Emma Georgina Annalies Fielding (born 7 October 1970) is an English actress.

Early life and education

The daughter of a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer, Fielding spent some of her childhood in Nigeria, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Northern Ireland and other places, also living above a betting shop in Malvern. She went to school at Berkhamsted Collegiate boarding school and worked as an usherette at the Apollo Theatre Oxford as a teenager. She studied law at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, abandoning her studies after two terms, and worked at a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

in Israel before embarking on the study of acting at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Career

After graduation Fielding worked for 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, ...

and 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 ...

, coming to the attention of critics in 1993's National Theatre production 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 '' Arcadia,'' in which she created the role of Thomasina,Measure For Measure, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
The Independent on Sunday - 6 May 2003 and then most notably in

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...

's '' The Broken Heart'' for which she won the Dame Peggy Ashcroft Award for Best Actress. Also in 1993, she was Agnes in '' The School for Wives'' at the

Almeida Theatre The Almeida Theatre is a 325-seat producing house located on Almeida Street off Upper Street in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre opened in 1980, and produces a diverse range of drama. Successful plays are often transferred to West E ...

, for which she won the Ian Charleson Award.Fowler, Rebecca. "Triumphant first acts". ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. 13 March 1994. She made her Broadway theatre debut in 2003 in

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

's ''

Private Lives ''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetuall ...

.'' "From the bookies to Stratford's RSC"
. Worcestershire News - 26 April 2003 She has also appeared in numerous radio plays for the

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 ...

, including playing Esme in

's ''

Rock 'n' Roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

'', a role she also played in the West End. More recently, she appeared in the BBC TV mini-series '' Cranford''. In 2009, she appeared as Daisy alongside Timothy West in the

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 ...

adaptation of John Mortimer's '' Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders''. She has also appeared in the crime drama '' Death in Paradise'' playing the part of Astrid Knight. (Season 1, Episode 4). In 2014, she appeared in another crime drama '' DCI Banks'' (Series 3, Episodes 17 & 18). In 2018, Fielding appeared in ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'' as Ted Murray's (

Christopher Timothy Christopher Timothy (born 14 October 1940) is a British actor and narrator. He is known for his roles as James Herriot in '' All Creatures Great and Small'', Mac McGuire in the BBC One daytime soap opera '' Doctors'' and Ted Murray in the BBC ...

) daughter. In November 2018, she provided the voice for the alien Kisar in the ''

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 " Demons of the Punjab".

Awards and nominations

*In 1994, Fielding won the Ian Charleson Award for her Agnes in '' The School for Wives'' at the

in 1993. *Fielding was nominated for a 1999 ''Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance'' for her role in '' The School for Scandal'' in the 1998 season. *She was nominated for a 2002 ''Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role'' of 2001 for her performance in ''

'' at the

Albery Theatre Albery is a name. It may refer to: Given name * Albery Allson Whitman (1851−1901), African American poet, minister and orator Surname * A. S. Albery, British politician * Bronson Albery (1881−1971), English theatre director and impresario * Do ...

, London. She won a Theatre World Award for outstanding Broadway debut for the same role when the show was produced on Broadway in 2002. *She was awarded the 1993 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her performances in '' Arcadia'' and '' The School for Wives''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Audiobooks

*''

His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), '' The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and '' The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follo ...

'' as Mrs Coulter *'' Vanity Fair'' as Rebecca Sharp Crawley *'' The Haunting of Hill House'' as The Narrator. (By Shirley Jackson. Audiobook,

). *''Israbel'' as Israbel. (By

Tanith Lee Tanith Lee (19 September 1947 – 24 May 2015) was a British science fiction and fantasy writer. She wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories, and was the winner of multiple World Fantasy Society Derleth Awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime ...

. Dramatisation, 'A Short History of Vampires Episode 3 of 4'' BBC). *'' Funny Girl'' as The Narrator. (By Nick Hornby, 2014, Penguin Audio). She has narrated the following for Naxos Audiobooks: *''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' *'' Hedda Gabler'' *''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...

'' *'' Lady Windermere's Fan'' *''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'' *''

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

'' *'' The Turn of the Screw'' *''

Fanny Hill ''Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'' – popularly known as ''Fanny Hill'' – is an erotic novel by the English novelist John Cleland first published in London in 1748 and 1749. Written while the author was in debtors' prison in London,Wagne ...

'' for Random House Audio: *'' I Don't Know How She Does It'' *'' Longbourn''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fielding, Emma 1970 births Alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Audiobook narrators Critics' Circle Theatre Award winners English film actresses English radio actresses English stage actresses English television actresses English video game actresses English voice actresses Living people People from Catterick, North Yorkshire Royal Shakespeare Company members English Shakespearean actresses Ian Charleson Award winners Theatre World Award winners Actresses from North Yorkshire 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses