Lucy Cohu
{{short description|British actress (born 1968)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lucy Cohu
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| birthname = Lucy Ann Cohu
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|10|2|df=y}}
| birth_place = Swindon, Wiltshire, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| othername =
| occupation = Actress
| alma_mater = Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
| yearsactive = 1991–present
| homepage =
| spouse = {{marriage|Corey Johnson|1994|2005|reason=divorced}}
| children = 2
}}
Lucy Ann Cohu{{Pronunciation needed}} (born 2 October 1968) is an English stage and film actress, known for portraying Princess Margaret in The Queen's Sister, Evelyn Brogan in Cape Wrath and Alice Carter in Torchwood: Children of Earth.
Early life
Lucy Ann Cohu was born in Wiltshire in 1968. She attended a boarding school, Stamford High School, as a child, and went on to train at the Central School of Speech and Drama.{{cite news|title=I didn't get where I am today without... Lucy Cohu, 38, actress|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article5452402.ece|author=Jackson, Alan|work=The Times|date=10 January 2009|access-date=8 July 2009|location=London|archive-date=7 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607021544/https://www.the-tls.co.uk/|url-status=dead}}
Career
Before she made a living from acting she used to perform for children's parties. She has been quoted as saying that had she not found success as an actress she would have gone into children's nursing.{{cite web |author=Anna Macarthur |date=March 2006 |title=Brent people: A royal performance – Lucy Cohu |url=http://www.brent.gov.uk/news.nsf/0/4b62f99b6d235e308025711b003ad205!OpenDocument |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929091934/http://www.brent.gov.uk/news.nsf/0/4b62f99b6d235e308025711b003ad205%21OpenDocument |archivedate=29 September 2007 |accessdate=8 July 2009 |publisher=The Brent Magazine, Issue 52}}
= Television =
Cohu's first acting job after graduating from drama school was at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, in a production of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She made her television debut in an episode of Casualty. She went on to work extensively in television, including playing the role Major Jessica Bailey in the popular ITV show Soldier Soldier followed by many parts in British television. In 2005, she portrayed Princess Margaret in the semi-fictional version of her life, The Queen's Sister, for Channel 4, for which she was nominated for Emmy and BAFTA awards. She was widely praised for the role; for example, Variety disliked the "somewhat tawdry biopic", but said that "Cohu makes it all worth watching".{{cite news|title=The Queen's Sister|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117929811.html?categoryid=32&cs=1|author=Lowry, Brian|work=Variety|date=1 March 2006|access-date=21 April 2020|archive-date=21 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421112856/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117929811.html?categoryid=32&cs=1|url-status=live}} Cohu herself said she played Margaret like a proper woman with an insatiable and tremendous energy for life: previous images in her mind had been of a bloated and sick elderly princess confined to a wheelchair. She hoped the production hadn't offended anyone as she really liked the Queen.{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1496504/Channel-4s-shocking-portrayal-of-the-life-of-Princess-Margaret.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Hugh | last=Davies | title=Channel 4's shocking portrayal of the life of Princess Margaret | date=19 August 2005 | access-date=3 April 2018 | archive-date=19 October 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019230204/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1496504/Channel-4s-shocking-portrayal-of-the-life-of-Princess-Margaret.html | url-status=live }}
Cohu has also appeared in Cape Wrath, Ballet Shoes, as Theo Danes,[http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/08_august/11/ballet.shtml All-star cast dance onto BBC One in Ballet Shoes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109084444/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/08_august/11/ballet.shtml |date=9 November 2012 }} BBC Press Office. 2007-08-11, and Torchwood: Children of Earth, as Alice Carter, the daughter of Captain Jack Harkness. She played Madame Maigret in the ITV television series Maigret starring Rowan Atkinson.
= Film =
Cohu has appeared in several films, including Gosford Park and Becoming Jane.
= Theatre work =
In 2018 Cohu appeared in a production of Speaking in Tongues at the Duke of York's Theatre, opposite John Simm, Ian Hart and Kerry Fox.{{cite web|url=https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/award-winner-cohu-joins-speaking-in-tongues-106697/|title=Award-winner Cohu joins Speaking in Tongues|date=16 July 2009|publisher=OfficialLondonTheatre.com|accessdate=31 October 2017|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107015143/https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/award-winner-cohu-joins-speaking-in-tongues-106697/|url-status=live}} Cohu received positive reviews for this performance.{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/6243346/Speaking-in-Tongues-at-Duke-of-Yorks-Theatre-review.html | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Charles | last=Spencer | title=Speaking in Tongues at Duke of York's Theatre, review | date=29 September 2009 | access-date=3 April 2018 | archive-date=19 October 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019230308/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/6243346/Speaking-in-Tongues-at-Duke-of-Yorks-Theatre-review.html | url-status=live }} In February 2010 she began a five-week run in a production of An Enemy of the People at the Crucible Theatre, starring alongside Sir Antony Sher as Katrina Stockmann, and later appeared in Arthur Miller's Broken Glass at the Tricycle Theatre. She is due to appear in Dawn King’s play ‘The Trials’ at the Donmar Warehouse in London from 12 August 2022 to 27 August.
Personal life
Cohu lives in Kensal Green in Brent, London. Cohu was married to the actor Corey Johnson, but later divorced."I still pine for my lost love:interview Lucy Cohu : The Secret House of Death", The Mirror, 15 March 1996
Awards
In November 2008 Cohu won an international Emmy award for Best Actress for her role in the true-life drama Forgiven.{{cite news |title=British talent on a roll at Emmys|url=http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?British_talent_on_a_roll_at_Emmys&in_article_id=417600&in_page_id=7|newspaper=Metro |date=25 November 2008 |accessdate=8 July 2009}}
Filmography
=Television=
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Show ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| rowspan="1"| 1991
| Casualty | Theresa Johnson | One episode: "Beggars Can't Be Choosers" |
| rowspan="2"| 1992
| Lucy Howells | One episode: "Relative Values" |
| Sam Saturday
| Jill Connor | One episode: "On the Other Hand" |
| rowspan="1"| 1993
| Marianne Deroulard | |
| rowspan="2"| 1994
| A Very Open Prison | Reporter | |
| The Dwelling Place
| Isabelle Fischel | Three episodes: Episode 1.1, Episode 1.2, Episode 1.3 |
| rowspan="2"| 1995
| Loving | Violet | |
| Pie in the Sky
| Miss Watson | One episode: "Swan in His Pride" |
| rowspan="1"| 1996
| Magdelene Heller | Two episodes: "The Secret House of Death: Part 1", "The Secret House of Death: Part 2" |
| rowspan="5"| 1997
| Gina Johnson | Three episodes: "State of Mind", "Running to Hide", "Borrowed Time" |
| Rebecca
| Rebecca de Winter | |
| Casualty
| Jayne Bazeley | Five episodes |
| Queen: Made in Heaven
| Woman | |
| Soldier Soldier
| Major Jessica Bailey | Seven episodes |
| rowspan="1"| 1998
| Wycliffe | Sophie Cattran | One episode: "Standing Stone" |
| rowspan="1"| 1999
| RKO 281 | Uncredited |
| rowspan="1"| 2000
| Reach for the Moon | Amelia Marchant | Six episodes |
| rowspan="2"| 2002
| In Deep | Elinor | Two episodes: "Blood Loss: Part 1", "Blood Loss: Part 2" |
| The Real Jane Austen
| |
| rowspan="2"| 2003
| Red Cap | Megan Rhodes | One episode: "Cold War" |
| Sweet Medicine
| Anna Winterson | Five episodes |
| rowspan="1"| 2004
| The Bill | Philippa Manson | Nine episodes (2004–2005) |
| rowspan="1"| 2005
| |
| rowspan="2"| 2006
| Valerie Welling | |
| Coup!
| Amanda Mann | |
| rowspan="3"| 2007
| Evelyn Brogan | |
| Forgiven
| Liz | Won 2008 International Emmy award for Best Actress |
| Ballet Shoes
| Thea Dane | |
| rowspan="1"| 2008
| Mileva Einstein | |
| rowspan="3"| 2009
| Torchwood: Children of Earth | |
| Marple: A Pocket Full of Rye
| Pat Fortescue | |
| Murderland
| Sally | |
| rowspan="2"| 2010
| Rebecca Connelly | Two episodes: "Intent: Part 1", "Intent: Part 2" |
| Midsomer Murders
| Jenny Russell | One episode: "The Sword of Guillaume" |
| rowspan="1"| 2012
| Lewis | Marion Hammond | One episode: "Fearful Symmetry" (Series 6) |
| rowspan=1|2012, 2016
| Deborah Goren | |
| rowspan="2"|2013
| Atlantis | Circe |Two episodes: "Songs of Siren", "Touched by the Gods (Part 1)" |
| Inspector George Gently
| Margaret Turner | (Series 6) |
| rowspan="3"|2015
| Tess Henchard | |
| Charlie
| RTÉ mini-series; 3 episodes |
| Erotic Adventures Of Anaïs Nin
| Sky Documentary with Dramatic Reconstructions of events from her life. |
| rowspan="1"|2016
| Caroline Bamber |Episode 5.2 |
| rowspan="1"|2016–17
| Maigret | Madame Maigret |Four episodes: Maigret Sets a Trap, Maigret's Dead Man, Maigret's Night at the Crossroads and Maigret in Montmartre |
| 2019
|Miriam Petrukhin |6 episodes |
| 2020
| Rachel Sutherland |Series regular |
=Film=
| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%;" |
| Year
! Film ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| rowspan="1"| 1992
| Pressing Engagement | | |
| rowspan="1"| 2001
| Lottie | |
| rowspan="1"| 2007
| |
| rowspan="1"| 2011
| Constance Strickland | |
| rowspan="1"| 2014
| Nikki | |
| 2016
|Madame Maigret | |
| 2016
|Madame Maigret | |
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{IMDb name}}
{{International Emmy for Best Performance by an Actress}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohu, Lucy}}
Category:English film actresses
Category:English television actresses
Category:English stage actresses
Category:Actresses from Wiltshire
Category:Actresses from London
Category:People educated at Stamford High School, Lincolnshire
Category:Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Category:International Emmy Award for Best Actress winners