# Flaminia Cinque

Flaminia Cinque (/ˈtʃɪŋkweɪ/; born 20 August 1964) is an English actress.
She is known for films such as Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday, Leap Year, What a Girl Wants, Made in Italy and the television programmes: Midsomer Murders, Coronation Street, Toast of Tinseltown, Drop the Dead Donkey EastEnders, Casualty, and Doctors. Her voice roles include Lillian Gopher and Merv Wombat in Gophers!, Flamingo in Tinga Tinga Tales and Ester in the children's animated television series Thomas & Friends.
Cinque, along with actor Vincenzo Nicoli, has appeared in The Knot, Leap Year, Holy Cannelloni, and Brothers of Italy.

## Early life

Cinque was born in Cambridge, England on 20 August 1964. She studied acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

## Career

She began her acting career in 1988 after graduating from college. Winner of the Peter Ackerman Comedy Prize in 1988 for her stage performances of Mae West in Happy as a Sandbag and Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream, she worked with Sir Peter Hall for the first of four times in Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo in London's West End and took over the leading role when Julie Walters had to pull out of the production.
She has played the open air amphitheatre at Epidavros in Greece in Lysistrata and the New Victory Theatre, Broadway, New York in More Grimm Tales. She was invited to join the Comedy Store Players in 2000.
She was part of the original cast of David Hare's The Permanent Way at the National Theatre in London UK, which toured to Sydney, Australia and played Conchalla in the first UK production of Sam Shepard's The Late Henry Moss at the Almeida Theatre, in London, UK.
Her television appearances include Any Human Heart, Ultimate Force, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, The Bill, EastEnders, Doctors and New Tricks.
Cinque played three characters in the program Casualty for 3 different episodes. She portrayed Rita in the BBC miniseries Man in an Orange Shirt.
Her film appearances include Mr. Bean's Holiday, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Show Dogs, What a Girl Wants, Leap Year Made in Italy, Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday and The Knot. She appeared in the BBC Radio 4 Program All the Young Dudes as Maria, which ran from 2001 to 2002.
Cinque appeared in the 2022 action film Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday as Mrs. Zuzzer, with Scott Adkins, and the 2011 action film Attack the Block, with Jodie Whittaker, Nick Frost and newcomer John Boyega. She also appeared as Mamma Rosa in the charming and hilarious comedy "Holy Cannelloni", written and directed by Carolina Giammetta.
She joined the voice cast of Thomas & Friends as the voice of Ester in the UK & US dubs, respectively. She also narrates books for the Live Streaming Service "Bookstreamz.com".

## Personal life

From 1997, she was the London Correspondent/translator and presenter for the Bandini Committee (an outfit which awards rookie Formula 1 drivers in the name of the legendary F1 driver Lorenzo Bandini who lost his life at the Monte Carlo Grand Prix of 1967).
Flaminia also sat for the esteemed Portuguese born artist Paula Rego several times, including for the picture "Lush", which was part of the "Dog Woman" series, and as the Dancing Hippo in the tribute to Fantasia for the 100 year celebration of cinema held at the Southbank.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1992 | Road Trip | Beautiful Italian | Short film |
| 1996 | Candysack | Italian Marilyn Monroe Impersonator (voice) | Direct-to-video |
| 2000 | Room to Rent | Margreta | |
| 2000 | Chicken Run | Additional Chicken (voice) | Uncredited |
| 2003 | What a Girl Wants | Caterer | |
| 2004 | Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | Corset Lady | |
| 2006 | Wednesday | Janice | Short film |
| 2007 | Mr. Bean's Holiday | Hotel Maid | |
| 2007 | Cake | Giulina | Short film |
| 2010 | Leap Year | Carla | |
| 2012 | Tezz | Passenger #5 | |
| 2012 | The Knot | Mrs. Fernandez | |
| 2016 | Worst Fears | Janice | Direct-to-video Segment #2: "Wednesday" |
| 2018 | Show Dogs | Spa Manager | |
| 2018 | Brothers of Italy | Maddalena Petrucco | Short film |
| 2019 | Thomas & Friends: Digs and Discoveries | Ester (voice) | UK/US versions |
| 2019 | Holy Cannelloni | Mamma Rosa | Short film |
| 2020 | Made in Italy | Deli Owner | |
| 2022 | Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday | Mrs. Zuzzer | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1990 | Gophers! | Lillian Gopher, Merv Wombat (voices) | 4 episodes |
| 1996 | Drop the Dead Donkey | Marika | Episode: "The Graveyard Shift" |
| 1997 | Sunnyside Farm | Conchita | Episode: "He's Heavy, He's My Brother" |
| 1997 | Mr. White Goes to Westminster | Pizza Delivery Woman | Television movie |
| 1998 | The Bill | Olivia | Episode: "A Rainy Night in Sun Hill" |
| 1999 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Kate | Episodes: "The Lake of Darkness: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 2000 | Blue Murder | Carla | Television movie |
| 2002 | TLC | Gasman's Patient | Episode: "Agency Nurse" |
| 2005 | Casualty | Beth Mather | Episode: "Secrets That We Keep" |
| 2005 | Waking the Dead | Rebecca Fairclough | Episodes: "Undertow: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 2006 | Ultimate Force | Mrs. Guggenheim | Episode: "Charlie Bravo" |
| 2008 | Doctors | Deidre Hunter | Episode: "Big Momma" |
| 2011 | Tinga Tinga Tales | Flamingo (voice) | 4 episodes |
| 2013 | Doctors | Inez De la Candia | Episode: "Whose Closet Is It Anyway?" |
| 2015 | Casualty | Elaine Buono | Uncredited Episode: "A Child's Heart: Part 1" |
| 2015 | Suspicion | Toni | Episode: "Edge of Insanity" |
| 2015 | Obsession: Dark Desires | Hannah | Television documentary series Episode: "Cross Your Heart & Hope To Die" |
| 2016 | Doctors | Rita Holswell | Episode: "Not Educating Rita" |
| 2016 | The Moonstone | Italian Mother | Episode: "#1.1" |
| 2017 | Man in an Orange Shirt | Rita | Television movie |
| 2017 | The Pact | Fatima | Television movie |
| 2018 | EastEnders | DC Allingham | Episode: "29 June 2018: Part 1" |
| 2019–2021 | Thomas & Friends | Ester, Dame Bella Canto (voices) | UK/US versions |
| 2020 | Doctors | May James | Episode: "Tough Choices" |
| 2020 | Alex Rider | Housekeeper at Friend Mansion | Episode: "Episode 3" |
| 2020 | Trickster | Narrator | 8 episodes |
| 2020 | A Short Film About Serial Killing | Narrator | Unknown episodes |
| 2020 | Wuthering Heights | Zillah | 2 episodes |
| 2022 | Toast of Tinseltown | Phyllis Willis | Episode: "Doctor Grainger" |
| 2022 | Doctors | Janette Draper | Episode: "Letherbridge, We Have a Problem" |
| 2022 | Midsomer Murders | Mama Cignoni | Episode: "A Grain of Truth" |
| 2023 | Coronation Street | Isabella Benvenuti | 10 episodes |
| 2024 | Brassic | Mrs. Calvo | Episode: "That Night" |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1997 | Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror | Additional Voices (voice) | |