Anne-Marie Duff
{{Short description|British actress (born 1970)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anne-Marie Duff
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}
| image = BAFTA 2007 (387030334).jpg
| caption = Duff in 2007
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1970|10|08|df=y}}{{cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2022/10/08/Famous-birthdays-for-Oct-8-Bella-Thorne-Chevy-Chase/4741665185464/|title=Famous birthdays for Oct. 8: Bella Thorne, Chevy Chase|date=October 8, 2022|work=UPI|access-date=2023-03-05}}
| birth_place = London, England{{cite news |last=Lane |first= Harriet |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/feb/08/theatre2 |title=Real-life romance |work= The Observer |date= 8 February 2004 |access-date=31 July 2009}}
| education = Drama Centre London (BA)
| occupation = {{hlist|Actress|narrator}}
| years_active = 1997–present
| spouse = {{marriage|James McAvoy|2006|2016|end=div}}
| children = 1
}}
Anne-Marie Duff (born 8 October 1970) is an English actress and narrator. She is best known for her BAFTA nominated television roles in Shameless and The Virgin Queen, and her performance as Grace Williams in Bad Sisters, for which she won the Best Supporting Actress BAFTA in 2024.
Early life and education
Duff was born in London on 8 October 1970, the younger of two children of Irish immigrants: her father, a painter and decorator at Fuller's Brewery in Chiswick, was from County Meath and her mother was from County Donegal and worked in a shoe shop.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/actors/anne-marie-duff-starting-divorce-sexually-charged-role/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/actors/anne-marie-duff-starting-divorce-sexually-charged-role/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title = Anne-Marie Duff on starting over, divorce and her sexually charged role|newspaper = The Telegraph|date = 20 May 2017|last1 = Day|first1 = Elizabeth}}{{cbignore}}{{Cite web|title=Desert Island Discs - Anne-Marie Duff - BBC Sounds|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b09wr9q7|access-date=2022-01-26|website=www.bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB}} The family lived in Southall, London, and Duff attended Mellow Lane School. While at school, she joined the school choir, where she discovered she could 'really sing'. She paid for singing lessons with a woman who taught classical singing, who made a huge impact. Duff initially thought about pursuing a career as a singer and talked about it in great depth with her teacher, who looked at her and said, 'I think you have the soul of an actor.'{{Cite web|title=Desert Island Discs - Anne-Marie Duff - BBC Sounds|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b09wr9q7|access-date=2022-01-26|website=www.bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB}} At an early age, Duff attended a local youth theatre, Young Argosy, linked to the Argosy Players, in order to battle her shy nature; she soon became hooked on the stage. After further study of Film and Theatre, at the age of 19, she attended the Drama Centre in London, alongside John Simm, Anastasia Hille and her good friend Paul Bettany.{{cite news | last=Lane | first=Harriet | title=Harriet Lane meets Shameless star Anne-Marie Duff | work=The Guardian | date=8 February 2004 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/feb/08/theatre2 | access-date=28 December 2022}}
Career
=Screen work=
{{BLP more citations needed|section|date= February 2025}}
After graduating from Drama Centre, Duff made her first television appearance in ITV drama Trial & Retribution as Cathy Gillingham for two episodes in 1997. She later made appearances in series such as Amongst Women, in Aristocrats as Lady Louisa Lennox and in 2003 BBC television film Charles II: The Power and the Passion as Henrietta of England. She first came to the attention of the British public in 2002 for her work playing Margaret in The Magdalene Sisters.{{Cite web |title=Anne-Marie Duff |url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0240359/bio |access-date=2022-11-05 |website=IMDb}} She also had a minor role in Holby City as Alison McCarthy. Duff played
Holly in the first series of Simon Nye sitcom, Wild West, alongside Dawn French and Catherine Tate in 2002. In 2002, Duff appeared in her first major film role as Margaret McGuire in The Magdalene Sisters.
Duff's first critical acclaim came for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in the lavish 2005 BBC television miniseries The Virgin Queen, which also starred Tom Hardy, Emilia Fox and Sienna Guillory. For Elizabeth I, she was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress in both 2006 and 2007. She was awarded the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress for her work in the 2007 television film The History of Mr Polly.
Following her breakthrough, Duff started working in films, first appearing in Notes on a Scandal, alongside Judi Dench. After film roles in Irish film Garage and The Waiting Room, she next appeared in a main role in comedy film French Film and Is Anybody There? in 2008. In 2009, Duff received further attention when she played the mother of John Lennon, Julia Stanley, a role for which she won British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress in Nowhere Boy. She also appeared in The Last Station, a biopic about Leo Tolstoy's later years, in which she played his devoted daughter Sasha. She appeared in less-known film roles following this before her appearance in the 2014 film Before I Go to Sleep. Throughout this time, Duff continued to appear on mainstream television in Parade's End, a five-part BBC/HBO/VRT television serial adapted from the tetralogy of eponymous novels (1924–1928) by Ford Madox Ford as Edith Duchemin and in BBC One crime drama From Darkness which premiered in October 2015, appearing in the starring role. Of Duff's performance, Metro stated "Not a fan of police procedural dramas? Good, because this ain't that. From Darkness is a character-driven tale of one women's journey and resolve and it includes a bloody brilliant performance by Duff."{{cite web|last1=Lewis|first1=Rebecca|title=Everything you need to know about Anne-Marie Duff's BBC thriller from Darkness|url=http://metro.co.uk/2015/10/04/from-darkness-everything-you-need-to-know-about-anne-marie-duffs-dark-new-bbc-thriller-5420778/|website=Metro.co.uk|access-date=1 September 2016|date=4 October 2015}}
In 2015, she played Violet Miller in the film Suffragette, a working-woman who introduces Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) to the fight for women's rights in east London.
File:Anne-Marie Duff at the press night for the Royal Exchange Theatre's Husbands & Sons.jpg's play Husbands & Sons in 2016]]
In 2016, Duff was cast in an BBC animated miniseries of Watership Down, alongside her former husband James McAvoy. It premiered in December 2018; Duff appeared as Hyzenthlay. In 2019, Duff once again appeared with McAvoy in the BBC One and HBO adaption of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials.
In 2020, Duff portrayed Erin Wiley, the estranged heroin addict mother of established character Maeve in the second season of the Netflix original series Sex Education. She later returned to the role for the third season. In June 2020, Duff appeared in a main role as Tracy Daszkiewicz in three-part drama The Salisbury Poisonings. The series portrays the 2018 Novichok poisoning crisis in Salisbury, England, and the subsequent Amesbury poisonings.
Duff narrated the BBC Two documentary Hospital in 2017.
=Stage work=
An accomplished theatre actor, she has worked extensively with the Royal National Theatre, including its 1996 production of Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, and also in London's West End (Vassa, Collected Stories). Credits at the National Theatre include Collected Stories, King Lear and the title character in Marianne Elliott's production of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan to great acclaim.{{cite news|last=Billington |first =Michael |url= http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/drama/reviews/story/0,,2124174,00.html |title= Saint Joan |work=The Guardian |date= 12 July 2007 |access-date=31 July 2009}}{{cite news |last=Brown |first=Peter |url=https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/reviews/saint-joan |title=Saint Joan |work=LondonTheatre.co.uk |date= 13 July 2007 |access-date=31 July 2009}} In 2011 she played Alma Rattenbury in Terence Rattigan's final play Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic, directed by Thea Sharrock.{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12850940 |title=Anne-Marie Duff on Rattigan revival |first=Tim |last=Masters |work=BBC News |date=27 March 2011|access-date=27 March 2011}}
Duff was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2000.
Personal life
Duff married Scottish actor James McAvoy in 2006, and gave birth to their son in 2010.{{cite web|last=Mcdonald |first=Toby |title=Doting mum Anne-Marie Duff reveals toddler's name |url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/2011/04/24/doting-star-anne-marie-duff-reveals-tot-s-name-86908-23083943/ |work=Sunday Mail |access-date=13 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120113141628/http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/2011/04/24/doting-star-anne-marie-duff-reveals-tot-s-name-86908-23083943/ |archive-date=13 January 2012 |date=24 April 2011 |url-status=live |df=dmy }} On 13 May 2016, Duff and McAvoy announced they were divorcing.{{cite web |url=http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/james-mcavoy-and-wife-anne-marie-duff-to-divorce-read-statement-w206500 |work=US Weekly |title=James McAvoy and Wife Anne-Marie Duff to Divorce: See Their Statement |last=Marquina |first=Sierra |date=13 May 2016 |access-date=13 May 2016}} To minimise disruption to their son's life, they initially shared a home in North London when not working elsewhere.[https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/james-mcavoy-man-of-many-faces-adds-another-23-in-split-20170110-gtotrt.html Andrew Purcell] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403215337/https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/james-mcavoy-man-of-many-faces-adds-another-23-in-split-20170110-gtotrt.html |date=3 April 2019 }}, "James McAvoy, man of many faces, adds another 24 in Split", The Age, 13 January 2017
She admits to being "a hopeless romantic. And that means sometimes I'll burn with pain as well as burn with desire, I will. 'Cos that's the nature of opening your heart up to someone else ... This sounds ironic, of course, but sometimes in a marriage you are never closer than the moment at which the two of you decide it's time to finish."{{Cite web|title=Desert Island Discs - Anne-Marie Duff - BBC Sounds|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b09wr9q7|access-date=2022-01-26|website=www.bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB}}
Duff was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to drama.{{Cite web |title=New Year Honours: Gareth Southgate, Stephen Fry and Olympians on list |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ln96d4yyeo |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=www.bbc.com |date=30 December 2024 |language=en-GB}}{{London Gazette
| issue = 64607
| date = 30 December 2024
| page = N12
| supp = y
}}
Activism
In 2007, she was one of nine female celebrities to take part in the What's it going to take? campaign promoting awareness of domestic abuse in the United Kingdom.{{Cite web|title=Women's Aid official collectable card by philropy|url=https://www.womensaid.org.uk/womens-aid-collectable-card-by-phil-ropy/|access-date=2021-10-22|website=Women's Aid|language=en-GB}}
Acting credits
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Production ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1998
| Mild and Bitter | The Woman | Short film |
| 2001
| Enigma | Kay | |
| 2002
| Margaret | |
| 2006
| Annabel | |
| rowspan="2"|2007
| Garage | Carmel | |
| The Waiting Room
| Anna | |
| rowspan="2"|2008
| Mum | |
| French Film
| Sophie | |
| rowspan="2"|2009
| Sasha Tolstoy | |
| Nowhere Boy
| |
| 2012
| Sanctuary | Maire | |
| 2013
| Melissa | |
| 2014
| Claire | |
| rowspan="2"|2015
|Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism | Librarian (Lucy Logan) | |
| Suffragette
| Violet Miller | |
| 2016
| Miranda's Letter | Mother | Short film |
| 2017
| Marjorie Mayhew | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Production ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1997
| Cathy Gillingham | Series 1; episodes 1 & 2: "Trial & Retribution I" - Parts 1 & 2 |
| 1998
| Sheila | Mini-series; episodes 1–4 |
| 1999
| Lady Louisa | Mini-series; episodes 2–5 |
| 2000
| Reach for the Moon | Cath Bird | Mini-series; unknown episodes |
| 2001
| Georgiana Longestaffe | Mini-series; episodes 1–4 |
| rowspan="4"|2002
| Sinners | Anne Marie / Theresa | Television film |
| Holby City
| Alison McCarthy | Series 4; episode 32: "Lives Worth Living" |
| Wild West
| Holly | Series 1; episodes 1–6 |
| Doctor Zhivago
| Olya Demina | Mini-series; episodes 1 & 2 |
| 2003
| Charles II: The Power and the Passion | Minette (Henrietta of England) | Mini-series; episode 3 |
| 2004–2005, 2013
| Main role. Series 1 & 2; 18 episodes, & series 11; episode 14 |
| 2005–2006
| Mini-series; episodes 1–4 |
| 2006
| Michelle | Television film |
| 2007
| Miriam Larkins | Television film |
| 2008
| Herself - Narrator | Mini-series; episodes 1–3 |
| 2009
| Margot | Television film |
| rowspan="2"|2012
| Accused | Mo Murray | Series 2; episode 2: "Mo's Story" |
| Parade's End
| Edith Duchemin | Mini-series; episodes 1–3 & 5 |
| 2015
| Claire Church | Mini-series; episodes 1–4 |
| 2016
| Murder {{Cite web |title=BBC Two - Murder |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074m1s4 |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}} | DCI Mirella Goss | Mini-series; episode 2: "Lost Weekend" |
| 2017
| Hospital | Herself - Narrator | Series 1; episodes 1–6 |
| 2018
| Hyzenthlay (voice) | Mini-series; episodes 1–4 |
| 2019
| Ma Costa | Series 1; episodes 1–3, 5 & 6 |
| 2020
| Mini-series; episodes 1–3{{cite web |last1=McIntosh |first1=Steven |title=TV drama revisits Salisbury poison attack 'horror' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52962640 |website=BBC News |access-date=14 June 2020 |date=14 June 2020}} |
| 2020–2021
| Erin Wiley | Netflix Original series 2 & 3; 13 episodes |
| rowspan="2"|2022–2024
| Suspect | Dr. Susannah Newman | Series 1 & 2; 16 episodes |
| Bad Sisters
| Grace Williams / Grace Reilly | Apple TV+ series 1 & 2; 14 episodes |
| 2024
| The Read | Herself - Narrator | Series 3; episode 2: "A Christmas Carol"{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2024/52/a-christmas-carol-the-read|title=A Christmas Carol: The Read with Anne-Marie Duff|website=bbc.co.uk/mediacentre|accessdate=9 December 2024}} |
| 2025
| Reunion | Christine Mokhtar |
=Radio and audio=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Production ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1997
| The Playboy of the Western World | Sarah Tansey | Radio drama |
| 1998
| Viola | |
| rowspan="2"|2000
| The Art of Love | Cypassis | |
| Diary of a Provincial Lady
| Mamselle | Radio series |
| 2001
| A Time That Was | Sim | rowspan="3"|Radio drama |
| rowspan="2"|2003
| Stranges and Brothers | Rosalind |
| Carmilla
| Laura |
| rowspan="2"|2004
| Life Half Spent | Joanne | Radio play |
| Jane Eyre
| Narrator | Radio drama |
| rowspan="2"|2005
| Ears Wide Open | Diane | |
| Othello
| Desdemona | Audiobook |
| rowspan="3"|2006
| The Queen at 80 | Narrator | Radio series |
| The Possessed
| Liza / Marya | Radio drama |
| Look Back in Anger
| Alison | Rehearsed reading |
| 2007
| Kingdom of the Golden Dragon | rowspan="4"|Narrator | rowspan="8"|Radio drama |
| 2008 |
| 2009 |
| 2010 |
| 2011
| Alma Rattenbury |
| rowspan="2"|2015
| Kingdom of Cloud | Juliet |
| The Master and Margarita
| Margarita |
| 2017 |
| rowspan="2"|2020
| rowspan="4"|Narrator | rowspan="4"|Audiobook |
| The Mill on the Floss |
| 2021
| The Absolute Book |
| 2022
| Unmade Movies: Dennis Potter's The White Hotel |
=Theatre=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Production ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| rowspan="2"|1994
| Maud Ruthyn | |
| The Mill on the Floss
| First Maggie | |
| 1995
| La Grande Magia | Amelia | |
| 1995–1996
| Wendy | |
| 1996
| Natasha | |
| 1997–1998
| Cordelia | |
| 1999
| Vassa | Lyudmila | |
| 1999–2000
| Lisa | |
| 2000
| Nora | |
| 2002
| Minnie | |
| 2004
| The Playboy of the Western World | Pegeen Mike | |
| 2005
| Mona | |
| rowspan="2"|2007
| The Soldier's Fortune | Lady Dunce | Young Vic, London |
| Saint Joan
| Joan |
| 2011
| Alma Rattenbury | Old Vic, London |
| 2012
| Berenice | Berenice | Donmar Warehouse, London |
| rowspan="2"|2013
| Nina Leeds | National Theatre, London{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/jun/05/strange-interlude-review | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Michael | last=Billington | title=Strange Interlude – review | date=5 June 2013}} |
| Macbeth
| Broadway debut, Lincoln Center Theater |
| 2015
| Husbands & Sons | Lizzie Holroyd | Co-production between National Theatre, London and Royal Exchange, Manchester |
| 2016
| May | Almeida Theatre, London |
| rowspan="2"|2017
| Mary | Royal National Theatre, London |
| Heisenberg {{Cite web |url=https://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/tickets/heisenberg/ |title=Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle - About the Show - Delfont Mackintosh Theatres |access-date=24 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011041318/https://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/tickets/heisenberg/ |archive-date=11 October 2017 |url-status=dead }}
| Georgie | Wyndhams Theatre, London |
| 2018
| Lady Macbeth | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2019
| Charity Hope Valentine | Donmar Warehouse, London |
| 2022
| The House of Shades {{Cite web |title=The House of Shades |url=https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/the-house-of-shades/7-may-2022-18-jun-2022 |access-date=2022-08-16 |website=Almeida Theatre |language=en}} | Constance Webster | Almeida Theatre, London |
| 2024–2025
| Regina Giddens | Young Vic, London |
Awards and nominations
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20180214094249/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bbe4e3898 Duff] at the British Film Institute
- {{IMDb name|0240359}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Anne-Marie Duff
|list =
{{British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress}}
{{British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress}}
{{Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress}}
{{Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress}}
{{Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress}}
{{Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical Performance}}
{{London Film Critics Circle Award for British Supporting Actress of the Year}}
{{Magnolia Award for Best Actress}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duff, Anne-Marie}}
Category:Actresses from London
Category:Alumni of the Drama Centre London
Category:British people of Irish descent
Category:English film actresses
Category:English people of Irish descent
Category:English radio actresses
Category:British Shakespearean actresses
Category:English stage actresses
Category:English television actresses
Category:English voice actresses
Category:Actors from the London Borough of Ealing
Category:20th-century English actresses
Category:21st-century English actresses
Category:Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award (television) winners