Anna Friel

Birthday: 12 July 1976, Rochdale, Lancashire, England, UK

Birth Name: Anna Louise Friel

Height: 165 cm

Anna Friel is an English actress, born in Rochdale. She has been acting since the age of 13, appearing in a number of British television programmes. She made her West End stage debut in London in 2001, and has subsequently appeared on stage in several productions, including an adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's and as Yelena in a 2012 production of Chekhov's Uncle Van-ya. She is the recipient of a number of awards including National Television Award (1995), Drama Desk Award (1999), and the Royal Television Society Award (2009). She has also appeared in music videos and television and print media advertising campaigns and is the recipient of an honorary degree from the University of Bolton. Show less «

And the most important thing - apart from telling a good, believable story, and being a true charact...Show more »

And the most important thing - apart from telling a good, believable story, and being a true character - is to be someone the audience will care about, even if you're playing a murderer or rapist. Show less «

It's really important to draw the line on what we do as actors.

Being a mother gives you an incredible feeling of empowerment, you think if I can go through such pa...Show more »

Being a mother gives you an incredible feeling of empowerment, you think if I can go through such pain and that level of sleep and still operate and not be grumpy you can do anything. It can be quite scary, you can't function your brain, forget your vocabulary. Show less «

I play a character every day of my life, and I don't want to play a character as myself. They can ju...Show more »

I play a character every day of my life, and I don't want to play a character as myself. They can judge me as an actress, not as a person. I'm not a spokeswoman for Anna. Show less «

For me personally, everything is on a kiss.

You can see when an actor gets bored: Their eyes go dead. I promised myself I'd never let that happe...Show more »

You can see when an actor gets bored: Their eyes go dead. I promised myself I'd never let that happen. If it does, I'll go and live on a desert island for a year. Show less «

I've been onstage once for one performance with four days' rehearsal.

David is 13 years my senior and has much more experience.

Some producer suddenly grabbed my doughnut out of my hand. Then he said, 'Anna, you really shouldn't...Show more »

Some producer suddenly grabbed my doughnut out of my hand. Then he said, 'Anna, you really shouldn't be doing that'. He said, 'your tummy's not looking right on screen'. If it's just about that they should have hired a model. I mean, we're not talking about a big f**king tummy here! Show less «

Onstage, there's no hiding; you either can or can't act. There's no second take.

Now learning a bit more about footballers I think what they need to do well, is someone who really w...Show more »

Now learning a bit more about footballers I think what they need to do well, is someone who really wants to stay in the background and just be a strong support. Show less «

For Closer, we've had five weeks. You go into every single word because it's very, very concentrated...Show more »

For Closer, we've had five weeks. You go into every single word because it's very, very concentrated dialogue. Show less «

I've always chosen incredibly different roles and things that are quite offbeat. That way you're not...Show more »

I've always chosen incredibly different roles and things that are quite offbeat. That way you're not limited. Show less «

I want more children but for the next three years I want to act.

The doctors say it dates back to a film where I had these huge prosthetic breasts because my charact...Show more »

The doctors say it dates back to a film where I had these huge prosthetic breasts because my character was breast-feeding. The weight of them, and of the baby, did my back in. Show less «

We will spend more time in America, we're going to get a place in LA as hotels aren't great for the ...Show more »

We will spend more time in America, we're going to get a place in LA as hotels aren't great for the baby. Show less «

Well it's hard to bracket it like that because everyone always thinks you either go to America and y...Show more »

Well it's hard to bracket it like that because everyone always thinks you either go to America and you come back, fail or succeed, but it doesn't work like that. Show less «

I look at being an actress as being like a mummy: You're bandaged up and preserved as soon as you st...Show more »

I look at being an actress as being like a mummy: You're bandaged up and preserved as soon as you start making other people money. Show less «

People became more interested in my love life than in me, and that has a certain effect. You start t...Show more »

People became more interested in my love life than in me, and that has a certain effect. You start to feel very empty and worth nothing, you start to become a piece in a board game you never wanted to play. Show less «

I have the most lovely, healthy bouncing baby, she was all very compact and the right size.

As long as she is talented enough and passionate about doing it herself then I will be happy and sup...Show more »

As long as she is talented enough and passionate about doing it herself then I will be happy and support her. I think I will be sensible - my parents said I could only do it if I got my education and so I had something to fall back on. Show less «

Anna Friel

Anna Friel's FILMOGRAPHY

Anna Friel'S roles

Feedback about this page?