Anna Friel Biography
Summary
"Anna Louise Friel" (born 12 July, 1976) is an English actress from in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. She currently stars as lonely tourist Charlotte 'Chuck' Charles on the ABC series "Pushing Daisies".
Acting career
Friel's acting career began with minor roles in Alan Bleasdale's gritty drama "GBH" (1991) and a brief spell in ITV soap opera "Emmerdale".
She gained greater exposure in the role of Beth Jordache on the British Channel 4 soap opera, "Brookside" from 1993-1995; her character was part of British TV's first pre-watershed lesbian kiss. 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 "menage-a-trois" sex scene between characters played by Friel, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Jeremy Northam.
In 1998, Friel appeared in the original broadway run of Closer by Patrick Marber at the Music Box Theatre, winning Drama Desk and "Theatre World" awards for her performance as "Alice" and in 2001, Friel made her West End stage debut in a fringe production of "Lulu".
Her film credits include "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" with Michelle Pfeiffer and Christian Bale, "Timeline", "Me Without You" opposite Michelle Williams, and "Goal!" and "Goal! 2". Currently she is filming the follow-up and final installment of the Goal series with "Goal! 3".
Friel's television work includes the short lived "The Jury" for the Fox Network and ITV1's "Watermelon" which was based on the novel by Marian Keyes. She currently plays 'Chuck' in "Pushing Daisies", a new TV series from the creator of "Dead Like Me" and "Wonderfalls", for the 2007 season on the American network ABC.
In November 2006 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Bolton for contributions to the performing arts.
She has recently been seen as the face of Pantene "Pro-V Ice shine" in the UK, appearing in both television commercials and print advertising. Friel has also previously appeared in commercials for 3 Mobile and Virgin Atlantic.
According to press reports, she narrowly missed out on the role of Jenny Everdeane in "Gangs Of New York" to Cameron Diaz. Upcoming roles include Elizabeth Bathory in "Bathory" and in "Angel Makers" opposite Helen Mirren.
Personal life
In 2001 she began a relationship with actor David Thewlis, whom she met on a flight to Cannes. Their daughter, Gracie Ellen Mary 'Gracie' was born on July 9, 2005 at London's Portland Hospital and weighed 7lb 4oz.
External links
(The Anna Friel Official Site)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Anna Friel.
