Rachael Stirling

Rachael Atlanta Stirling (born 30 May 1977) is an English stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Laurence Olivier Award for her stage work. She played Nancy Astley in the BBC drama Tipping the Velvet, and Millie in the ITV series The Bletchley Circle. She has also appeared in shows such as Lewis, and the long-running BBC One science fiction drama Doctor Who.
==Early life and education==
Stirling is the daughter of actress Diana Rigg and theatre producer Archibald Stirling.. Her parents married in 1982 and divorced in 1990. Through her father, she has a long line of ancestry from the Scottish parish of Lecropt, near her namesake city of Stirling.
Stirling attended Wycombe Abbey School. She earned a BA in art history from Edinburgh University, where she performed with the Edinburgh University Theatre Company.http://old.bedlamtheatre.co.uk/people/5716
==Theatre==
Stirling made her first major appearance on stage in 1996 as Desdemona in the National Youth Theatre revival of Othello at the Arts Theatre opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor in the title role. A year later, again at the Arts Theatre with the NYT, she played Olive in the female version of The Odd Couple; while in 1998, portraying Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa for NYT at the Arts, she gave what The Stage reviewer described as "a performance of exceptional promise and authority". She next appeared in diverse roles in plays such as Dusty Hughes' Helpless (Donmar Warehouse, 2000); A Woman of No Importance (Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2003); Anna in the Tropics (Hampstead Theatre, 2004); and Tamburlaine (Bristol Old Vic and Barbican, 2005), and she following her mother's footsteps as Lionheart's daughter in the National Theatre stage version of Theatre of Blood (2005). In 2006, for the Peter Hall Company at the Theatre Royal, Bath, she played Helena in Peter Gill's revival of Look Back in Anger, while in 2007 at Wilton's Music Hall in London, she starred as Yelena in David Mamet's version of Uncle Vanya,Uncle Vanya The Stage, 29 January 2007 – Review of Stirling in Uncle Vanya and as Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew.The Taming of the Shrew The Times, 24 March 2007
Stirling starred onstage in The Priory directed by Jeremy Herrin at the Royal Court Theatre in 2009. Her role as Rebecca earned her a nomination for Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. In 2010 she appeared as Helena in Peter Hall's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Rose Theatre, Kingston. Stirling starred as Lady Chiltern in a 2010 production of An Ideal Husband at the Vaudeville Theatre, for which she received her second nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award. From February to April 2012, she appeared as Sylvia alongside Mark Gatiss, Tobias Menzies, and Nancy Carroll in The Recruiting Officer, the acclaimed production at the Donmar Warehouse directed by newly appointed artistic director Josie Rourke.
==Film==
Stirling's first screen appearance was in the 1998 British comedy film Still Crazy.
Other film appearances include Maybe Baby, Redemption Road (2001), Complicity (with her Tipping the Velvet co-star Keeley Hawes), Another Life (with Vanity Fair actress Natasha Little), The Triumph of Love (with Mira Sorvino), as Mary Jones in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and as Anna in Snow White and the Huntsman.
==Television==
Stirling's first break in television was in the 2000 NBC miniseries In the Beginning, which was adapted from Genesis. Stirling played the young Rebeccah, with her mother, Diana Rigg, as the older Rebeccah. Her next notable role was Nan Astley in the 2002 BBC drama series Tipping the Velvet.
In 2011, Stirling starred in the BBC Four adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love as Ursula Brangwen. She portrayed Millie in both series of the ITV mystery drama The Bletchley Circle in 2012 and 2014.
Stirling appeared in a 2013 episode of Doctor Who titled "The Crimson Horror" alongside her mother. The episode had been specially written for Stirling and her mother by Mark Gatiss (marking the very first appearance of the two actresses together professionally) and was aired 4 May 2013 as part of Series 7.
In 2014, Stirling portrayed Kate Wilkinson in the Cold War spy thriller television series The Game, and appeared in the BBC Four comedy drama Detectorists as Becky, initially girlfriend, then wife, of Andy (played by Mackenzie Crook).
Stirling appeared as a guest on the BBC1 cookery programme Saturday Kitchen Live which was broadcast on 1 March 2014.
In 2015, Stirling played the part of Arabella Yount, the spendthrift wife of a banker, in the three-part BBCs series Capital based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name.
In December 2016, Stirling appeared on University Challenge at Christmas as part of a team made up of notable exponents of her Alma Mater Edinburgh University.
==Other work==
Stirling is an occasional interviewer on the BBC Radio 4 chat show Loose Ends, and presented the station's programme Stage Door in December 2012. She also wrote a restaurant column for Diplomat magazine..
Stirling took part in Occupy London's reading of Dickens' A Christmas Carol on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral, London in December 2011.
In 2014 Stirling appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's Midweek with Libby Purves, Roger Bannister and Kevin Warwick. 
== Personal life ==
Stirling can speak Russian and is experienced in horse riding and jumping. Until 2012, she was engaged to actor Oliver Chris, whom she had been dating since 2007.. Stirling married musician Guy Garvey on 3 June 2016. Their first child, a son named Jack, was born in April 2017.
==Filmography==
Year 	Film 	Role 	Notes
1988 	Oliver's Christmas Carol 	Margalo 	Voice
1998 	Still Crazy 	Clare Knowles 	
2000 	Maybe Baby 	Joanna 	
2000 	Complicity 	Claire 	
2000 	In the Beginning 	Young Rebeccah 	TV film
2001 	Redemption Road 	Becky 	
2001 	Another Life 	Avis Graydon 	
2001 	The Triumph of Love 	Corine 	
2001 	Othello 	Lulu 	TV film
2002 	Tipping the Velvet 	Nan Astley 	TV series (3 episodes) Dallas OUT TAKES—Best Actress
2002 	Bait 	Stephanie Raeburn 	TV film
2003 	Agatha Christie's Poirot 	Caroline Crale 	TV series (Episode: "Five Little Pigs")
2004 	Freeze Frame 	Katie Carter 	
2004 	Agatha Christie's Marple 	Griselda Clement 	TV series (Episode: "The Murder at the Vicarage")
2004 	The Final Quest 	Young Annabelle 	TV film
2005 	Riot at the Rite 	Marie Rambert 	TV film
2006 	Beyond 	Guilean Hade 	TV film
2006 	The Truth 	Martha 	
2006 	Hotel Babylon 	Nina Bailey 	TV series (Episode: "Episode No. 1.1")
2006 	The Haunted Airman 	Julia Jugg 	TV film
2007 	Dangerous Parking 	Kirstin 	
2008 	Lewis 	Zöe Kenneth 	TV series (Episode: "Life Born of Fire")
2009 	The Young Victoria 	Duchess of Sutherland	
2009 	Minder 	Eve Cornell 	TV series (Episode: "Thank Your Lucky Stars")
2009 	Boy Meets Girl 	Veronica Burton 	TV series (4 episodes)
2010 	Centurion 	Druzilla 	
2011 	Women in Love 	Ursula Brangwen 	TV series
2012 	Salmon Fishing in the Yemen	Mary Jones 	Film
2012 	Snow White & the Huntsman 	Anna 	Film
2012 	The Bletchley Circle 	Millie 	TV series
2013 	Doctor Who 	Ada Gillyflower 	Series 7 (Episode: "The Crimson Horror")
2013 	Sixteen 	Laura 	Film
2014 	The Game 	Kate Wilkinson 	TV series
2014–2017	Detectorists 	Becky 	TV series
2015 	Scottish Mussel 	Ms Pringle 	Film
2015 	Capital 	Arabella Yount 	TV series
2016 	Their Finest 	 	
2016 	Churchill's Secret 	Sarah Churchill 	TV film
==References==
Category:1977 births
Category:Living people
Category:British people of English descent
Category:British people of Scottish descent
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Category:English film actresses
Category:English stage actresses
Category:English television actresses
Category:Actresses from London
Category:People educated at Wycombe Abbey
Category:21st-century English actresses
Category:20th-century English actresses
Category:National Youth Theatre members
Category:Disney people
Category:Oliver & Company
Category:Oliver the Kitten films
Category:Stuart LittleCategory:Pages stolen off Wikipedia