Lara Pulver

Lara Pulver (born 1 September 1980) is an English actress, best known for playing Erin Watts in the BBC spy drama '' Spooks'' and Irene Adler on BBC's TV adaptation '' Sherlock''. She won the 2016 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical in the West End's revival of '' Gypsy''.

Early life and education

Pulver was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England on 1 September 1980 and grew up in the village of Longfield in Kent. Her father is from a Jewish family; her mother converted to Judaism when they married. She has a sister, Erika, who is four years older and works as a teacher.

Pulver attended the National Youth Music Theatre between 1994 and 1998, as well as The Liz Burville Dance Centre, Bexley. In 1997, she began studying at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts, and graduated in 2000.

Career

Pulver was nominated for the 2008 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the role of Lucille Frank in the first West End production of the musical ''Parade'' at the Donmar Warehouse. She reprised the role in the Los Angeles production at the Mark Taper Forum opposite T.R. Knight.

In 2008, Pulver recorded a song for the CD ''Act One – Songs from the Musicals of Alexander S. Bermange''. Pulver joined the cast of the BBC's ''Robin Hood'' in 2009 as Isabella, the sister of Guy of Gisbourne.

In 2010, Pulver joined the cast of the third series of HBO's '' True Blood'' as Sookie Stackhouse's fairy godmother, Claudine Crane.

Pulver played Erin Watts, the new chief of Section D, in the tenth and final series of BBC spy drama '' Spooks'', a role she reprised in the 2015 feature film '' Spooks: The Greater Good''

Pulver played Irene Adler in " A Scandal in Belgravia", the first episode of the second series of '' Sherlock''. Her appearance caused an "enormous" response, with the ''Evening Standard'' calling the scene where she greets Sherlock Holmes nude "infamous". To ''The Telegraph'', Pulver called the scene "empowering". The BBC received over 100 complaints about the footage.

In 2012, she joined the cast of '' Da Vinci's Demons'' as the "seductive and minded" Clarice Orsini, a series regular and wife of Elliot Cowan's character Lorenzo Medici.

In 2014, she played Louise in a revival of '' Gypsy'' at the Chichester Festival Theatre. The production transferred to the West End in April 2015. Pulver won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for the same role in the Savoy Theatre production of '' Gypsy''. Louise is actually the title role, as "Louise" becomes the real-life early-20th-century American strip-tease sensation Gypsy Rose Lee, on whose memoirs the musical is based. Pulver's co-star in the Savoy production, Imelda Staunton, won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as the larger-than-life Mama Rose.

Personal life

In 2003, Pulver met American actor Josh Dallas while he was in the UK studying at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. They married in December 2007 in Devon. Dallas confirmed their divorce in an interview on Bob Rivers's radio show on 2 December 2011.

Pulver began dating fellow '' Spooks'' actor Raza Jaffrey in 2012 and married on 27 December 2014. The couple have two children.

Acting credits

Film

Television

Stage

* ''Parade'' (Lucille Frank), Donmar Warehouse, nominated for Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical and WhatsOnStage Award
* ''Into the Woods'' (Lucinda), Royal Opera House
* '' The Last Five Years'' (Cathy), Menier Chocolate Factory
* '' Honk!'' (Henrietta), Royal National Theatre ( Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical, 2000) and National Tour
* ''Miss Saigon'' (Ellen)
* '' High Society''
* ''A Chorus Line'' (Bebe)
* '' The Darling Buds of May''
* '' The Boy Friend''
* '' Gypsy'' (Louise)
* ''Chicago''
* '' Grease''
* '' 42nd Street''
* '' The Wizard of Oz''
* (Adverts) Smirnoff Vodka Range – Hatter's Summer Night Dream with Smirnoff
* '' Uncle Vanya''
* Guys and Dolls (Sarah Brown), Royal Albert Hall
* ''Fiddler on the Roof'' (Golde), Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

Other

* ''Game of Thrones'' (2014; Video Game), as Lady Elissa Forrester
* ''Sherlock Series By Intouch Games And Slot Factory'', as Irene Adler
* ''Dota 2'', as the "Mirana of Nightsilver" persona item, reprising her role from Dragon's Blood

Awards and nominations

Television

Theatre

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulver, Lara
1980 births
Living people
21st-century English actresses
Alumni of Bird College
English people of Jewish descent
English stage actresses
English television actresses
Jewish English actresses
Laurence Olivier Award winners
Actresses from Southend-on-Sea