Nia Roberts (born 5 July 1972) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. She is married to director

Marc Evans Marc Evans (born 1960) is a Welsh director of film and television, whose credits include the films ''House of America'', ''Resurrection Man (film), Resurrection Man'' and ''My Little Eye''. Biography Evans was born in 1960 in Cardiff, Wales. H ...

Early life and career

The youngest of three girls, Roberts was born and brought up in

Brecon Brecon (; ; ), archaically known as Brecknock, is a market town in Powys, mid Wales. In 1841, it had a population of 5,701. The population in 2001 was 7,901, increasing to 8,250 at the 2011 census. Historically it was the county town of Breck ...

Powys Powys ( , ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county and Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county in Wales. It borders Gwynedd, Denbighshire, and Wrexham County Borough, Wrexham to the north; the English Ceremonial counties of England, ceremo ...

. Her first language is

, and she attended Brecon's Welsh-medium primary school Ysgol-y-Bannau from 1975 to 1983. Her family were active members of the Brecon Little Theatre amateur dramatics group, and she was seven years old when she first appeared on stage. Five years later, she landed her first television role as the lead girl in "The Farm", a 30-minute ''

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' was a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in Reading (activity), reading. The programme was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the ...

'' play for

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

. After gaining ten

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

s and three

A Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

, she joined the

National Youth Theatre of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

. She studied acting at

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

, where she passed with distinction.

Career

Roberts' big break came in 1998, when she appeared in ''

Solomon a Gaenor Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ruler of all Twelve Tribes of Israel ...

'' opposite

Ioan Gruffudd Ioan Gruffudd (; ; born 6 October 1973) is a Welsh actor. He is known for his roles in film and television series in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. Gruffudd became known for his portrayal of Harold Lowe in ''Titanic'' ( ...

. With dialogue in Welsh and

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, it won Best Film at the 2000

Verona Film Festival Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city municipality in the region and in northeastern Italy. The metropolit ...

and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the

72nd Academy Awards The 72nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored 1999 in film, films released in 1999 and took place on March 26, 2000, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, beginning at 5:30&nb ...

. It was written and directed by British filmmaker Paul Morrison. Her subsequent Welsh-language credits include ''Fondue'', ''Rhyw a Deinosors!'', ''Newes of the Weeke'', ''Y Palmant Aur'', ''Glan Hafren'', the long-running soap opera ''

Pobol y Cwm ''Pobol y Cwm'' (''People of the Valley''; ) is a Welsh-language soap opera produced by the BBC since October 1974. The longest-running television soap opera produced by the BBC, ''Pobol y Cwm'' was originally transmitted on BBC Cymru (now B ...

'', and S4C's gangster drama ''

Y Pris ''Y Pris'' (English: ''The Price'') is a Welsh television crime drama, produced by Tinopolis, Fiction Factory for Welsh public service television station S4C. The series, described in its tagline as "''The Sopranos'' by the seaside", is set in C ...

''. Roberts' English-language television credits include the comedy series

Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible ''Dr Terrible's House of Horrible'' is a satirical British comedy horror anthology series created by Graham Duff, who co-wrote the series with Steve Coogan. BBC Two broadcast the series in 2001. The title parodies Amicus Productions' anthology fi ...

, the drama ''Border Café'', and several single-episode appearances in prime-time British shows such as ''The Bill'' and ''Casualty''. Roberts has starred in two films directed by her husband,

: ''

Snow Cake ''Snow Cake'' is a 2006 independent romantic comedy drama film directed by Marc Evans and starring Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Hampshire, and Callum Keith Rennie. It was released on 8 September 2006, in the United Kin ...

'' (2006), a drama focused on the friendship between a high-functioning autistic woman and a man traumatized after surviving a fatal car accident; and ''

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

'' (2009), a drama set in ''

Y Wladfa Y Wladfa (, 'The Colony'), also occasionally Y Wladychfa Gymreig (, 'The Welsh Settlement'), refers to the establishment of settlements by Welsh colonists and immigrants in the Argentine Patagonia, beginning in 1865, mainly along the coast of ...

'', Argentina. In 2009, Roberts starred as registrar Mary Finch in ''

Crash! ''Crash!'' is a 1977 film directed by Charles Band. It starred José Ferrer, Sue Lyon, John Ericson, Leslie Parrish, John Carradine and Reggie Nalder. Synopsis Jealous invalid husband (Ferrer) tries to kill sexy blond wife (Lyon), who uses oc ...

'', a hospital drama commissioned by

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, ...

and produced by

Tony Jordan Tony Jordan (born 21 July 1957) is a British television writer. For many years, he was lead writer and series consultant for BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders''. He has written over 250 episodes for the programme since 1989, including the 2008 S ...

. In 2010, Roberts guest-starred in the two-part ''

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 ...

Series 5 Series 5 may refer to: * Aston Martin V8 Series 5, an automobile model * BMW 5 Series, a line of automobiles * GeForce 5 Series, a line of video cards * Psion Series 5, a line of handheld computers * South African Class 6E1, Series 5, a series o ...

episode "

The Hungry Earth "The Hungry Earth" is the eighth episode of the Doctor Who (series 5), fifth series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast on 22 May 2010 on BBC One. It was written by Chris Chibnall, who had ...

/ Cold Blood". More big-screen productions followed: She appeared in Hattie Dalton's ''

Third Star ''Third Star'' is a 2010 British drama film directed by Hattie Dalton and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, JJ Feild, Tom Burke, Adam Robertson, and Hugh Bonneville.Reynolds, Simon (2011)Trailer: Benedict Cumberbatch's 'Third Star', Digital Spy ...

'' (2010) and in

Vertigo Films Vertigo Films is a British independent TV and Film production company founded in 2002 by Allan Niblo and James Richardson and joined a few years later by current CEO and partner, Jane Moore. The company has produced and distributed over 50 fe ...

' ''

The Facility ''The Facility'' is an American sports and entertainment talk show starring Emmanuel Acho, Chase Daniel, James Jones, and LeSean McCoy; all four hosts are former National Football League (NFL) players. The series premiered on Fox Sports 1 (FS1) ...

'' (2012), an atmospheric,

micro-budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a film, motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studios, major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream ci ...

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

film about

volunteers Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergenc ...

fighting for their lives after a drug trial goes wrong. In 2014, Roberts appeared in the fourth episode of ''

Y Gwyll ''Hinterland'' in the original Welsh language version is a Welsh Language noir police procedural series broadcast on S4C in Welsh from 29 October 2013. The main character, DCI Tom Mathias, is played by Richard Harrington. On 27 November 2 ...

'' (''Hinterland''), a highly acclaimed noir detective series shot in both Welsh and English.

Personal life

Roberts, her husband, and their daughter, Edith, live in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

. She is a supporter of

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

Personal website
*
Bio at BBC Mid-Wales
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Nia 1972 births Living people People from Brecon Alumni of the University of Birmingham Welsh stage actresses Welsh television actresses Welsh-speaking actors Actresses from Powys