fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Lia Williams (born 26 November 1964) is an English actress and director, known for stage, film, and television appearances. She is noted for her role as Wallis Simpson in The Crown.

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Lia Williams
Born	(1964-11-26) 26 November 1964 (age 57) Birkenhead, Merseyside, England
Occupation	Actor, director
Years active	1984–present

Theatre career

Williams's breakthrough performance came in 1991 when she appeared in The Revengers' Comedies, for which she won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer and an Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy Performance. In 1993, she created the role of Carol in the London production of David Mamet's Oleanna. In 1997, Williams appeared opposite Michael Gambon in London's West End and on Broadway in David Hare's Skylight, (Olivier and Tony Award nominations). In 2001, Williams appeared again in the West End and on Broadway, playing Ruth in Harold Pinter's The Homecoming. Her long standing collaboration with Harold Pinter included roles in The Collection, Celebration, The Room, The Lover, The Hothouse and Old Times.

Other leading theatre performances include Rosalind in As You Like It for the RSC, Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular, Henryk Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea, and Pinter's Old Times, in which she alternated the roles of Anna and Kate with Kristin Scott Thomas.

As Clytemnestra in Robert Icke's 'Oresteia' Williams was nominated for both Olivier and Evening Standard Awards. Also for Robert Icke, she alternated the roles of Elizabeth I and Mary Stuart with Juliet Stevenson in 'Mary Stuart'.

In 2019, she played the role of Hannah Jelkes in the West End theatre production of Tennessee Williams' The Night of the Iguana at the Noel Coward Theatre opposite Clive Owen.

In Dublin, Williams appeared at the Gate Theatre as Alma in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale and Blanche du Bois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. She won The Irish Times best Actress Award for both roles.

Film and television

In 1993, Williams made her film debut in Michael Winner's Dirty Weekend. Winner chose her after seeing her in an Alan Ayckbourn play.[1] Subsequent film appearances have included supporting roles in Firelight (1997), Shot Through the Heart (1998), The King Is Alive (2000), Girl from Rio (2001), and The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (2007).

Leading television roles include Seaforth starring Williams and Linus Roache, The Russian Bride opposite Sheila Hancock and Douglas Hodge and the ITV comedy drama series Doc Martin with Martin Clunes.

Williams played the lead role in May 33rd for the BBC for which she won a FIPA Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA.

She played Wallis, Duchess of Windsor in the Netflix series The Crown, Nadia Herz in the second series of The Missing and starred in Kiri, a Channel 4 series, alongside Sarah Lancashire and Steven Mackintosh. Most recently she has played Dr Cooper in His Dark Materials and DSU Gemma Garland in the BBC six-part mystery thriller The Capture.

Director

Williams has been directing short films since 2002, her debut being Feathers (2002), which was based on a short story by Raymond Carver. In 2008, her short film The Stronger (2007) was nominated for the Best Short Film at the BAFTA Film Awards, and won Best Short Film at Raindance. In 2009, Williams directed Dog Alone, a dialogue-free short film which was broadcast as part of British Sky Broadcasting's Ten Minute Tales season. In 2016 she directed Nanabozhung, a feature-length documentary about the Batchewana First Nations, Canada.

On stage, she has also directed The Matchbox by Frank McGuinness for Liverpool Playhouse and the Tricycle Theatre and Ashes to Ashes as part of the Harold Pinter Season in the West End (2019).

In 2021, Williams directed an acclaimed production of Doubt by John Patrick Shanley at Chichester Festival Theatre, West Sussex.

Personal life

Lia Williams lives in London.

Work

Selected stage credits

Year	Play	Role	Awards and Nominations
1991	The Revengers' Comedies	Karen	Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer
1993	Oleanna	Carol
1996	Skylight[2]	Kyra Hollis	Theatre World Special Award for Best Ensemble Performance (shared with Michael Gambon and Christian Camargo) Nominated – Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play Nominated – Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress Nominated – Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
2001	The Homecoming	Ruth
2005	As You Like It	Rosalind
2007	Absurd Person Singular	Eva
2008	The Lady from the Sea	Ellida Wangel
2009	God of Carnage	Véronique
2010	Earthquakes in London	Sarah
2013	Old Times	Kate/Anna
2014	The Father	Anne
2015	Oresteia	Clytemnestra	Nominated - Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress Nominated - Evening Standard Award for Best Actress
2016	Mary Stuart	Queen Elizabeth I / Mary, Queen of Scots
2018	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie	Jean Brodie
2019	The Night of the Iguana	Hannah Jelkes
2022	John Gabriel Borkman	Ella Rentheim

Selected television credits

Year	Title	Role	Awards and Nominations
1984	Annika	Karen
1992	Nightingales	Mary
1993	Mr Wroe's Virgins	Joanna
1994	Seaforth	Paula Longman
1997	The Uninvited	Melissa Gates
2001	The Russian Bride	Natasha Cherniavskaya	Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels Award for Best Actress
2003	Sparkling Cyanide	Ruth Lessing
2004	May 33rd	Ella Wilson	Nominated – British Academy Television Award for Best Actress Nominated – Royal Television Society Award for Best Actress
2005	A Touch Of Frost	Sylvia Ford
2006	Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs	Nellie Bligh
2009	Doc Martin	Edith Montgomery	Series Regular, Season 4
2012	Secret State	Laura Duchenne
2013	Lewis	Emma Barnes	Guest Star, 2 episodes
2015	Midsomer Murders	Maggie Markham	Guest Star, 1 episode
2016–2017, 2022	The Crown	Wallis, Duchess of Windsor	Main role (Seasons 1–2); Guest role (Season 5)
2016	The Missing	Nadia Herz
2019–present	The Capture	DSU Gemma Garland
2019	His Dark Materials	Dr Cooper
2020	Riviera	Dr Emilie Mathieu	Season 3, 2 episodes
2021	Death in Paradise	Grace Verdinikov	Guest Star, 2 episodes

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role
1993	Dirty Weekend	Bella
1996	Different for Girls	Defence Solicitor
1997	The Fifth Province	Diana de Brie
	Firelight	Constance
1998	Shot Through the Heart	Maida
2000	The King is Alive	Amanda
2001	Chica de Rio	Cathy
2007	Blanche-Neige, la suite	Sleeping Beauty
	The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey	Joan Tyler
TBA	Benediction

References

External links

• Lia Williams at IMDb
• Lia Williams at the Internet Broadway Database

На других языках

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- [en] Lia Williams

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[es] Lia Williams

Lia Williams (Birkenhead, Cheshire, 26 de noviembre de 1964) es una actriz[1] y directora de cine británica.

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