Sylvestra Le Touzel (born 1958) is a British television, film and stage actor. She was born and raised in Kensington, London, to a prominent family from Saint Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands. She attended school in East Acton.
Sylvestra Le Touzel | |
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Born | 1958 (age 63–64) |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1968-present |
Spouse | [2] |
Beginning as a child actor, Le Touzel's first television role was in the Doctor Who story The Mind Robber, playing one of the children who bedevil the Second Doctor and his companions in the Land of Fiction. She co-starred in the BBC Schools "Look and Read" series, playing Helen in their serial The Boy from Space (1971),[3] which was re-edited with a new introduction in 1980.[4] An early adult role was as Fanny Price in the BBC dramatisation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1983).[5]
Le Touzel has also been seen on television in shows as diverse as Dixon of Dock Green, The Brontes of Haworth, The Uninvited, Catherine Cookson's The Gambling Man as Charlotte Keane (1995),The Gentle Touch, The Professionals, Lovejoy, Alas Smith and Jones, Midsomer Murders, My Family and The Long Walk to Finchley (as Patricia Hornsby-Smith). In 1994, she played Sarah Teale in the TV series Between the Lines. In 2000, Le Touzel was cast as a veterinary surgeon in the sitcom Beast, written by Simon Nye, which also starred Alexander Armstrong.
In 2007, she also played the role of Mrs Allen in the ITV adaptation of Northanger Abbey. She has also played Harriet Waterhouse in the ITV drama Bonkers.[6]
She also appeared in a classic Heineken advert "The Water in Majorca" with Bryan Pringle.[7] This advert, a parody of the Rain in Spain scene from My Fair Lady, sees an upper-class woman (Le Touzel) being taught how to speak cockney by Pringle's character, by saying "The wa'er in Major'a don' taste like wot id ough' 'a" ("The water in Majorca don't taste like what it ought to"). First aired in 1985, it was ranked at number 9 in Campaign Live's 2008 list of the "Top 10 Funniest TV Ads of All Time",[8] and at number 29 in Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest TV Ads" in 2000.[9][10]
In 2011, she starred as Detective Constable Hazel Savage in Appropriate Adult.[11] In 2012, Le Touzel starred as MP Mary Drake in BBC2's The Thick of It.[12] Le Touzel starred in the second episode of Dirk Gently as Emelda Ransome. She portrayed Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon in the 2012 ITV mini-series Titanic. In 2015, Le Touzel appeared as Sandra Kendrick in the BBC TV series Death in Paradise episode 4.7. In 2017, she portrayed Lady Dorothy Macmillan in the Netflix series The Crown.[13] In 2020, Le Touzel played Christine, the GCHQ boss main character in the comedy series Intelligence.[14]
In 2014, Le Touzel appeared in the BBC sitcom Big School, playing an Ofsted Inspector.
Le Touzel played Marianne Thornton in the 2006 film Amazing Grace [15] and appeared in Happy-Go-Lucky. [16]
In the 2012 film Cloud Atlas, she portrayed three different characters through the movie: Haskell Moore's Dinner Guest 5, Nurse Judd and Aide in Slaughtership.[17]
In 2017, Le Touzel played Nina Khrushcheva, wife of Nikita Khrushchev, in The Death of Stalin.[18]
Le Touzel married Welsh actor Owen Teale, as his second wife in 2001, several years after they had met during a production of Henry IV in 1991; the couple have two daughters.[19][20] Le Touzel is a supporter of charitable theatre and in 2005 became a patron of Montage Theatre Arts, London, along with fellow actress Debby Bishop.[21]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
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2006 | Amazing Grace | Marianne Thornton | |
2008 | Happy-Go-Lucky | Heather | |
2011 | The Iron Lady | Hostess 1949 | |
2012 | Cloud Atlas | Haskell Moore's Dinner Guest 5 / Nurse Judd / Aide in Slaughtership | |
2014 | Mr. Turner | Ruskin's Mother | |
2017 | The Death of Stalin | Nina Khrushchev |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1975 | My Honourable Mrs | Sarah | 7 episodes |
1982 | Crimes | Jane | Episode of Play for Tomorrow series, written by Caryl Churchill |
1983 | Mansfield Park | Fanny Price | TV Mini-Series, 6 episodes |
1987 | The Short and Curlies | Joy | TV film directed by Mike Leigh |
1994 | Between The Lines | Sarah Teale | Series 3, 7 episodes |
2000 | Midsomer Murders | Linda Marquis | Episode: "Beyond the Grave" |
2004 | Silent Witness | Amanda Birley | Episode: "Nowhere Fast" |
2005 | Judge John Deed | Dr Margot Lipton | Episode: "In Defence of Others" |
2007 | Northanger Abbey | Mrs Allen | TV Movie |
2010 | Midsomer Murders | Miriam Fielding | Episode: "Master Class" |
2011 | Lewis | Caroline Eagleton | Episode: "The Mind Has Mountains" |
2005 | The Inspector Lynley Mysteries | Paula Marshall | Episode: "In Divine Proportion" |
2012 | The Thick of It | Mary Drake | Series 4, Episodes 3 & 7 |
2014 | Father Brown | Verity Penhallick | Episode: "The Mysteries of the Rosary" |
2014 | Big School | Ms Steele | Episode: "OFSTED Chemistry" |
2017 | Endeavour | Mrs Joy Pettybon | Episode: "Canticle" |
2017-2018 | The Crown | Lady Dorothy Macmillan | Series 2, 4 episodes |
2020 | Roadkill | Dame Vanessa Pollard | Miniseries, 3 episodes |
2022 | Sister Boniface Mysteries | Prunella Gladwell | Episode: "Queen of the Kitchen" |
General | |
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National libraries |