Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge (born 14 July 1985) is an English actress and screenwriter. She is best known as the creator, head writer, and star of the BBC sitcom Fleabag (2016–2019), which was based on her one-woman show of the same name. She was also showrunner, head writer, and executive producer of the first series of Killing Eve (2018–2022), which she adapted for television.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Waller-Bridge in May 2018
Born
Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge

(1985-07-14) 14 July 1985
London, England
EducationSt Augustine's Priory
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation
  • Actress
  • screenwriter
Years active2007–present
Spouse
Conor Woodman
​
​
(m. 2014; sep. 2017)​
PartnerMartin McDonagh (2018–present)
RelativesIsobel Waller-Bridge (sister)

For Fleabag, Waller-Bridge received the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance, three Emmy Awards (Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Comedy Series),[1] and two Golden Globe Awards (Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy).[2]

Waller-Bridge also created, wrote, and starred in the Channel 4 comedy series Crashing (2016). She appeared in the comedy series The Café (2011–2013) and the second series of crime drama series Broadchurch (2015). She has appeared in films such as Albert Nobbs (2011), The Iron Lady (2011), Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017), and as the droid L3-37 in the Star Wars film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). She also contributed to the screenplay of the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021).[3]

Early life

Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge was born in Hammersmith, London, on 14 July 1985,[4][5] the daughter of Michael Cyprian Waller-Bridge, founder of the electronic trading platform Tradepoint,[6] and Theresa Mary, daughter of Sir John Edward Longueville Clerke, 12th Baronet, employed by the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers.[7][8][9] The Bridge, later Waller-Bridge, family were soldiers and clergymen, who came to rank among the landed gentry of Cuckfield in Sussex.[10][11] Her grandfather, Cyprian Waller-Bridge (1918-1960), "a Wodehousian sort of character... 'the eccentric son of an eccentric vicar'",[12] was an actor and BBC announcer.[13][14][15] On her father's side, she is a descendant of the Revd Sir Egerton Leigh, 2nd Baronet, and a distant relative of politician and author Egerton Leigh, Conservative MP for Mid Cheshire from 1873 to his death in 1876.[16][17]

Waller-Bridge grew up in London's Ealing district,[18][19] and has two siblings: an older sister named Isobel Waller-Bridge, a composer with whom she has collaborated, and a younger brother named Jasper Waller-Bridge.[20] Her parents are divorced.[21] She was educated at St Augustine's Priory, a Catholic independent school for girls,[22] followed by the independent sixth form college DLD College London in the Marylebone area of London.[23] She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.[24]

Career

Early work and breakthrough (2007–2015)
Waller-Bridge (centre) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013

Waller-Bridge's performing credits begin in theatre in 2007. At that time, she co-founded the DryWrite Theatre Company with Vicky Jones.[8] They are co-artistic directors of the company.[25][26] The two women met and became friends while working on theatre productions.[27] Among her acting theatre credits are the 2009 productions Roaring Trade at Soho Theatre[28] and Rope at the Almeida Theatre. She performed in a production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever in 2011 and Mydidae in 2012. Waller-Bridge then wrote and starred in Fleabag, which she first performed as part of the London Storytelling Festival on 25 November 2012. The first full version of Fleabag premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013. She later wrote the short plays production Good. Clean. Fun.[29] Waller-Bridge returned to the stage for further productions of Fleabag between 2013 and 2019.

Waller-Bridge began her screen career in 2009, playing roles in short films and in individual episodes of television sitcoms and dramas. Her early television appearances include the 2011 film The Night Watch, as well as Bad Education and Coming Up in 2013 and Blandings in 2014. She had recurring supporting roles in The Café from 2011 to 2013 and in the second series of Broadchurch in 2015. Her first feature length theatrical film roles were in 2011 for Albert Nobbs and The Iron Lady (film). Her role in Albert Nobbs had her cast alongside Emerald Fennell, to whom she would later hand off showrunner duties for Killing Eve.

Waller-Bridge has voice acted for several BBC Radio plays, such as 2013's Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast, in which she played actress Hillary Dwyer, and a 2014 adaptation of an Agatha Christie story. She has provided narration in short films, including a 2015 television documentary on dating apps and a 2016 Christmas themed animated short film. She has also voiced ads for companies such as The Cotswold Company, Warburtons, Gordon's Gin, Trainline, Travel Republic, Kuoni Travel, and Tropicana.

Critical acclaim and wider recognition (2016–present)

In 2016, she wrote and starred in her first television project, the Channel 4 comedy Crashing about a group of twenty-somethings living in an abandoned hospital under the property guardianship scheme.[30] It began streaming on Netflix after airing in the UK, with W Magazine calling it Waller-Bridge's "twisted take on Friends."[31] GQ Magazine described the show's six episodes as: "perfect little whirlwinds of comedy building to one big maelstrom where everyone falls to pieces—some are better off for it, and some are not. No matter where the chips fall, you'll have a good time."[32]

Waller-Bridge at a performance of her one-woman show at the Wyndham's Theatre in 2019

After an initial release on BBC Three, Fleabag was broadcast on BBC Two from August 2016. It was picked up by the on-demand Amazon Video service and premiered in the United States in September 2016.[33][34][35] For her performance in the series she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance and was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. Fleabag's second and final series aired in 2019. For the second series, Waller-Bridge received Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Comedy Series.[36][37]

She voiced and performed droid L3-37 in the Star Wars film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).[38][39]

Waller-Bridge wrote and produced the thriller television series Killing Eve, based on novels by Luke Jennings.[40] She was also the showrunner for season 1.[41] The BBC America series stars Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer and premiered in April 2018 to critical acclaim.[42] For her work on the series, she received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series, the latter as a producer.

In March 2019, HBO ordered the series Run, which was executive-produced by Waller-Bridge and starred Domhnall Gleeson and Merritt Wever in lead roles.[43] Waller-Bridge also featured in the series with a recurring role as the character Laurel.[44] It was cancelled after one season.[45]

In 2019, Waller-Bridge co-wrote the screenplay for No Time to Die (2021), the 25th James Bond film, along with Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Cary Joji Fukunaga. It was stated she was brought on to introduce "more humour and the offbeat style of writing she is best known for."[46][47]

In 2020, Waller-Bridge recurred in season 2 of the television show His Dark Materials where she voiced Sayan Kötör. She also directed the music video for "Savior Complex" by Phoebe Bridgers. Waller-Bridge then appeared in the music video for "Treat People with Kindness" by Harry Styles, which premiered on 1 January 2021.

She was set to co-star with Donald Glover in a television adaptation of the 2005 film Mr. and Mrs. Smith and is a part of an untitled Indiana Jones film, which is to be released in 2023.[48] In September 2021, it was revealed that Waller-Bridge has exited Amazon's Mr. and Mrs. Smith reboot series over creative differences.[49]

Personal life

Waller-Bridge lives in the Shoreditch area of London. She married Irish presenter and documentary filmmaker Conor Woodman in 2014.[19] By 2017, they had separated and filed for divorce.[50] Since early 2018, she has been in a relationship with playwright Martin McDonagh.[8]

Waller-Bridge describes herself as an atheist, although she says she "hopped around a bit from religion to religion" while growing up.[51] She avoids social media, stating in a 2019 interview that she "would feel pressure to be funny the whole time" and that she did not feel confident enough to deal with the negative comments that come with social media use.[52]

Waller-Bridge has two siblings: Jasper Waller-Bridge and composer/musician Isobel Waller-Bridge.

Filmography

Film
Key
Denotes works that have not yet been released
Year Title Role Notes
2008 Intangible Anna Short film
2009 The Reward Charlotte
2011 Beautiful Enough Composer (voice)
Meconium Lorna
Albert Nobbs Viscountess Yarrell
The Iron Lady Susie
2015 Man Up Katie
Incident on the Northern Line Unnamed character Short film
2016 The 12 Days of Christmas: A Tale of Avian Misery Narrator Animated short film
2017 Goodbye Christopher Robin Mary Brown
2018 Careful How You Go Unnamed character Short film
Solo: A Star Wars Story L3-37 (voice)
2021 No Time to Die None Co-screenwriter
2023 Untitled fifth Indiana Jones film Helena Post-production
2024 If TBA Filming

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2009DoctorsKatie BurbridgeEpisode: "Chef's Secret"
2010How Not to Live Your LifeFelicityEpisode: "Don's Posh Weekend"
2011The Night WatchLaurenTelevision film
2011–2013The CaféChloe Astill13 episodes
2013Coming UpKarenEpisode: "Henry"
London IrishStephEpisode: "#1.2"
Bad EducationIndiaEpisode: "Drugs"
2014BlandingsFelicityEpisode: "Custody of the Pumpkin"
GlueBee Warwick2 episodes
DriftersNoneWriter in 3 episodes
2015BroadchurchAbby Thompson8 episodes
Love at First SwipeNarratorDocumentary; also called "The Secret World of Tinder"
2016CrashingLulu6 episodes; also creator, writer and executive producer
2016–2019FleabagFleabag12 episodes; also creator, writer and executive producer
2018–2022Killing EveNoneWriter in 4 episodes, executive producer in 24 episodes
2019Saturday Night LiveHerself (host)Episode: "Phoebe Waller-Bridge/Taylor Swift"
2020RunLaurel HallidayActress in 3 episodes; executive producer in 7 episodes
His Dark MaterialsSayan Kötör (voice)2 episodes
2021StagedHerselfEpisode: "The Loo Recluse"
Great British TheatreFleabagEpisode: "Fleabag"

Theatre
Year Title Role Venue Ref.
2007 Is Everyone OK? Performer Latitude Festival, Suffolk [53][54]
Crazy Love Billie Paines Plough [55]
2008 Twelfth Night Viola Sprite Productions [56]
2009 Roaring Trade Jess Soho Theatre, London [57]
2 May 1997 Sarah The Bush Theatre, London [57]
Rope Leila Arden Almeida Theatre, London [57]
2010 Like a Fishbone Intern The Bush Theatre, London [57]
Tribes Ruth Royal Court Theatre, London [57]
2011 Hay Fever Sorel Bliss Noël Coward Theatre, London [57][58]
2012 Mydidae Marian Soho Theatre, London [59]
Trafalgar Studios, West End
2013 Fleabag Fleabag Underbelly, Cowgate
Soho Theatre Studio, London		 [60]
2014 The One Jo Soho Theatre, London [61]
Fleabag Fleabag Soho Theatre Main House
Daehangno Small Theatre Festival, Seoul		 [62]
2016 Soho Theatre Main House
2019 SoHo Playhouse [63]
Wyndham's Theatre [64]

Music videos
Year Title Artist Notes
2020 "Savior Complex" Phoebe Bridgers Director only
2021 "Treat People With Kindness" Harry Styles Performer only

Radio
Year Title Role Production Notes Ref.
2010 Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast Hillary Dwyer BBC Radio 4 [65]
2011MoneyGeorgina Vesey BBC Radio 3 [66]
2012Burns and the BankersGemma Goodman BBC Radio 4 [67]
Gulliver's Travels Lady Munodi Episode: "The Voyage to Laputa" [68]
2013ElvenQuestNigressaEpisode: "The Fat Hog" [69]
2014Ordeal by InnocenceHester 3 episodes [70]

Publications
  • Waller-Bridge, Phoebe (1 January 2013). Fleabag. London: Nick Hern Books. OCLC 894546593.
  • Waller-Bridge, Phoebe (6 October 2016). Fleabag, 2nd Edition. London: Nick Hern Books.
  • Waller-Bridge, Phoebe (29 August 2019). Fleabag: The Special Edition (NHB Modern Plays). London: Nick Hern Books.
  • Waller-Bridge, Phoebe (12 November 2019). Fleabag: The Scriptures (Hardcover & Paperback). Sceptre.
  • Waller-Bridge, Phoebe (26 November 2019). Fleabag: The Scriptures (Hardcover & Kindle). Ballantine Books.
  • Waller-Bridge, Phoebe (26 November 2019). Fleabag: The Special Edition (TCG). Theatre Communications Group.

See also
  • List of British actors

References
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