... Lucia Merritt
Me Without You (2001) .... Marina
... aka Meine beste Freundin (Germany)
The War Bride (2001) .... Lily
... aka Love and War (USA: MIFED title)
... aka War Bride (USA)
"The Fear" (2001) TV series .... Storyteller
An Everlasting Piece (2000) .... Bronagh
Sunset Strip (2000) .... Tammy Franklin
Mad Cows (1999) .... Maddy
Rogue Trader (1999) .... Lisa Leeson
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) .... Hermia
... aka Sogno di una notte di mezza estate (Italy)
... aka William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (USA:
complete title)
St. Ives (1998) .... Flora Gilchrist
... aka All for Love (UK: TV title)
... aka St. Ives - Alles aus Liebe (Germany)
The Tribe (1998) .... Lizzie
The Stringer (1998) .... Helen
"Our Mutual Friend" .... Bella Wilfer / ... (4 episodes, 1998)
- Episode #1.4 (1998) TV episode .... Bella Harmon
- Episode #1.3 (1998) TV episode .... Bella Wilfer
- Episode #1.2 (1998) TV episode .... Bella Wilfer
- Episode #1.1 (1998) TV episode .... Bella Wilfer
The Land Girls (1998) .... Prue (Prudence)
... aka Trois Anglaises en campagne (France)
"Cadfael" .... Sioned (1 episode, 1996)
... aka Mystery!: Cadfael (USA)
- A Morbid Taste for Bones (1996) TV episode .... Sioned
"Tales from the Crypt" .... Angelica (1 episode, 1996)
... aka HBO's Tales from the Crypt
- About Face (1996) TV episode .... Angelica
"Brookside" .... Beth Jordache (2 episodes, 1993-1995)
- Episode #1.1514 (1995) TV episode .... Beth Jordache
- Re-think (1993) TV episode .... Beth Jordache
"The Imaginatively Titled Punt & Dennis Show" (1 episode, 1995)
... aka Punt & Dennis (UK: second season title)
- Episode #2.1 (1995) TV episode
"Medics" .... Holly Jarrett (1 episode, 1993)
- Episode #3.3 (1993) TV episode .... Holly Jarrett
"Emmerdale Farm" (1972) TV series .... Poppy Bruce (unknown
episodes, 1992)
... aka Emmerdale (UK: new title)
"Coronation Street" .... Belinda Johnson (2 episodes, 1991)
... aka Corrie (UK: informal title)
... aka The Street (UK: informal title)
- Episode #1.3269 (1991) TV episode .... Belinda Johnson
- Episode #1.3265 (1991) TV episode .... Belinda Johnson
"G.B.H." .... Susan Nelson (6 episodes, 1991)
- Over and Out (1991) TV episode .... Susan Nelson
- Message Understood (1991) TV episode .... Susan Nelson
- Message Received (1991) TV episode .... Susan Nelson
- Message Sent (1991) TV episode .... Susan Nelson
- Only Here on a Message (1991) TV episode .... Susan Nelson |
