Donna Edwards (actress)

Donna Edwards (born 1963)[1] is a Welsh actress. Edwards is a Bafta Cymru award-winning for Best Actress.[2]

Donna Edwards
Born
Donna Edwards

1963 (age 5960)
OccupationActress
Years active1978–present
Notable workDinas
Belonging
Pobol y Cwm Stella
SpouseRay Borja
Children2

Early life and education

She was born in Merthyr Tydfil and raised in the village of Trefechan.[3] She was a pupil at Vaynor and Penderyn High School where she took an early interest in drama. At 14 she was chosen as the lead role of Myfanwy Llewellyn in Off to Philadelphia in the Morning, a 1978 BBC drama series about the composer Joseph Parry. She studied Welsh and Drama at Aberystwyth University and graduated in 1984.[4]

Career

In 1985 she was given the role of Miriam Ambrose in the Welsh-language TV drama Dinas. She has appeared in other Welsh-language productions such as Tair Chwaer and Yr Aduniad, although she may be most famous for playing Britt Monk in Pobol y Cwm.[5]

She has also starred in a number of Welsh-based TV dramas in English such as Nuts and Bolts on ITV Wales and Belonging on BBC Wales. She has also appeared in the BBC comedy Gavin & Stacey. She has appeared in plays at the Royal Court, Clwyd Theatr Cymru and the Sherman in Cardiff.[5]

In 2012 she played 'Mo the Bap' in the Sky1 TV comedy drama series Stella. She reprised this role for the second series. Two of her daughters have also acted, Lucy Borja who played Chloe Branagh in the first two series of Young Dracula and Sophie Borja who appeared in series four and five of The Story of Tracy Beaker as Roxy Wellard.

In 2015 she played Yvette in the National Theatre Wales production of Mother Courage at Merthyr Tydfil Labour Club.

Awards

She has won the BAFTA Cymru Best Actress Award twice – for her roles in Tair Chwaer and Belonging.[6]

Personal life

She lives in Dinas Powys, Cardiff with her husband Ray Borja, a photographer, and two children. She has two brothers twenty years her senior; John, a policeman and Ken. She is an ambassador for the learning disability charity Mencap Cymru.[1]

Filmography

TV

Year Title Character Production Notes
1978Off to Philadelphia in the MorningMyfanwy LlewellynBBC Wales
1985–1991DinasMiriam AmbroseHTV Wales for S4C
1987Heaven on EarthSophie PayneBBC/CBC Television
1997–1999Tair ChwaerSharonFfilmiau Gaucho for S4C3 series
2000Nuts and BoltsAndrea GriffithsITV Wales
2002–Pobol y CwmBritt MonkBBC Wales for S4C
2003–2009BelongingRuthBBC Wales7 series
2008Gavin & StaceySian (midwife)BBC ThreeEpisodes 2.3 and 2.7
2012–2013StellaMo the BapSky 1Series 1 and 2

Film

Year Title Character Production Notes
1992Rebecca's DaughtersBessy
1997House of AmericaReceptionist
1998Yr Aduniad (The Reunion)TV film for S4C
1999Cymer dy SiârSharonTV film for S4CFilm concluding the TV series Tair Chwaer
2000Very Annie MaryMrs. Bevan

References

  1. "For the love of Ken". WalesOnline. 23 September 2006. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  2. Lucy, Sophie. "Donna Edwards, actress with a connection to Wales (Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff)". The Original Welsh Famous Website. Retrieved 27 February 2021. Donna represents the very best of modern Welsh acting talent
  3. "3 Lle: Tri hoff le Donna Edwards". Daily Post (in Welsh). 23 October 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  4. "South East Wales Unitarian News Informal interviews with local Unitarians" (PDF). unitarian.org.uk. November 2010. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  5. Price, Karen (17 August 2007). "The good, the bad and the ugly opinions". What's On. WalesOnline. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
  6. "Emptage Hallett -Donna Edwards". Retrieved 18 March 2016.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.