Daniela Nardini (born 26 April 1968, Largs) is a Scottish actress who played Anna Forbes in the BBC Two television series This Life . The role earned her a BAFTA Best Actress award in 1998 and also earned her a Scottish BAFTA. She won a second Scottish BAFTA in 2009 for her role in Annie Griffin's New Town. [1]
Nardini was educated at St Mary's Primary School in Largs, a Catholic primary school; her secondary school was Largs Academy, the local mixed-religion comprehensive. She then trained as an actress at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. [2] Her parents managed Nardini's, an ice cream parlour and restaurant in Largs. This was mentioned on the BBC lexicographical programme Balderdash and Piffle . She spoke about her family in the context of the mysterious history of the 99 Flake ice cream.
When she was 16, Nardini's elder brother was killed in a car accident. [3] She was on the point of giving up acting and training to become a drama teacher when she was offered the part of Anna in This Life. [4]
She played ruthless estate agent, Meredith McIlvanney, in the Annie Griffin comedy-drama New Town, shown on BBC Four in February 2009, for which she won a Scottish BAFTA. [5] Other television appearances include Reckless (1997); Big Women (1998); Undercover Heart (1998); Love in the 21st Century (1999); Tube Tales (1999); Rough Treatment (2000); Sirens (2002); Outside the Rules (2002) and Quite Ugly One Morning (2004).[ citation needed ]
She appeared as Lady Huntly in the four-hour BBC epic Gunpowder, Treason & Plot in 2004, and played a shopaholic in Shiny, Shiny Bright New Hole in My Heart, again for the BBC, in 2006. Also in 2006, she reprised the role of Anna Forbes for the 10th anniversary reunion episode of This Life (This Life +10), which was shown on BBC Two in January 2007, and in November 2007, she read a story for Junior Jackanory on CBeebies. She appeared in an episode of the Inspector Morse spin-off series Lewis in 2008. [6]
She has appeared in several films, including Elephant Juice (1999), written by This Life creator Amy Jenkins; Cargo (2004), and Festival (2005), a film comedy about the Edinburgh Festival. Although the film was not well received by critics and performed poorly at the box office, it was nominated for six Scottish BAFTAs. She also has extensive stage experience including the lead role in David McVicar's production of Camille at the Lyric, Hammersmith in 2003; Top Girls at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow (2004) and Cue Deadly at the Riverside Studios (2004). In 2005, Nardini appeared in the title role in Etta Jenks at the Finborough Theatre, London. [7] Between July and October 2009, she appeared in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse in London. [8]
In 2007 Nardini played Servalan in B7 Productions Blake's 7 Audio adventures. [9]
In late November 2012, Nardini joined the cast of BBC One's drama Waterloo Road for the third instalment of its eighth series, filming on location in Greenock, Scotland. Her character, Esther Fairclough, is a passionate, driven but maverick science teacher who has an unconventional approach to inspiring her pupils. Nardini says: "Esther is mildly dangerous with the potential to get more so. She is passionate about her cause but unfortunately doesn't know how to encourage and promote her views without getting carried away." [10]
Nardini plays Chris Guthrie's mother in the 2015 film of Sunset Song . [11]
In an interview in June 2020, Nardini said she lives in Glasgow with her daughter. [12]
Annette Crosbie is a Scottish actress. She is best known for her role as Margaret Meldrew in the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave (1990–2000). She twice won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, for The Six Wives of Henry VIII in 1971 and in 1976 for Edward the Seventh. Also in 1976, she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the 1976 film The Slipper and the Rose and she won the award for Best Actress at the Evening Standard British Film Awards for the same role. Her other film appearances include The Pope Must Die (1991), Shooting Fish (1997), The Debt Collector (1999), Calendar Girls (2003) and Into the Woods (2014).
Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about 33 mi (53 km) from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" in Scottish Gaelic.
Anna Raymond Massey was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Best Actress Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel Hotel du Lac, a role that one of her co-stars, Julia McKenzie, has said "could have been written for her". Massey is also well-known for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972) as a barmaid who becomes involved with a suspected killer. She performed over one hundred character roles in British film and television.
Kelly Macdonald is a Scottish actress. Known for her performances on film and television, she has received various accolades including a BAFTA Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Katie Leung is a Scottish actress. She first gained fame for playing Cho Chang, the titular character's first love interest in the Harry Potter film series, and subsequently for her roles as Caitlyn Kiramman in the Netflix animated series Arcane and Ash in the Amazon Prime Video sci-fi series The Peripheral.
Veronica "Ronni" Jane Ancona is a British actress, comedian, impressionist and writer best known for The Big Impression, which she co-wrote and starred in and was, for four years, one of BBC One's top-rated comedy programmes, winning numerous awards, including a BAFTA in 2003. Ancona also starred in the first series of the BAFTA-winning ITV series The Sketch Show. Ancona has appeared in the BAFTA-winning Last Tango in Halifax since its creation in 2012. She is a co-director, alongside Sally Phillips and Nick Hamson, of the production company Captain Dolly.
Helen Victoria Baxendale is an English actress of stage and television, known for her roles as Rachel Bradley in the British comedy drama Cold Feet (1997–2003) and Emily Waltham in the American sitcom Friends (1998–1999).
William Tulloch Paterson is a Scottish actor with a career in theatre, film, television and radio. Throughout his career he has appeared regularly in radio drama and provided the narration for a large number of documentaries. He has appeared in films and TV series including Comfort and Joy (1984), Traffik (1989), Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1986), Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990), Wives and Daughters (1999), Sea of Souls (2004–2007), Amazing Grace (2006), Miss Potter (2006), Little Dorrit (2008), Doctor Who (2010), Outlander (2014), Fleabag (2016–2019), Inside No. 9 (2018), Good Omens (2019), and Brassic (2020). He is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Scottish BAFTAs.
Still Game is a Scottish sitcom, produced by The Comedy Unit with BBC Scotland. It was created by Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who played the lead characters, Jack Jarvis, Esq and Victor McDade, two Glaswegian pensioners. The characters first appeared in the pair's previous TV sketch show Chewin' the Fat, which aired in Scotland from January 1999 until December 2005.
Michelle Gomez is a Scottish actress. She gained recognition for her roles in the comedy series The Book Group (2002–2003), Green Wing (2004–2007), and Bad Education (2012–2013). She went on to appear as Missy in the long-running British science fiction series Doctor Who (2014–2018), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Shirley Henderson is a Scottish actress. Her accolades include two Scottish BAFTAs, a VFCC Award and an Olivier Award, as well as BAFTA, BIFA, London Critics' Circle, Chlotrudis, Gotham, and Canadian Screen Award nominations.
Elaine Constance Smith is a Scottish actress, comedian, and political activist. She rose to prominence from appearing in the BBC Scotland sitcoms City Lights (1984–1991) and Rab C. Nesbitt (1988–2014). Smith has played the role of Christine O'Neil in the BBC Scotland sitcom Two Doors Down (2013–present).
Ashley Jensen is a Scottish actress and narrator. She is best known for her role as Maggie Jacobs in Extras (2005–2007), in which she was nominated for an Emmy, Christina McKinney in Ugly Betty (2006–2010), Agatha Raisin in Agatha Raisin (2014–present) and DI Ruth Calder in Shetland (2023–present).
Anna Maxwell Martin, sometimes credited as Anna Maxwell-Martin, is a British actress. She won two British Academy Television Awards, for her portrayals of Esther Summerson in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House (2005) and N in the Channel 4 adaptation of Poppy Shakespeare (2008). She is also known for her roles as DCS Patricia Carmichael in BBC One crime drama Line of Duty (2019–2021) and Kelly Major in Code 404 (2020–present). Since 2016, Martin has starred in the BBC comedy Motherland, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.
Douglas “Dougie” James Henshall is a Scottish television, film and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Professor Nick Cutter in the science fiction series Primeval (2007–2011) and Detective Inspector Jimmy Pérez in the crime drama Shetland (2013–2022).
Eve Myles is a Welsh actress. She is best known for her television roles portraying Ceri Lewis in the long-running BBC Wales drama series Belonging (2000–2009), Gwen Cooper in the BBC science-fiction series Torchwood (2006–2011), and Faith Howells in the bilingually produced BBC / S4C drama series Keeping Faith / Un Bore Mercher (2017–2020). She is also an accomplished theatre actress.
Phyllis Logan is a Scottish actress, known for playing Lady Jane Felsham in Lovejoy (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for the 1983 film Another Time, Another Place. Her other film appearances include Secrets & Lies (1996), Shooting Fish (1997), Downton Abbey (2019) and Misbehaviour (2020).
Ché Walker is an English actor, playwright, theatre director, and teacher. His musical Been So Long played at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Young Vic theatre. It was later developed into a feature film of the same name starring Michaela Coel and released by Netflix in 2018.
Jayd Johnson is a Scottish actress best known for her portrayal of Nicki Cullen in River City and her BAFTA-winning role as Paddy Meehan in The Field of Blood.
Siobhan Hewlett is a British-born Irish film, television, radio and theatre actress, writer, producer, poet and artist. She hails from a theatrical dynasty stretching back to the 19th-century. Her acting credits include Monsieur N (2003), The Canterbury Tales (2003), The Philanthropist (2005), The Virgin Queen (2005), Irina Palm (2007), Torchwood (2008), Hotel Babylon (2009), Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant (2009), Sherlock (2010), Bonded by Blood (2011), Hummingbird (2013), Brakes (2016), The Show (2021), and McDonald & Dodds (2021).