Anna Friel

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.[9] This led to appearances on the soap operas Coronation Street and Emmerdale in 1991 and 1992, respectively. She was cast the following year as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap Brookside, a role she played for two years. The character was involved in some of the series' most famous plots, including the death of her on-screen father[10] and a storyline featuring the first ever pre-watershed lesbian kiss in British television history.[7] The latter moment 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.[11] 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. [But it] did also make me want to take on parts that showed extreme sides of women".[12] In 1995, Friel won a National Television Award in the category of Most Popular Actress for her work on Brookside.[13]

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.[15] 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) opposite Rachel Weisz, Rogue Trader (1999) alongside Ewan McGregor, and Mad Cows (1999)[16] 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 [she] brings to it are essential to the play's deepest truths. It's a star-making performance.[18]

Later that year, Friel won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.[19]

In 2001, Friel made her West End stage debut in an adaptation of Frank Wedekind's Lulu.[20] 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) alongside 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.[21]

Friel's next starring role was in the Irish television film Watermelon (2003), where she co-starred with Brenda Fricker. 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. In her review of the show for The New York Times, Alessandra Stanley called it "clever, innovative" and said of Friel, "hers is the most textured and persuasive character".[22]

In 2005, Friel played a Geordie nurse in the British-American 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.[1]

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,[23] and Friel's performance won her a Golden Globe nomination.[24] However, it was revealed in November 2008 that Pushing Daisies had been cancelled due to declining ratings.[25] Subsequently, Friel was offered a number of television roles during the following year's pilot season, but declined all of them in favour of focusing on her film career.[26] Next, she received a nomination for the 2009 Czech Lion Award for Best Actress[21] for her portrayal of the title character in Bathory (2008), a historical drama directed by Juraj Jakubisko. With a budget of UK£9.5 million, the film was the most expensive ever made (to that date) in central Europe and broke box-office records in Slovakia.[27] In a mixed review for The Guardian, Gwladys Fouché wrote: "Friel spends two-and-half hours wielding swords, torturing peasants, surviving poison plots and making love to Caravaggio (yes, the Italian painter) to protect her land … Scenes are bathed in a gothic atmosphere that tops every Dracula movie you've seen … The pan-European cast … ham it up with glee, while Friel rolls her r's in an interesting attempt at a local accent".[27]

Friel co-starred with Will Ferrell in 2009's Land of the Lost, a big-budget adventure film based on the television series of the same name. She also returned to the West End that year 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.[28] The production received mixed reviews, but Friel's portrayal of Holly Golightly (one of her "all time favourite heroines")[29] 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".[30] 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.[31][32]

In November 2009, Friel received an RTS Award for her portrayal of a struggling single mother in the British drama series The Street.[33]

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.[34] Also that 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.[35][36] Friel then returned once more to the West End in an adaptation of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, earning strong reviews for her portrayal of Yelena.[37][38] Next, she starred in the BBC series Public Enemies (2012), played Steve Coogan's wife in The Look of Love (2013)—a biopic based on the life of Paul Raymond—and starred in the British film Having You (2013), opposite Andrew Buchan.

In September 2013, Friel was cast alongside Kyle Chandler in the Showtime pilot The Vatican, directed by Ridley Scott.[39] It was announced later in the year that the network had decided not to proceed with a full series, as previously planned.[40]

In 2015, Friel was cast in the lead role of Sergeant Odelle Ballard in American Odyssey, which ran for a single season on NBC. She also starred in the acclaimed Norwegian miniseries The Heavy Water War (UK title: The Saboteurs),[41] a drama set during World War II. Next, she had leading roles in four films: Urban and the Shed Crew (2015), based on the non-fiction book of the same name; dark comedy The Cleanse (2016), in which she co-starred with Anjelica Huston; revenge thriller I.T. (2016), directed by John Moore and co-starring Pierce Brosnan; and the Irish-Canadian crime drama Tomato Red (2017).

Since 2016, Friel has played the title role in the British "Nordic noir" detective series Marcella. She collected the International Emmy Award for Best Actress (2017) for her performance,[42] which Decider felt was "extraordinary":

Friel is a master of expressions. From scene to scene the actress' face can shift from chilling hard stares to wide-eyed looks of terror. It's never completely clear what Marcella is thinking or what she's going to do next. Not only does this allow Friel to explore her wide range, but it adds to the unsettling tone of this show".[43]

It was announced in 2018 that the series would return for a third season,[45] which premiered in 2021.[46]

In 2017, Friel starred on the second season of The Girlfriend Experience, a drama series produced by Steven Soderbergh for the Starz network. Friel's portrayal of Erica Myles, a Republican engaged in relationships with two women, was described as "fantastic"[47] and "outstanding".[48] Referring to the series' intense work schedule and the explicit nature of its sex scenes, Friel said that the role was her "most challenging job to date".[49] That same year, she was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for her work in the six-part BBC drama Broken.[50] Speaking of Friel's "scene-stealing" portrayal of "destitute mother Christina Fitzsimmons", Sarah Deen of Metro said, "Friel excellently [plays] Christina's frantic desperation … all wild eyes, flapping shoes and dry humour ('I went to Mass and I got the sack. What am I gonna get tomorrow? Cystitis?'). You couldn't tell if her wit was genuine or hastily developed as a defence mechanism to stop her from bursting into tears".[51]

In October 2018, Friel starred as the parent of a transgender child in Butterfly. Lucy Mangan of The Guardian described the miniseries as "important, truthful ... a wonderfully delicate drama that covers new ground carefully and features fully realised characters",[52] while the New Statesman felt that Friel's portrayal of a mother "racked by guilt" was "sterling".[53] Friel said she and the show's creators felt a great responsibility to make it as realistic as possible: "We met all these wonderful families, who were saying, 'please tell our story and tell it properly'. I said, 'do you not feel represented?' And they said 'no'. People have so many comments and opinions, but they actually can be somewhat ill-informed".[54]

In 2019, Friel starred in the ITV miniseries Deep Water, which Metro described as a "dark soap opera", adding: "the performances, with a very human and relatable nasty streak running through each one, [elevate it] to a must-binge drama … Friel excels when it comes to playing harassed women, usually ones with a secret to keep, and the actress completely [disappears] into [her character's] big jumpers as she [fights] to get her marriage back".[55]

Friel starred as Sharon Pici, a Kansas City detective, in the seven-part psychological thriller series The Box,[56] which premiered on Viaplay in November 2021.[57] Next, she appeared opposite Susan Sarandon in Monarch, a Fox drama series about the country music world. Friel played Nicky Roman, a singer-songwriter trying to carry on her family's legacy while forging her own path in the industry. In his review for The A.V. Club, Max Gao said:

Friel, not Sarandon, is the show's real leading lady—and a pretty great one at that … She belts out song after song, delivers memorable, fast-paced one-liners in a Texas accent ("I was going to say be careful about the rats, but there's no need because… you're going to fit right in"), and plays Nicky with such steadfast conviction that it's easy to wonder why she hasn't been more successful on this side of the pond since starring in ABC's Pushing Daisies … thankfully [this is] a role that is worthy of her talents.[58]

Friel performed all of the songs her character sings—a mixture of covers and originals—herself.[59] It was announced in December 2022 that the series had been cancelled after one season.[60]