Lucy Ursula Griffiths (born 10 October 1986) is an English actress known for her roles as

Lady Marian Lady Marian is a character portrayed by Lucy Griffiths in the BBC television serial ''Robin Hood''. She is the daughter of the former Sheriff of Nottingham. Description Marian is 21 years old, and in contrast to most Robin Hood legends, is n ...

in the BBC drama series ''

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

'' (2006–09), as Nora Gainesborough, Eric Northman's vampire "sister", in the HBO horror series ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on '' The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. A reboot is currently in development. The ser ...

'' (2012–13) and as Emily Woodrow in the AMC supernatural drama series ''

Preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as ...

'' (2016).

Life and career

Born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, Griffiths was educated at

Windlesham House School Windlesham House School is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 4 to 13 on the South Downs, in Pulborough, West Sussex, England. It was founded in 1837 by Charles Robert Malden and was the first boys' preparatory sc ...

, Roedean School, Dorothy Stringer High School and

Varndean College Varndean College is a sixth form college in Brighton and Hove that serves the needs of sixth form students and adults. Location Varndean College is on Surrenden Road, in the northern part of Brighton. It shares the Surrenden campus with Balfou ...

. She is a former member of the National Youth Music Theatre and Youth Music Theatre UK. She first appeared on television in ''

Sea of Souls ''Sea of Souls'' is a BBC paranormal drama series, recounting the fictional activities of a group of investigators into psychic and other paranormal events. Produced in-house by BBC Scotland and for the final season by Carnival Films, init ...

'' and then '' Sugar Rush'', and on stage in ''

The White Devil ''The White Devil'' (full original title: ''The White Divel; or, The Tragedy of Paulo Giordano Ursini, Duke of Brachiano. With The Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona the famous Venetian Curtizan'') is a tragedy by English playwright John W ...

''. In February 2006 it was announced she would be playing a "feisty", beautiful Marian in the BBC family drama series ''

'', alongside Jonas Armstrong. Griffiths has said that her character "has been written as an intelligent, witty, biting character, and that's how I expected her to be." Griffiths returned as Marian in the second series of ''Robin Hood'' in 2007, but her character was killed off in the final episode. Though this decision proved unpopular with fans of the series, it is said on a BBC Nottingham page that she left the show to pursue 'other opportunities'. It has been rumored that she wanted to leave the show to further her career in Hollywood. However, other sources say she was written out to allow the show to be taken in a new direction. She returned in the series finale a year later as a spectral vision of Marian. In 2009, she made her West End debut in a revival of '' Arcadia'' and appeared in the

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

drama ''

Collision In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great fo ...

''. On 5 September 2010, she appeared in the ITV drama '' U Be Dead'', playing Bethan Ancell and on 1 November 2010 she starred in ITV drama ''The Little House''. In January 2011, Griffiths signed a talent holding deal with American television network CBS. It had been announced that she would play Jenna Lestrade, the lead in the CW zombie pilot ''Awakening'', however the show did not go ahead. In November 2011, it was revealed that Griffiths would play Nora, the sister of vampire Eric Northman (

Alexander Skarsgård Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård (; born August 25, 1976) is a Swedish actor. Born in Stockholm, he began acting at age seven but quit at 13. After serving in the Swedish military, Skarsgård returned to acting and gained his first role in th ...

), in the fifth season of HBO's ''

''. Nora is not a character in the '' Southern Vampire Mysteries'' (the books the TV series is based on) but she has been described as "intelligent, intimidating, cool under pressure and a very good liar" according to TV Line. During November 2011 Griffiths also appeared on stage at the

Finborough Theatre The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world pr ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, in the play ''Atman'' by

Iain Finlay Macleod Iain Finlay Macleod (born 1973) is a Scottish writer from Adabrock, Ness, Isle of Lewis. He lives on the Isle of Skye. Macleod's first full-length play was called "Homers" and was produced by the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 2002, directed by P ...

. She voiced Mabel Dobbs in the

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include '' Doctor Who'', th ...

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

audio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

The Auntie Matter ''The Auntie Matter'' is an audio drama based on the long-running British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. This audio drama was produced by Big Finish Productions. Plot The Doctor and Romana are hiding from the Black Guardian ...

'', which was released in January 2013. She has a diploma in

mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

from a world-famous school in Paris and claims that

Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", and he performed professionally worldw ...

was her greatest influence into the artistry of emotions and actions without words. She also admires performances of

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films, particularly period dramas, and for her portrayals of headstrong and complicated women, she has received numerous accolades, inc ...

, and

Jennifer Saunders Jennifer Jane Saunders (born 6 July 1958) is an English actress, comedian, singer and screenwriter. Saunders originally found attention in the 1980s, when she became a member of The Comic Strip after graduating from the Royal Central School of ...

. Griffiths was originally cast in '' Constantine'' as the female lead Liv Aberdine, the daughter of a late friend, who comes to discover that she has the ability of seeing the supernatural world among us. She teams up with Constantine to fight the demons who have targeted her and learn more about her late father. Griffiths was dropped after Goyer and Cerone decided to take the series in a different creative direction. Instead, the original comic character Zed was written in. It was later announced that Angélica Celaya would fill the role. Some of Griffiths' final scenes in the pilot were reshot to explain why her character doesn't join Constantine in his adventures, as had been foreshadowed and originally intended. In April 2015 Griffiths was cast in the AMC series ''

'' as Emily Woodrow, a character described as a "no-nonsense" single mother, waitress, church organist, bookkeeper and the loyal right hand of Jesse Custer ( Dominic Cooper).

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theatre roles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Lucy 1986 births 21st-century English actresses English stage actresses English television actresses Living people People educated at Roedean School, East Sussex Actresses from Brighton Alumni of British Youth Music Theatre People educated at Varndean College People educated at Windlesham House School