Anna Crilly is an English actress and comedian.

Education

Crilly was educated at Kent College, Pembury and attended

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries o ...

, where she studied performing arts.

Career

She was a finalist in the "So You Think You're Funny" competition at the Gilded Balloon in 2003 and performed two shows at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

in the following year. In 2004, she was placed at the

Funny Women Funny Women is an online and in-person workshop community dedicated to the support of female comedians. It was founded by Lynne Parker in 2002 as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter. Funny Women helps women find their voice, ...

Awards. From 2006 to 2011 she played the role of Magda, an Eastern European housekeeper, in the BBC sitcom '' Lead Balloon''. Her

deadpan Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blu ...

performance has been described as "scene-stealing". In 2013 she and regular comedy partner

Katy Wix Katy Victoria J Wix (born 28 February 1980) is a Welsh actress, writer, author and artist. She is best known for her television roles as Carole in ''Stath Lets Flats,'' Mary in '' Ghosts'' and Jules in '' Big Boys''. She has also appeared as a ...

began starring in their own sketch show ''

Anna and Katy ''Anna & Katy'' is a British comedy sketch show, beginning on Channel 4 on 6 March 2013 following a pilot edition as part of the ''Comedy Lab'' series in 2011. It featured regular comedy partners Anna Crilly and Katy Wix, with regular guests incl ...

'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, having originated the show as a '' Comedy Lab'' episode the previous year. She stars in the BBC children's comedy series, ''

Sorry I've Got No Head ''Sorry, I've Got No Head'' was a CBBC children's sketch comedy television series. The programme's cast originally consisted of William Andrews, David Armand, James Bachman, Marcus Brigstocke, Anna Crilly, Justin Edwards, Mark Evans, Mel Gie ...

'', alongside William Andrews, James Bachman,

Marcus Brigstocke Marcus Alexander Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is a British comedian, actor and satirist. He has worked in stand-up comedy, television, radio and musical theatre. He has appeared on many BBC television and radio shows. Early life Brigstocke is ...

Mel Giedroyc Melanie Clare Sophie Giedroyc (; , born 5 June 1968) is a British actress, comedian and television presenter. With Sue Perkins, she has co-hosted series including '' Light Lunch'' for Channel 4, '' The Great British Bake Off'' for the BBC and ...

, Marek Larwood and

Nick Mohammed Nicholas George Mohammed (born 4 October 1980) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his character Mr. Swallow, which he has portrayed across both stage and television for over a decade. Outside of the United Kingdom, M ...

. In December 2008 Crilly was nominated for a British Comedy Award as Best Female Newcomer for her portrayal of Magda in '' Lead Balloon'', but lost out to Katy Brand. In 2007 she appeared in episode 78, "Susan of Troy", of ''

My Family ''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broa ...

'' as an assistant on ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

''. She also appears as "woman" in

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms '' The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad ...

' comedy '' Extras'' as an extra herself (series 2, episode 5). She has also starred in ''Pixelface'', a comedy for children, as a waitress zombie slayer called Claire Parker. In 2011, she appeared in an episode of the sitcom ''

Not Going Out ''Not Going Out'' is a British television sitcom that has aired on BBC One since 2006, and has 12 series making it the second longest running British sitcom (in series) behind the longest running sitcom worldwide, Last of the Summer Wine. It sta ...

'', playing the role of a drug misuse counsellor. The same year she had a guest role on the radio series '' Cabin Pressure'' as Linda Fairburn. Crilly plays the lead role as "Coma Girl" in

's ''

Comedy Showcase ''Comedy Showcase'' is a series of one-off comedy specials featuring some of Britain's fledgling comedy talent. Its format is reminiscent of the much earlier '' Comedy Playhouse''. The format was replaced in 2012 by 4Funnies.Khalsa, Balihar (8 N ...

'', again alongside Katy Wix. She and Wix also appeared together in the Harvey's Furniture Store sponsorship bumpers for ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...

'' until the sponsorship deal ended in 2012. She plays Mel Gatwick in

Tom Basden Thomas William Basden (born 30 November 1980) is an English actor, comedy writer, and a member of the British four-man sketch group Cowards. He has written and performed extensively for comedy shows on the BBC and Channel 4 and often collabo ...

's sitcom ''

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

'' for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

. On 22 June 2012, she played Gertrude Wermers in the third episode of BBC series '' Dead Boss''. In 2016, she appeared in an episode of

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

's comedy series ''Witless''. In 2017, she appeared in '' Death in Paradise'' episode "Man Overboard".

Filmography

TV

Personal life

Crilly is married to British comedian William Andrews. Crilly's brother is journalist and author Robert Crilly.

References

External links

* * Living people Alumni of Middlesex University English stand-up comedians English television actresses English women comedians People educated at Kent College, Pembury People from Pembury Actresses from Kent Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-comedian-stub