:Alexandra Roach
{{Short description|Welsh actress (born 1987)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Alexandra Roach
| image =
| birth_name = Alexandra Elizabeth Roach
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1987|8|20|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales
| education = Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (B.A., 2010)
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 2003–present
| spouse = {{marriage|Jack Scales|2018}}
}}
Alexandra Elizabeth Roach (born 20 August 1987){{cite tweet|user=alexandraroach1|author=Alexandra Roach|number=502003632280465408|date=20 August 2014|title=Getting spoilt at work this morning for my birthday... Thanks to the best ADs @likeasalmon, @LucyGoughJones}} is a Welsh actress best known for her roles as Becky in Utopia and DS Joy Freers in No Offence. She has also made appearances in series including Being Human, Inside No. 9, Black Mirror and Killing Eve.
Life and career
Roach was born in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales. A number of her relatives, including her father Jeff (who went on to work for the Welsh Rugby Union), her brother and her sister, have been part of the police force at one point. A fluent Welsh speaker, Roach appeared in long-running television soap Pobol y Cwm in her early teens and won Best Juvenile Actor in a Soap at the Children in Entertainment Awards.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2775561.stm |title=Young actress wins soap award |publisher=BBC News |date=18 February 2003 |access-date=23 February 2012}} After leaving the series in 2005, she spent time with the National Youth Theatre of Wales before going on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
She has described how her Welsh accent counted against her in an early audition for a television role. "This old guy was the director and he was so well spoken, and he asked me where I was from, and I told him: 'Wales, Swansea,' and he just blanked me and turned to the casting director and said, 'oh no, she's not right'" ... So I said, 'I'm not going to do it in this voice, I'm going to do it with an English accent,' and he was like, 'no, honestly, there's no point'. He just wouldn't look at me, he wasn't listening to me."{{cite web|url=https://www.fabricmagazine.co.uk/people/interview-alexandra-roach/|title=Interview: Alexandra Roach|date=January 2020|author=Liz Skone James|website=Fabric Magazine|access-date=5 December 2020}}
In May 2010 Roach appeared in The Door Never Closes by Rex Obano at the Almeida Theatre.{{cite web|url=https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/the-door-never-closes/25-may-2010-28-may-2010|title=The Door Never Closes|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-date=19 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119173434/https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/the-door-never-closes/25-may-2010-28-may-2010|url-status=dead}} A number of high-profile roles followed, including Sasha in Being Human, Beth Partridge in Candy Cabs, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (in which she played notorious child murderer Constance Kent).
Roach starred as a young Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady.{{cite news|first1=Natalie|last1=Grice|access-date=7 August 2019|title=Mining town actor's Thatcher role|work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-16247814|date=27 December 2011|via=BBC}} She appeared as Helene in Sky Comedy's Hunderby in autumn 2012,{{cite web|url=http://skyatlantic.sky.com/hunderby/comedys-a-list-join-hunderby-cast|title=Comedy's A-List Join Julia Davis' Hunderby|access-date=24 September 2012|publisher=Sky.com}} and was cast as Molly in the film adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's 2003 novel Private Peaceful.{{cite web|last=Cooper |first=Sarah |url=http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/screen-star-alexandra-roach-joins-all-british-cast-of-private-peaceful/5031009.article |title=Screen Star Alexandra Roach joins all British cast of Private Peaceful |publisher=Screendaily.com |date=19 August 2011 |access-date=23 February 2012}} She was included on the Screen International "Stars of Tomorrow" list in 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.screendaily.com/news/uk-ireland/screen-unveils-2011-stars-of-tomorrow/5029362.article |title=Screen unveils 2011 Stars of Tomorrow|publisher=Screendaily.com |date=30 June 2011 |access-date=23 February 2012}} In 2013, she starred in the British TV series Utopia.
On 3 June 2013, Roach appeared in the fifth episode of the ITV comedy Vicious, as Ash's vegan girlfriend Chloe. She returned to the role for one episode in June 2015. On 8 August 2014, she appeared in the inaugural episode of the BBC One TV comedy drama film Walter, in which she played a Welsh-speaking detective.{{cite web|url=https://golwg.360.cymru/newyddion/cymru/157386-cymeriad-sy-n-siarad-cymraeg-ar-bbc-1-heno|title=Cymeriad sy'n siarad Cymraeg ar BBC 1 heno|date=8 August 2015|website=Golwg360|access-date=5 December 2020|language=cy}} In 2015 she starred in the TV series No Offence as DS Joy Freers.
In 2016, she became engaged to club promoter Jack Scales,{{cite web|url =https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/22/alexandra-roach-im-not-a-movie-star-yet/|title =Alexandra Roach: 'I'm not a movie star. Yet'|last =Curtis|first =Nick|date =21 April 2016|website =The Daily Telegraph|access-date =29 January 2017}} whom she later married.{{cite web|url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/who-killing-eves-new-villain-18323164|title=Who is Killing Eve's new villain Rhian? Everything about Welsh actress Alexandra Roach|date=28 May 2020|author=Nathan Bevan|website=WalesOnline|access-date=5 December 2020}}
Roach was a presenter at the 2017 BAFTA Cymru Awards ceremony.{{cite web|url=https://www.bafta.org/cy/cymru/gwobrau/cyhoeddir-enillwyr-gwobraur-academi-brydeinig-yng-nghymru-2017|title=Cyhoeddi'r Enillwyr: Gwobrau'r Academi Brydeinig yng Nghymru 2017|date=8 October 2017|website=BAFTA|access-date=5 December 2020|language=cy}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 2011
| Young Margaret Thatcher | |
| rowspan="5"|2012
| Electric Cinema: How to Behave | Modern Day Woman | Short film |
| Private Peaceful
| Molly Monks | |
| Anna Karenina
| Countess Nordston | |
| Night of the Loving Dead
| Felicity | Short film |
| Girls' Night Out
| |
| rowspan="3"|2013
| Do | |
| One Chance
| Julie-Ann Cooper: Mrs. Paul Potts | |
| That Night
| Girl | Short film |
| rowspan="2"|2014
| Helen | |
| Testament of Youth
| |
| rowspan="2"|2016
| Doreena | |
| Pregnant Pause
| Steph | Short film |
| 2017
| Memento Mori | | Short film |
| 2018
| The Orgy | Meg | Short film |
| rowspan="2"|2019
| Miss Foster | |
| A Guide to Second Date Sex
| Laura | |
| 2022
| Amanda | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 2001–2005
| Elin Owen | |
| 2010
| Stenographer | Episode: "Reynholm vs Reynholm" |
| rowspan="4"|2011
| Sasha | Episode: "Type 4" |
| Candy Cabs
| Beth Partridge | 3 episodes |
| New Tricks
| Nina Ward | Episode: "Moving Target" |
| The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
| Episode: "The Murder at Road Hill House" |
| 2012
| Loserville | Kathryn | Television film |
| 2012–2015
| Hunderby | Helene | 10 episodes |
| 2013
| Hester Barrow | Television film |
| 2013–2014
| Utopia | Becky | Main role, 11 episodes |
| 2013, 2015
| Vicious | Chloe | 2 episodes: "Dinner Party" (2013), and "Stag Do" (2015) |
| rowspan="3"|2014
| Mae Rose Cottage | Television film (BBC) |
| Walter
| DC Anne Hopkins | Television film |
| Crackanory
| Montserrat Bligh | Episode: "Man's Best Friend & Return to Sender" |
| 2015–2018
| DS Joy Freers | Main cast, 16 episodes |
| rowspan="2"|2017
| Nina | Episode: "The Riddle of the Sphinx" |
| Black Mirror
| Carrie | Episode: "Black Museum" |
| 2018
| On the Edge | Becca | Mini-series. Episode: "That Girl" |
| 2018–2019
| Felicity | 2 episodes: "Roger the Carer" and "The Lemming Family" |
| rowspan="2"|2019
| Sanditon | Diana Parker | 7 episodes |
| Sticks and Stones
| Jess | Mini-series, 3 episodes{{Citation|title=Sticks and Stones (TV Mini-Series 2019) – IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt9145476/fullcredits|access-date=17 May 2021}} |
| rowspan="3"|2020
| Bethan Miller | Episode: "Murder on Mosquito Island" |
| Killing Eve
| Rhian | 2 episodes: "Beautiful Monster",{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11376854/|title="Killing Eve" Beautiful Monster (TV Episode 2020) – IMDb|publisher=IMDb|access-date=25 May 2020}} and "Are You Leading or Am I?" |
| Zog and the Flying Doctors
| Sunburnt Mermaid (voice) | Television film |
| 2021
| Zoe Sterling | Mini-series, 5 episodes |
| 2022
| Y Golau (The Light in the Hall) | Cat | 6 episodes |
| rowspan="2"|2023
| Bodies | Maggie | Mini-series, 3 episodes |
| Men Up
| Ffion Jenkins | Television film |
| 2024
| Abby Aysgarth | Six-part BBC One series{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/nightsleeper-alexandra-roach-joe-cole-bbc-drama|title=Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole board BBC drama Nightsleeper|website=bbc.co.uk/mediacentre|access-date=24 April 2023}} |
| TBA
| Jenna Lazarus |
=Video games=
- Du Lac & Fey: Dance of Death (2019), as Mary Jane Kelly (voice role)
- Elden Ring (2022), as Asimi (voice role)
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=3789989|name=Alexandra Roach}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roach, Alexandra}}
Category:21st-century Welsh actresses
Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Category:People from Ammanford
Category:Welsh soap opera actresses
Category:Welsh television actresses