Early life

Friel was born in Rochdale, in Greater Manchester. Her mother Julie (née Bamford) is a special needs teacher, and her father Desmond "Des" Friel was a French teacher who now owns a web design company. Friel's father is Irish Catholic, born in Belfast and growing up in County Donegal. He is a former folk guitarist. Her brother Michael is a physician, who in his youth did television advertising work for Hovis.

She attended Crompton House Church of England High School (in High Crompton), and later attended Holy Cross College (in Bury). She began her training as an actress at Oldham Theatre Workshop.

Acting career

1990s

At age 13, she was hired for her first professional acting job in the Channel 4 drama serial G.B.H., as the daughter of Michael Palin's character. Her performance led to a series of appearances on various British television shows, including Emmerdale. In 1992, she was added to the cast on the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside, where she increased her exposure in the role of Beth Jordache. She stayed on the programme for two years. Friel's on-air lesbian kiss with Nicola Stephenson was the first in British soap history, but not - as is often claimed - the first on British television, which occurred on the BBC 2 in 1974. In 1995, Friel won the National Television Award for Most Popular Actress for her work on Brookside.

In 1996, Friel gained even greater exposure when she appeared in the television film The Tribe by Stephen Poliakoff, which included nudity and a much discussed ménage à trois sex scene between characters played by Friel, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Jeremy Northam.

2000s

In 2001, she made her West End stage début in London in a fringe production of Lulu, which also transferred to Broadway.

Friel's film credits include playing Nick Leeson's wife Lisa in Rogue Trader opposite Ewan McGregor; David Leland's The Land Girls, which also starred Rachel Weisz and Catherine McCormack; Adam Collis Sunset Strip as Tammy Franklin, opposite Jared Leto, Simon Baker and Nick Stahl; All for Love with Richard E. Grant; A Midsummer Night's Dream as Hermia, opposite Christian Bale, Dominic West and Calista Flockhart; Timeline as Gerard Butler's object of affection; Me Without You opposite Michelle Williams; and Goal! and Goal II: Living the Dream.

Her television work includes the short lived The Jury for the Fox and ITV1's Watermelon which was based on the novel by Marian Keyes. In 2007, she started playing Charlotte "Chuck" Charles in Pushing Daisies, a new television series from the creator of Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, on the American network ABC. Although popular with critics, in November 2008, creator Bryan Fuller stated that it had been cancelled due to poor ratings. The show ran for two seasons. Following the series' cancellation, Friel was offered six pilots during the next pilot season but declined all six roles in favour of focusing on her film career.

In November 2006, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Bolton for contributions to the performing arts.

Henry Bond's photograph depicts Anna with David Thewlis. The couple were reported to have been paid £50,000 to appear in the autumn/winter 2001 advertising campaign for British fashion company Mulberry.

Friel co-starred in the critical and box office flop 2009 film Land of the Lost.

In September 2009, Friel starred in a West End adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. It was particularly noted for now including a nude scene which was not part of the original Breakfast at Tiffany's performance.

2010s

In April 2010, she was cast in the psychological thriller film The Dark Fields (now entitled Limitless and released in March 2011). In November 2010, Friel starred in London Boulevard alongside Ray Winstone, Colin Farrell, Keira Knightley and her then partner David Thewlis.

Friel appears in the video for the Manic Street Preachers' September 2010 single "(It's Not War) Just the End of Love" opposite Welsh actor Michael Sheen, with whom she co-starred in the 2003 film Timeline.

In January 2011, Friel appeared in an episode of the BBC series Come Fly with Me as a fictionalised version of herself. In the show she is bald and has lost her wig. In December of that year, she played the star role (Ellie Manning) in ITV's series drama Without You. That same month, she starred as Captain Elizabeth Bonny in the SyFy network's production of Neverland, a prequel to J.M. Barrie's classic story Peter Pan.

In March 2012, Friel began filming for The King of Soho, later renamed The Look of Love, a biographical movie about "porn baron" Paul Raymond, in which she plays Raymond's wife Jean alongside Steve Coogan as Raymond. She also starred in Public Enemies, a 3-part BBC television drama which aired in early 2012, opposite Daniel Mays. The two previously worked together during her appearance on The Street. It also featured Barnaby Kay, an actor whom she worked with in Without You.

In 2013 Friel was cast in Showtime's new drama The Vatican opposite Kyle Chandler. Anna Friel filmed Having You, a TV movie, opposite Andrew Buchan, in 2012, and it aired on Sky TV in early May 2013 for UK residents. Having You has been released on DVD and VOD.

Friel is cast in the lead role of Sergeant Odelle Ballard in NBC's American Odyssey, which began in April 2015.

Personal life

In 2001, Friel began a relationship with actor David Thewlis, after the pair met on a flight to Cannes (contrary to popular belief, however, the two never married). In the same year Friel collapsed and was rushed to the hospital, needing emergency surgery and two blood transfusions for a ruptured ovarian cyst. It was later discovered that she suffers from endometriosis and would have great difficulty conceiving. However, she became pregnant and gave birth to Gracie Ellen Mary Thewlis on 9 July 2005 at Portland Hospital in London. Gracie was named after Gracie Fields, who was also from Rochdale, and her mother's grandmothers, Ellen and Mary. She has appeared along with her mother in the film Bathory.

In 2008, Friel began supporting the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign in support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

In December 2010, Friel and Thewlis separated after almost ten years together. Since 2011, Friel has been in a relationship with Welsh actor Rhys Ifans.

In 2014 she campaigned on behalf of the WWF wildlife charity.

She lives in Frome, Somerset.

Awards and nominations

• 2009 Royal Television Society North West Award - Best Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series for The Street
• 2008 Golden Globe - Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical Nomination for Pushing Daisies (nominee)
• 1999 Drama Desk Awards - Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for "Closer"
• 1995 TV Times Awards - Best Actress
• 1995 National Television Awards - Most Popular Actress for Brookside
• 1994 TV Quick Magazine - Best Newcomer
• Honorary degree, awarded by the University of Bolton.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1991	G.B.H.	Susan Nelson	TV mini-series
1992	Emmerdale	Poppy Bruce	Episodes
1993	Medics	Holly Jarrett	Episode (No. 3.3)
1993-1995	Brookside	Beth Jordache	Episodes
1995	The Imaginatively Titled Punt & Dennis Show		Episode (No. 2.1)
1996	Tales from the Crypt	Angelica	Episode ("About Face")
	Cadfael	Sioned	Episode ("A Morbid Taste for Bones")
1998	The Land Girls	Prue (Prudence)
	Our Mutual Friend	Bella Wilfer	Episodes (No. 1.1, No. 1.2)
	The Stringer	Helen
	The Tribe	Lizzie
	St. Ives	Flora Gilchrist
1999	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Hermia
	Rogue Trader	Lisa Leeson
	Mad Cows	Maddy
2000	Sunset Strip	Tammy Franklin
	An Everlasting Piece	Bronagh
2001	The Fear	Storyteller	Recurring
	The War Bride	Lily
	Me Without You	Marina
2002	Fields of Gold	Lucia Merritt	TV film
2003	Watermelon	Claire Ryan	TV film
	Last Rumba in Rochdale	Bodney	Voice actor
	Timeline	Lady Claire
2004	Perfect Strangers	Susie Wilding
2005	Goal!	Roz Harmison
2006	Irish Jam	Maureen
	Niagara Motel	Denise
2007	Goal! 2: Living the Dream...	Roz Harmison
	Rubbish	Isobel
2007-2009	Pushing Daisies	Charlotte "Chuck" Charles	Main cast
2008	Bathory	Countess Erzsébet Báthory
2009	Land of the Lost	Holly Cantrell
	The Street	Dee Purnell	Episodes (No. 3.2 and No. 3.3)
2010	London Boulevard	Briony
	Angel Makers	Lizzie
	You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger	Iris
2011	Neverland	Elizabeth Bonny	TV film
	Treasure Guards	Victoria Eckhart	TV film
	Come Fly with Me	Herself	Comedy series
	Without You	Ellie	TV Series
	Limitless	Melissa
2012	Public Enemies	Paula Radnor	Drama series
2013	The Vatican	Kayla Duffy	TV pilot
	Having You	Anna
	The Look of Love	Jean Raymond
2014	The Heavy Water War	Julie Smith	TV mini-series (titled The Saboteurs in the UK)
2014	Good People	Sarah
2015	American Odyssey	Sgt. Odelle Ballard	Lead role; TV series
2015	The Heavy Water War	Julie Smith
2015	Urban and the shed crew	Greta
2016	Marcella	Det Sgt Marcella Summers	Lead role; TV series

[ Source: Wikipedia ]