Emma Cunniffe (born 3 July 1973) is an English film, stage and television actress.

Early life

Cunniffe was raised in

Frodsham Frodsham is a market town, civil parish, and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population in 2021 was 9,300. It is south of Liverpool and southwest of Man ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

and attended Frodsham High School. She was in the local Frodsham panto group whilst growing up and was once in a pantomime with

Gary Barlow Gary Barlow (born 20 January 1971) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He is the lead singer of the pop group Take That. Barlow is one of the United Kingdom's most successful songwriters, having writ ...

. Originally it was dance she was into, until she went to theatre school at the age of 13 and fell in love with drama.

Career

Her television credits include '' Hetty Wainthrop Investigates'' (Chrissie in 'Safe as Houses', 1996), '' The Lakes'' (

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

1997, 1999), "Biddy" in a TV adaptation of ''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by English author Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. The novel is a bildungsroman and depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after ''Dav ...

'', ''

All the King's Men ''All the King's Men'' is a 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren. The novel tells the story of charismatic populist governor Willie Stark and his political machinations in the Depression-era Deep South. It was inspired by the real-life story of U. ...

'', '' Clash of the Santas'', alongside

Robson Green Robson Golightly Green (born 18 December 1964) is an English actor, singer-songwriter and television presenter. His first major TV role was as hospital porter Jimmy Powell in BBC drama series '' Casualty'' in 1989. He then went on to portray F ...

and

Mark Benton Mark Benton (born 16 November 1965) is an English actor and television presenter known for his roles as Eddie in '' Early Doors'', Howard in '' Northern Lights'', Martin Pond in '' Barbara'' and the eponymous Frank Hathaway in '' Shakespeare & H ...

, '' Clocking Off'' (BBC), and ''Flesh and Blood'' with

Christopher Eccleston Christopher Eccleston (; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor whose work has encompassed Hollywood blockbusters and arthouse films, television dramas, Shakespearean stage performances and science fiction, most notably the Ninth Doctor, ni ...

. She played DS Tina Murray in

New Tricks ''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural comedy drama, created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily by Wall to Wall (until its final year, when it was handled by Headstrong Pictures), and broadcast on BBC On ...

(S3:E4 Diamond Geezers, 2006.). She also appeared in the sixth series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' episode " Night Terrors", alongside the

Eleventh Doctor The Eleventh Doctor is an incarnation (otherwise known as regeneration) of the Doctor, the protagonist of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. He is played by Matt Smith in three series as well as five specials. As wi ...

played by

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is known for playing the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Prince Philip in Netflix's historical series ''The Crown ( ...

. She appeared in the BBC documentary ''The Genius of Mozart'' as Constanze, Wolfgang's wife. In 2009, she played Carol Boynton in the ITV adaptation of '' Appointment with Death'', in series 11 of ''

Agatha Christie's Poirot ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', or simply ''Poirot'' (), is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2020. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, wh ...

''. In mid-2014, she played DS Hawthorn in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'', investigating the circumstances of the attack on and subsequent death of Tina McIntyre ( Michelle Keegan) and on 5 January 2015, she played Kenzie Calhoun's mother, Ailsa in '' Waterloo Road'' On stage, she won the UK Theatre Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in ''

The Master Builder ''The Master Builder'' () is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's more significant and revealing works. Performance The play was published by Gyldendal AS in C ...

'' in 2000. Her other stage work includes ''Tales from Hollywood'', '' Losing Louis'' at the Trafalgar Studios in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and in 2006 '' Women Beware Women'' for the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

. She was nominated for "what's on stage" award in 2011 for her role as Elizabeth Proctor in ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote ...

'' at

Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park Regent's Park Open Air Theatre is an open-air theatre in Regent's Park in central London, established in 1932. Originally known for its Shakespearean productions, the theatre now features a wide variety of performances, including musicals, ope ...

. In 2015 she appeared as Mabel Grayson in the BBC TV series ''

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective. He is featured in 53 short stories by English author G. K. Chesterton, published between 1910 and 1936. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intuition and ...

'' episode 3.9 "The Truth in the Wine". The same year, she appeared as the eponymous monarch in the RSC's production of Helen Edmundson's '' Queen Anne''. In September 2019, she appeared in four episodes of ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' as Dr Janet Fielding.

Personal life

Cunniffe lives in London. She married Rufus Jones in 2008 but the pair subsequently divorced.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunniffe, Emma Living people English television actresses English stage actresses 1973 births Actresses from Chester Actors educated at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts People from Frodsham