Alexis Zegerman is a British actress and writer.

Early life and training

Zegerman grew up in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in London, and trained at the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, commonly shortened to Central, is a drama school founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for ...

Acting career

Film and TV

Zegerman won a British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Zoe, Poppy's best friend and roommate, in

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English screenwriter, producer, director and former actor with a film, theatre, and television career spanning more than 60 years. His accolades include prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin In ...

's comedy-drama film ''

Happy-Go-Lucky Happy Go Lucky may refer to: Film and television * ''Happy Go Lucky'' (1936 film), an American film * ''Happy Go Lucky'' (1943 film), an American musical film starring Betty Hutton * ''Happy Go Lucky'' (1946 film), a French film * ''Happy Go L ...

''. The role also garnered a London Film Critics award nomination. This was her second collaboration with Leigh. She played the part of Daliah Sofer in ''Storm'' which premiered at the

59th Berlin International Film Festival The 59th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 February to 15 February 2009. The opening film of the festival was Tom Tykwer’s '' The International'', screened out of competition. Costa-Gavras's '' Eden Is West'' served as the clos ...

in 2009, and Gemma in ITV drama '' U Be Dead''. She also appeared in the films ''

Albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...

'', '' The Wedding Video'', and ''

Disobedience Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of "social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure". Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which some authors define as behavior infl ...

''.

Theatre

In 2005 Zegerman appeared in the original cast of Mike Leigh's play ''Two Thousand Years'', at the

Royal National Theatre The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

in London. In 2009, she also appeared in ''

Seven Jewish Children ''Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza'' is a six-page, 10-minute play by British playwright Caryl Churchill, written in response to the 2008-2009 Israel military strike on Gaza, and first performed at London's Royal Court Theatre on 6 Februar ...

'', a play by

Caryl Churchill Caryl Lesley Churchill (born 3 September 1938) is a British playwright known for dramatising the abuses of power, for her use of non- naturalistic techniques, and for her exploration of sexual politics and feminist themes.

at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

. She played Cissie in the revival of

Arnold Wesker Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and ot ...

's ''

Chicken Soup with Barley ''Chicken Soup with Barley'' is a 1956 play by British playwright Arnold Wesker. It is the first of the 'Wesker trilogy' – being followed by ''Roots'' and '' I'm Talking about Jerusalem'' – and was first performed on stage in 1958 at the B ...

'' from June 2011 at the

. She appeared onstage in ''Travelling Light'' at the

, directed by artistic director

Nicholas Hytner Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner ( ; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include ''Miss Saigon'', '' ...

. She recently appeared as Eva Jacobowicz in the world premiere of

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (; born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...

's play

Leopoldstadt Leopoldstadt (; ; "Leopold-Town") is the 2nd municipal district of Vienna () in Austria. there are 103,233 inhabitants over . It is situated in the heart of the city and, together with Brigittenau (20th district), forms a large island surrou ...

at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End. In 2022, Hampstead Theatre put on Zegerman's new play, ''The Fever Syndrome,'' directed by Roxana Silbert and starring Robert Lindsay as Professor Richard Myers, fictional inventor of an IVF treatment.

Writing career

Plays

Zegerman began writing on the Royal Court Young Writers’ Programme. She has written plays for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

including ''Ronnie Gecko'' (Richard Imison Award commendation, '' Are You Sure?'', ''

The Singing Butler ''The Singing Butler'' is an oil-on-canvas painting made by Scottish people, Scottish artist Jack Vettriano in 1992. The painting measures . It depicts a couple in White tie, evening dress dancing on the damp sand of a beach on the coast of Fif ...

'', ''

Jump JuMP is an algebraic modeling language and a collection of supporting packages for mathematical optimization embedded in the Julia programming language. JuMP is used by companies, government agencies, academic institutions, software projects ...

'', and the comedy series ''School Runs''. She also wrote the play ''

Déjà Vu ''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is the phenomenon of feeling like one has lived through the present situation in the past.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford University Press. pp. 167–1 ...

'', a co-production between the BBC and

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

in France, which was simultaneously broadcast in both countries in February 2009. The play was a finalist for the Prix Europa 2009. Zegerman became Pearson Writer-in-Residence at

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. History The original ''Hampstead Theatre Clu ...

in 2007, where her play ''Lucky Seven'' premiered in November 2008. It has since received further productions in the UK and abroad. Short plays include ''I Ran the World'' for the Royal Court, and ''Noise'' at

Soho Theatre Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three pe ...

(Westminster Prize for New Playwriting 2003). Her play ''Killing Brando'' opened at the Young Vic as part of Paines Plough's Wild Lunch in 2004, and was later produced at Òran Mór in Glasgow for their ‘A Play, a Pie and a Pint’ season. She has been named a finalist for the prestigious 2011–2012

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer. W ...

. Her play Holy Sh!t had its world premiere at the off-West End

Kiln Theatre The Kiln Theatre (formerly the Tricycle Theatre) is a theatre located in Kilburn, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Since 1980, the theatre has presented a wide range of plays reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, as well as n ...

, and was the first play to open the Kiln's inaugural season after its refurbishment. The play starred

Claire Goose Claire Goose is a Scottish actress who first gained attention playing Tina Seabrook on the long-running BBC One medical drama '' Casualty'' (1997–2000). Her other roles include DS "Mel" Silver in '' Waking the Dead'' (2000–2007), Insp. ...

, Daniel Lapaine, Dorothea Myer-Bennet and Daon Broni. In March 2022, Hampstead Theatre premiered Zegerman's play, ''The Fever Syndrome,'' directed by Roxana Silbert and starring Robert Lindsay as Professor Richard Myers, fictional inventor of an IVF treatment.

Screenwriting

Zegerman wrote the screenplay for ''The Honeymoon Suite'' (2010). She wrote the screenplay to feature film Arthur's Whisky starring

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton (née Hall; born January 5, 1946) is an American actress. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Diane Keaton, various accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including an Academy Award, a Bri ...

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

David Harewood David Michael Harewood (born 8 December 1965) is a British actor, presenter and the current president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He is best known for his roles as CIA Counterterrorism Director David Estes in ''Homeland'' (2011–2012 ...

, Bill Paterson,

Patricia Hodge Patricia Ann Hodge (born 29 September 1946) is an English actress. She is known on-screen for playing Phyllida Erskine-Brown in '' Rumpole of the Bailey'' (1978–1992), Jemima Shore in '' Jemima Shore Investigates'' (1983), Penny in '' Miranda ...

which premiered on Sky Movies on 1 January 2024.

References

External links

*
Guardian article: First Sight – Alexis Zegerman

First Sight: The Guardian

Profile at Zegerman's literary agent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zegerman, Alexis Living people Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama English film actresses English stage actresses English radio actresses English television actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Actresses from London