Biography
Anna Louise Friel was born on 12 July 1976 in Rochdale,
Lancashire.
While at school she envisaged a career as a barrister and, after passing 9
GCSEs, went on to study for her 'A' levels at a local college. In the
event they were never taken. Anna got involved with the
Oldham Theatre Workshop and was bitten by the acting bug, landing several minor TV
appearances in soaps (Emmerdale and Coronation Street) and a
small part
as one of Michael Palin's daughters in the acclaimed Alan Bleasdale serial
GBH on
Channel 4.
By the time Anna followed this with the rôle of Beth Jordache in
the channel's soap Brookside, any thoughts of the Bar
had been put to one side. She became hugely
popular. Beth's strength of character was admired by mums and their teenage daughters, and Anna's fresh beauty
stirred lustful letchings in dads and their sons. Ratings grew steadily as
the storyline developed to reveal that Beth and her sister had been sexually
abused by their father, who got his comeuppance when Beth and
her mother killed him and buried the
body under the patio.
All good soap opera stuff, if that's what blows your frock up.
True notoriety came however when it was revealed that Beth was gay. The
impact was quite amazing, partly because she looked
about as far as you can get from the
stereotypical lesbian image of the time of crew cut,
dungarees and Doc Martens. The gay community lapped it up(!), and
by the time the ground-breaking first prime-time
lesbian TV kiss was aired Beth Jordache had become a national lesbian icon.
Although it was Anna's decision to leave the show at the height of her character's
popularity, the haste of her departure and the way that she was written out
(a previously undiagnosed heart condition striking her down
while on remand for her father's killing) left something of a sour taste
in the mouth. The soap's ratings have never before or since risen to the
level that they achieved during Anna's stint as Beth, and
the soap was ultimately axed by Channel 4 in 2003.
Frankly, since leaving the show most of her work has been in relatively
low-budget movies that have achieved little critical or commercial success, in stark contrast to the universal acclaim she received on her
Broadway début. She has however
been working
non-stop,
starring alongside an impressive list of contemporary acting
talent, and she is
always inundated with theatre,
film and TV offers.
Anna lived in
London until recently, though work commitments meant that she was rarely home.
She bought a place in Windsor in summer 2000, where she now lives with her partner,
actor David
Thewlis. The couple's first child, Gracie Ellen
Mary Friel, was born at Great Portland Street
Hospital London on 9th July 2005, a few days before Anna's 29th birthday.
She is currently enjoying a rare
commercial hit as the lead female character Chuck in the TV series
Pushing Daisies, already aired in the US and scheduled for the UK
in March 2008.
Television
I can't guarantee that this list is comprehensive, and
any corrections or additions are welcome, but I think it covers most of Anna's
notable television roles so far, along with their first UK TV
air dates:—
- In Their Shoes (BBC 1990)
- 8:15 from Manchester (ITV 1990)
- In Suspicious Circumstances (ITV 1991)
- Coronation Street (ITV 1991)
- Emmerdale Farm (ITV 1991, as character Poppy Bruce)
- GBH (Channel 4 1991, as one of Michael
Palin's daughters)
- Medics (ITV 1993, played Holly Jarrett in
episode 3 of series 2)
- Brookside (Channel 4, 1993 to 1995, as Beth
Jordache)
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (ITV
'Shakespeare Shorts' series, 1995)
- Cadfael (ITV 1996, the episode "A
Morbid Taste of Bones")
- You Drive Me (BBC2 1996, a 10-minute
'short')
- Tales from the Crypt (SKY 2 1997, the
episode "About Face")
- Our Mutual Friend (BBC 1998)
- The Tribe (BBC 1998)
- All For Love [aka St. Ives] (BBC 1999)
- The Fear (BBC 2001)
- The Stringer (BBC Knowledge 2001)
- Fields Of Gold (BBC 2002)
- Watermelon (ITV1 2003)
Both The Tribe and The Stringer appear under TV rather than
movie credits, as neither managed to find a cinema distribution deal.
Stage
An award-winning appearance in a hugely successful Broadway play is
something that most actresses would kill to have nestling on their CVs. From March to
September 1999, that's exactly what Anna achieved. Follow
this
link for more.
Spring 2001 saw Anna take the lead in Lulu at the
Almeida
Theatre
in London, taking the play across the pond to Washington during the summer. Here are some links to critics' reviews
of the London production which may still be available at the time you're reading
this:—
Perfect
'Lulu' for Our Time -- The Financial Times
Playing
for Laughs Amid the Sex, Death and Degradation -- Independent
Sultry
Revival is a Real Lulu -- The Times
Friel
Thrills with Femme Fatale -- Evening Standard
Screen
News on all working projects — TV, stage or screen
— appears on
the Anna News pages.
For current and previous
movie releases there's little point in me duplicating the already
excellent efforts of existing
online resources. For a start, check out the
Internet
Movie Database entry for Anna by clicking
here.
