Anna Chancellor

English actress

Anna Chancellor

Chancellor in Ordeal by Innocence 2018

Born|

Anna Theodora Chancellor

(1965-04-27) 27 April 1965 (age 60)

Richmond, London, England

Occupation| Actress
Years active| 1990–present
Children| 1
Relatives| Edward Chancellor (brother)
Cecilia Chancellor (cousin)

Anna Theodora Chancellor (born 27 April 1965) is an English actress who has appeared widely on TV, film and in the theatre. She received a nomination for BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lix Storm in The Hour (2011–2012), and has twice been nominated for Olivier Awards, in 1997 for her performances in Stanley at the National Theatre, and again in 2014 for Private Lives at the Gielgud Theatre. She was also nominated for an award at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival in 2007 and for one at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards in 2013.

On television, she is also known for her roles in the ITV series Kavanagh QC (1995-1997) and Grantchester (2016); the BBC series Pride and Prejudice (1995), Tipping the Velvet (2002), Spooks (2005-2007), Pramface (2012–2014), Ordeal by Innocence (2018) and Rain Dogs (2023); the Channel 5 series Suburban Shootout (2006–2007); the Netflix series The Crown (2017); the Epix series Pennyworth (2019–2021); and the BritBox series Hotel Portofino (2022).

Her films include Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), and How I Live Now (2013).

## Background and early life

[edit]

Chancellor was born in Richmond, England to barrister John Paget Chancellor and Hon. Mary Jolliffe, a daughter of Lord Hylton. Her father was the son of Sir Christopher Chancellor and Sylvia Mary Paget, a daughter of Sir Richard Paget and philanthropist Lady Muriel, daughter of Murray Finch-Hatton, 12th Earl of Winchilsea. The Chancellor family were Scottish landed gentry who had owned land at Quothquan since 1432.[1]

Chancellor was brought up in Somerset and educated at St Mary's School, Shaftesbury, which was a Roman Catholic boarding school for girls in Dorset, but left at sixteen to live in London, later describing her early years there as "quite wild".[2] In her early twenties she married the poet Jock Scot (1952–2016), with whom she had a daughter in 1988 while still studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She separated from Scot a few years later.[3]

Chancellor is a niece of the journalist Alexander Chancellor, a great-granddaughter of Raymond Asquith (son of the Liberal prime minister H. H. Asquith), a first cousin of both the actress Dolly Wells[4] and the model Cecilia Chancellor, a second cousin of the actress Helena Bonham Carter. Chancellor was also the great niece of Jane Austen eight generations removed through Edward Austen Knight.[5][6][7] Chancellor herself has spoken of her lineage, stating:

> You've worked hard all your life to be an actress, or whatever you've done, and that is what's presented to you. Don't you think that's embarrassing? I don't enjoy being quoted as saying that's who I am, because I don't feel that is who I am.[6]

## Career

[edit]

Chancellor got her first acting role on television playing Mercedes Page in Jupiter Moon, a BSkyB soap, then came a commercial for Boddingtons beer and a part in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994),[2] playing Henrietta (nicknamed "Duckface") opposite Hugh Grant.

She played Julia Piper in series 1 to 3 of Kavanagh QC.[2] She also played Caroline Bingley in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

In 1997, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Stanley at the Royal National Theatre-Cottesloe.[8]

She played Questular Rontok in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005). The same year, she joined the cast of BBC One television drama series Spooks as Juliet Shaw.[2] She has also appeared in The Vice, Karaoke, Cold Lazarus, The Dreamers, Tipping the Velvet (2002),[2] and Fortysomething, and had a leading role in the satirical black comedy Suburban Shootout.

In 2011, she took a supporting role as Lix Storm in the BBC thriller serial The Hour, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 2012 British Academy Television Awards.[9]

In 2014, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her part in Private Lives at the Gielgud Theatre.[10]

## Charity

[edit]

She is a patron of the London children's charity Scene & Heard.[11]

## Personal life

[edit]

Chancellor had one daughter, Poppy, with poet Jock Scot. Poppy died from leukaemia on 29 September 2023 aged 36.[12]

## Filmography

[edit]

Key  †  | Denotes works that have not yet been released

|

### Film

[edit]

Year  | Film  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1990  | Killing Dad or How to Love Your Mother | Barmaid  |
1993  | Century | Woman in Police Station  |
1994  | Four Weddings and a Funeral | Henrietta ‘Duck Face’– Wedding Four  |
Tom and Viv | Woman  |
Staggered | Carmen Svennipeg  |
Princess Caraboo | Mrs. Peake  |
1997  | FairyTale: A True Story | Peter Pan  |
The Man Who Knew Too Little | Barbara Ritchie  |
1999  | Heart | Nicola Farmer  |
2001  | Crush | Molly Cartwright  |
2003  | What a Girl Wants | Glynnis Payne  |
The Dreamers | Mother  |
Confused |  | Short film
2004  | Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London | Lady Josephine Kenworth  |
2005  | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Questular Rontok  |
Feeder | Doctor  | Short film
The Best Man | Dana  |
2006  | Breaking and Entering | Kate  |
2007  | St. Trinians | Miss Bagstock  |
2010  | Critical Eye | Laura  |
2012  | More Afraid of You | Lucy  | Short film
2011  | Hysteria | Mrs Bellamy  |
2012  | More of You | Lucy  | Short film
2013  | How I Live Now | Aunt Penn  |
Confessions of an Alien Abductee | Narrator  |
Noël Coward's Private Lives | Amanda Prynne  |
2014  | Death Knight Love Story | Miria  | Voice role
Testament of Youth | Mrs. Leighton  |
2016  | The Carer | Milly  |
This Beautiful Fantastic | Bramble  |
2017  | Love of My Life | Grace  |
2018  | The Happy Prince | Mrs Arbuthnot  |
Benjamin | Tessa  |
Nativity Rocks! | Clara Hargreaves  |
2019  | For Love or Money | Carol  |
2020  | Come Away | Eleanor Murrow  | Film
2022  | Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris | Lady Dant  |
2022  | Stromboli | Diane  |

### Television

[edit]

Year  | Film  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1990–1996  | Jupiter Moon | Mercedes Page  | 50 episodes
1992  | Inspector Morse | Sally Smith  | Episode: "Cherubim and Seraphim"
1993  | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Virginie Mesnard  | Episode: "The Chocolate Box"
Comedy Playhouse | Julia  | Episode: "The Complete Guide to Relationships"
1994  | Ellington | Ally Stone  | TV film
1995  | Pride & Prejudice | Caroline Bingley  | Miniseries; 6 episodes
1995–1997  | Kavanagh QC | Julia Piper  | 11 episodes
1996  | Karaoke | Anna Griffiths  | Miniseries; 4 episodes
Cold Lazarus | Anna Griffiths  | Miniseries; 3 episodes
1999  | The Vice | Dr. Christina Weir  | 6 episodes
2000  | Longitude | Muriel Gould  | TV film
2001  | The Cazalets | Diana Mackintosh  | 6 episodes
2002  | Tipping the Velvet | Diana Lethaby  | 2 episodes
2002  | The Real Jane Austen | Herself/host  | TV special
2003  | Georgian Underworld | Narrator  | Episode: "Queer as 18th Century Folk"
Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie | Nicky Bowden  | TV film
Fortysomething | Estelle Slippery  | 6 episodes
2004  | Blue Dove | Maria Bishop  | 2 episodes
Roman Road | Maddy Bancroft  | TV film
2005  |  A Waste of Shame: Shakespeare and His Sonnets | Anne Hathaway  | TV film
2005–2007  | Spooks | Juliet Shaw  | 15 episodes
2006  | Rebus | Amanda Morrison  | Episode: "Let It Bleed"
The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton | Elizabeth Dorling  | TV film
2006–2007  | Suburban Shootout | Camilla Diamond  | 11 episodes
2007  | Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars | Irene Adler | TV film
Christmas at the Riviera | Diane  | TV film
2008  | My Family | Zelda Nobbs  | Episode: "Cards on the Table"
Agatha Christie's Marple: Murder Is Easy | Lydia Horton  | TV film
2009  | Law & Order: UK | Evelyn Wyndham  | 2 episodes
2010  | Silent Witness | Chief Supt. Karen Somerville  | 2 episodes
Miranda | Helena  | Episode: "A New Low"
2011  | Hustle | Wendy Stanton  | Episode: "As Good as it Gets"
Waking the Dead | Lucy Christie  | 2 episodes
Lewis | Judith Suskin  | Episode: "The Gift of Promise"
Hidden | Elspeth Verney  | 4 episodes
2011–2012  | The Hour | Lix Storm  | 12 episodes
Nom – BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress[9]
Nom – Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
2012–2014  | Pramface | Janet Derbyshire  | 14 episodes
2012  | We'll Take Manhattan | Lucie Clayton  | TV film
2013  | A Touch of Cloth | Hope Goodgirl  | 2 episodes
2014  | Inside No. 9 | Elizabeth  | Episode: "Sardines"
Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond | Second Officer Monday  | 4 episodes
Penny Dreadful | Claire Ives  | 1 episode
Downton Abbey | Lady Anstruther  | 1 episode
Mapp & Lucia | Emmeline 'Lucia' Lucas  | 3 episodes
2016  | Shetland | Phyllis Brennan  | 4 episodes
New Blood | Eleanor Davies  | 7 episodes
Grantchester | Aunt Cece  | Christmas special
Flowers | Aunty Viv  | 1 episode
2017  | The Crown | Lady Rosse | Episode: "Matrimonium"
2018  | Ordeal by Innocence | Rachel Argyll  | 3 episodes[13]
Trust | Penelope Kittson  | 5 episodes
2019  | Death in Paradise | Ciss Dacre  | Episode: "Frappe Death Day"
Timewasters | Victoria  | 5 episodes
2019–2021  | Pennyworth | Dr. Frances Gaunt  | 7 episodes
2020–2022  | The Split | Melanie Aickman  | Series 2-3[14]
2021  | The Watch[15] | Lord Vetinari | Main role
2022  | Hotel Portofino | Lady Latchmere  | Main role
That Dirty Black Bag | Hellen  | TV Series
2023  | Rain Dogs | Allegra[16] |
2024  | My Lady Jane | Lady Frances Grey | 8 episodes
2025  | Outrageous | Sydney Bowles  |

## Theatre

[edit]

* Boston Marriage, Donmar Warehouse – March–April 2001; Donmar in the West End – November 2001–February 2002
* Mammals at the Oxford Playhouse and touring – Lorna, January 2006
* Never So Good, National Theatre – summer 2008
* The Observer, National Theatre – spring 2009
* The Last of the Duchess, Hampstead Theatre – October–November 2011
* Private Lives (playing Amanda), Chichester Festival Theatre, September 2012, and the Gielgud Theatre, London (July–September 2013)[17]
* The Wolf From the Door, Royal Court Theatre, September–November 2014[18]
* The Seagull by Anton Chekhov at National Theatre – summer 2016

## Audiobooks

[edit]

Chancellor has played the role of Ann Smiley in BBC dramatisations of the John le Carré novels Call for the Dead,[19] Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,[20] The Honourable Schoolboy[21] and Smiley's People.[22]

## Awards and nominations

[edit]

Year  | Award  | Category  | Nominated work  | Result  | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

1997  | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Stanley, at RNT Cottesloe | Nominated  | [8]
2007  | Monte-Carlo TV Festival | Golden Nymph, Outstanding Actress Comedy Series  | Suburban Shootout | Nominated  | [23]
2012  | BAFTA TV Awards | BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress | The Hour | Nominated  | [9]
2013  | Broadcasting Press Guild Awards | BPG Award for Best Actress | Pramface and The Hour | Nominated  | [23]
2014  | Laurence Olivier Awards | Best Actress | Private Lives at Gielgud Theatre | Nominated  | [10]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Burke's Landed Gentry, eighteenth edition, vol. I, ed. Peter Townend, 1965, p. 130
2. ^ a b c d e Tim Lewis (21 August 2011). "Anna Chancellor - My life was chaotic. But it's turned out OK". theguardian.com. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
3. ^ "Jock Scot, performance poet – obituary", in The Daily Telegraph online dated 15 April 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2016
4. ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, vol. III, 2003, pg 3046
5. ^ Jane Merrick, world's most elitist election. Hereditary peers will vote to fill the gap created by the death of Lord Ferrers dated 9 December 2012 at independent.co.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2016
6. ^ a b Gerard Gilbert, Anna Chancellor has a lineage worthy of Tatler but... dated 20 December 2014 at independent.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2016
7. ^ "Anna Chancellor". imdb.com. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
8. ^ a b "1997 Laurence Olivier Awards". westendtheatre.com. 1997. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
9. ^ a b c "BAFTA Television Awards Winners in 2012". bafta.org. 24 April 2012.
10. ^ a b "Olivier Awards 2014 – Nominees and Winners". westendtheatre.com. 13 April 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
11. ^ "Patrons & Founders – Scene & Heard". sceneandheard.org. 2012. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
12. ^ Winston, Fran (30 September 2023). "Downton Abbey star Anna Chancellor's daughter Poppy dead at 36". The Express. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
13. ^ Billen, Andrew (31 March 2018). "Ordeal by Innocence: the Christie Mystery that almost got away". The Times. No. 72497\. Saturday Review. pp. 4–5\. ISSN 0140-0460.
14. ^ "Meet the cast of the Split series 2". www.radiotimes.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
15. ^ "New casting announced for TV adaptation 'The Watch'". www.terrypratchettbooks.com. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
16. ^ "Meet the cast of Rain Dogs". Radio Times. 4 April 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
17. ^ "Review of Private Lives". Time Out. 3 July 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
18. ^ Masters, Tim (27 June 2014). "Anna Chancellor leads Royal Court revolution". BBC News. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
19. ^ "The Complete Smiley: Call for the Dead". BBC. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
20. ^ "The Complete Smiley: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy". BBC. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
21. ^ "The Complete Smiley – The Karla Trilogy, Book 2: The Honourable Schoolboy". BBC. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
22. ^ "The Complete Smiley - The Karla Trilogy, Book 3: Smiley's People". BBC. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
23. ^ a b "Anna Chancellor Awards". imdb (index source only). Retrieved 30 December 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Anna Chancellor at IMDb
* Anna Chancellor at the bbc.co.uk official Spooks website
* The Anna Chancellor Page
* Anna Chancellor sponsored video interview at The Huffington Post

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