Natasha Little
Encyclopedia
Natasha Little is a British
actress. She is best known for her work on British television, but has also featured in many film and theatre roles.
, Lancashire
, England
. Her mother is a teacher and her father an NHS
manager. For the first ten years of her life she lived in the Middle East
where her father set up immunisation clinics for the World Health Organisation, and her mother taught at an English Speaking school. Her family then moved back to the UK and settled in Loughton
in Essex
. She attended the local comprehensive school, Loughton County High School for Girls and joined a Saturday drama group called the Epping Youth Theatre.
She originally planned on a career in law
, but was persuaded to apply to drama school by her teacher after she starred in a school production of the musical Chicago
. She attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
and graduated in 1994 with a BA
Hons in drama.
at the New End Theatre
. She was talent-spotted whilst performing a play at the Latchmere Pub Theatre and subsequently won the role of Jenny in the successful ITV
drama London's Burning
in 1988. She went on to have roles in the Lynda La Plante
televised series Supply & Demand in 1997 and that same year she won the role of Rachel in the critically acclaimed BBC
drama This Life
(series 2).
Other television credits include The Bill
(1998); Big Women (1998); Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair
(1998); Cadfael
(1998); The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything (1999); Man and Boy (2002 film)
; Far From The Madding Crowd
; Murder in Mind (2003); playing Vicki Westbrook in the spy drama, Spooks
(2003); The Crooked Man (2003); Angell's Hell (2005) and playing Lady Hamilton in the Ricky Gervais
comedy Extras
(2005), among others.
Film credits include The Clandestine Marriage
(1999); The Criminal (1999); Kevin & Perry Go Large
(2000); Greenfingers
(2000); Another Life
(2001); Byron (2003); Vanity Fair
(2004), where she played Lady Jane Sheepshanks Crawley; The Queen of Sheba's Pearls
(2004) and A Congregation of Ghosts
2009) among others.
Theatre roles include Voyage Round My Father; The Vagina Monologues
; Les Mains; The Alchemist
and the Richard Eyre
play The Novice
. Little took her role in The Novice at the last minute. She was originally contracted to star in the film Enigma
(2001), but the role was subsequently given to the actress Kate Winslet
, who had previously turned the part down due to her pregnancy, but changed her mind. Little was paid her full fee of £300,000 and appeared in The Novice at the Almeida Theatre instead.
Little won the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series at the 1999 Biarritz
International Television Festival for her role as Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair
' and she also received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series for the same role. In 2001 Little won the award for Best Actress at the Cherbourg Film Festival for her role in Another Life (film)
.
She also played Ann Shapland in Agatha Christie's Poirot (Cat among the Pigeons), Megan Hudson in Mistresses, Nemo's mother in Mr. Nobody
, Flick in The Boys Are Back
and Allanah Mounstuart in Any Human Heart.
In 2008 she appeared as a guest star in Foyle's War. In 2011 she portrayed the wife of Trevor Eve
in the three-part drama "Kidnap and Ransom".
, east London, with a cat called Sylvia and her husband, the actor Bo Poraj. Little and Poraj married in December 2003 and have two sons. The elder is called Gabriel. He was born in 2004 or 2005. The youngest was born in 2009.
Little is a trained singer with a Mezzo soprano voice and is also trained in basic jazz, ballroom and period dance.
Her hobbies are dancing, flute, singing and knitting.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actress. She is best known for her work on British television, but has also featured in many film and theatre roles.
Early life
Little was born in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Her mother is a teacher and her father an NHS
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
manager. For the first ten years of her life she lived in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
where her father set up immunisation clinics for the World Health Organisation, and her mother taught at an English Speaking school. Her family then moved back to the UK and settled in Loughton
Loughton
Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. She attended the local comprehensive school, Loughton County High School for Girls and joined a Saturday drama group called the Epping Youth Theatre.
She originally planned on a career in law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, but was persuaded to apply to drama school by her teacher after she starred in a school production of the musical Chicago
Chicago (musical)
Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal"...
. She attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
and graduated in 1994 with a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
Hons in drama.
Career
Little's first acting role after graduating was a part in the play The Tenth ManThe Tenth Man
-Background:In the introduction to the First edition of his novel Graham Greene states that he had forgotten about this story until receiving a letter about it from a stranger in 1983. Greene had first suggested it as an idea for a film script in 1937, and later developed it whilst working for MGM...
at the New End Theatre
New End Theatre
The New End Theatre, Hampstead, was a 80-seat fringe theatre venue in London, England, located in the London Borough of Camden which operated from 1974 until 2011. It was listed widely on the internet, including with the New York Times....
. She was talent-spotted whilst performing a play at the Latchmere Pub Theatre and subsequently won the role of Jenny in the successful ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
drama London's Burning
London's Burning
London's Burning was a British television drama programme produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network that focused on the lives of members of the London Fire Brigade, principally those of the Blue Watch at a fictional fire station called Blackwall.It was broadcast between 1986 and...
in 1988. She went on to have roles in the Lynda La Plante
Lynda La Plante
Lynda La Plante, CBE is an English author, screenwriter and former actress, best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series....
televised series Supply & Demand in 1997 and that same year she won the role of Rachel in the critically acclaimed BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama This Life
This Life
This Life is a BBC television drama that was produced by World Productions and screened on BBC Two. Two series were broadcast in 1996 and 1997 and a reunion special in 2007....
(series 2).
Other television credits include The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
(1998); Big Women (1998); Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (1998 TV serial)
Vanity Fair is a BBC television drama serial adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name broadcast in 1998. The screenplay was written by Andrew Davies....
(1998); Cadfael
Cadfael
Brother Cadfael is the fictional main character in a series of historical murder mysteries written between 1977 and 1994 by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters". The character of Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey, in western England,...
(1998); The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything (1999); Man and Boy (2002 film)
Man and Boy (2002 film)
Man and Boy is a 2002 British television drama film directed by Simon Curtis and starring Ioan Gruffudd, Elizabeth Mitchell and Natasha Little. After a man becomes involved in a brief affair his wife decides to leave him and he is left to bring up their young son by himself...
; Far From The Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. Critical notices were plentiful and mostly positive...
; Murder in Mind (2003); playing Vicki Westbrook in the spy drama, Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
(2003); The Crooked Man (2003); Angell's Hell (2005) and playing Lady Hamilton in the Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
comedy Extras
Extras (TV series)
Extras is a British sitcom about extras working on TV and film sets and in theatre. The series was co-produced by the BBC and HBO, and is created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, both of whom also star in it...
(2005), among others.
Film credits include The Clandestine Marriage
The Clandestine Marriage
The Clandestine Marriage is a comedy by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick, first performed in 1766 at Drury Lane. The idea came from one of William Hogarth's engravings.-Plot summary:...
(1999); The Criminal (1999); Kevin & Perry Go Large
Kevin & Perry Go Large
Kevin & Perry Go Large is a 2000 British comedy film based upon the Harry Enfield sketch Kevin the Teenager. The film was directed by Ed Bye and was written by Dave Cummings and Harry Enfield. Enfield, Kathy Burke and Louisa Rix all return to their roles after previously appearing in Harry...
(2000); Greenfingers
Greenfingers
Greenfingers is a 2000 British comedy film directed and written by Joel Hershman. It is loosely based on a true story about the award-winning prisoners of HMP Leyhill, a minimum-security prison in the Cotswolds, England.-Cast:...
(2000); Another Life
Another Life (film)
Another Life is a 2001 UK Independent murder mystery film written and directed by Philip Goodhew. It stars Ioan Gruffudd, Natasha Little, Nick Moran, Imelda Staunton, Rachael Stirling and Tom Wilkinson....
(2001); Byron (2003); Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (2004 film)
Vanity Fair is a 2004 British-American costume drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name...
(2004), where she played Lady Jane Sheepshanks Crawley; The Queen of Sheba's Pearls
The Queen of Sheba's Pearls
The Queen of Sheba's Pearls is a 2004 Swedish-British drama film set in England post WWII. Helena Bergström plays Nancy Ackerman who mysteriously arrives on the Pretty family doorstep. Ackerman looks eerily similar to Jack Bradley's mother who inexplicably died in an WWII-related accident 8 years...
(2004) and A Congregation of Ghosts
A Congregation of Ghosts
A Congregation of Ghosts is a 2009 film directed by Mark Collicott. It is based on the true story of the Reverend Frederick Densham. The film was shot on location in rural Cornwall in England.-Background:...
2009) among others.
Theatre roles include Voyage Round My Father; The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...
; Les Mains; The Alchemist
The Alchemist (play)
The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature...
and the Richard Eyre
Richard Eyre
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre CBE is an English director of film, theatre, television, and opera.-Biography:Eyre was educated at Sherborne School, an independent school for boys in the market town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset in south-west England, followed by Peterhouse at the University...
play The Novice
The Novice
The Novice is the second book in The Black Magician series by Trudi Canavan. It was published in 2002 and is the sequel to The Magicians' Guild and is followed by The High Lord...
. Little took her role in The Novice at the last minute. She was originally contracted to star in the film Enigma
Enigma (2001 film)
Enigma is a 2001 British film about the Enigma codebreakers of Bletchley Park in World War II. The film, directed by Michael Apted, stars Dougray Scott and Kate Winslet. The film's screenplay was by Tom Stoppard, based on the novel Enigma by Robert Harris...
(2001), but the role was subsequently given to the actress Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
, who had previously turned the part down due to her pregnancy, but changed her mind. Little was paid her full fee of £300,000 and appeared in The Novice at the Almeida Theatre instead.
Little won the award for Best Actress in a Drama Series at the 1999 Biarritz
Biarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
International Television Festival for her role as Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (1998 TV serial)
Vanity Fair is a BBC television drama serial adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name broadcast in 1998. The screenplay was written by Andrew Davies....
' and she also received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Drama Series for the same role. In 2001 Little won the award for Best Actress at the Cherbourg Film Festival for her role in Another Life (film)
Another Life (film)
Another Life is a 2001 UK Independent murder mystery film written and directed by Philip Goodhew. It stars Ioan Gruffudd, Natasha Little, Nick Moran, Imelda Staunton, Rachael Stirling and Tom Wilkinson....
.
She also played Ann Shapland in Agatha Christie's Poirot (Cat among the Pigeons), Megan Hudson in Mistresses, Nemo's mother in Mr. Nobody
Mr. Nobody (film)
Mr. Nobody is a 2009 Belgian science fiction drama film directed by Jaco Van Dormael, starring Jared Leto, Diane Kruger, Linh Dan Pham, Sarah Polley, Natasha Little, Rhys Ifans and Daniel Mays. This movie tells the life story of Nemo Nobody, the last mortal on Earth. Nemo is 118 years old and lives...
, Flick in The Boys Are Back
The Boys Are Back
The Boys Are Back may refer to:*The Boys Are Back , a 1989 album by Sawyer Brown*The Boys Are Back , a 2009 album by The Oak Ridge Boys*The Boys Are Back , a 1994 American sitcom...
and Allanah Mounstuart in Any Human Heart.
In 2008 she appeared as a guest star in Foyle's War. In 2011 she portrayed the wife of Trevor Eve
Trevor Eve
Trevor John Eve is a British film and television actor. In 1979 he gained fame as the eponymous lead in the detective series Shoestring and is also known for his role as Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd in BBC television drama Waking the Dead.-Early life:Eve was born in Sutton Coldfield,...
in the three-part drama "Kidnap and Ransom".
Personal life
Little lives in LeytonstoneLeytonstone
Leytonstone is an area of east London and part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is a high density suburban area, located seven miles north east of Charing Cross in the ceremonial county of Greater London and the historic county of Essex...
, east London, with a cat called Sylvia and her husband, the actor Bo Poraj. Little and Poraj married in December 2003 and have two sons. The elder is called Gabriel. He was born in 2004 or 2005. The youngest was born in 2009.
Little is a trained singer with a Mezzo soprano voice and is also trained in basic jazz, ballroom and period dance.
Her hobbies are dancing, flute, singing and knitting.
Selected filmography
- The CriminalThe Criminal (1999 film)The Criminal is a 1999 British thriller film directed by Julian Simpson and starring Steven Mackintosh, Eddie Izzard and Natasha Little. After meeting a beautiful woman in a bar, a man's life is plunged into chaos.-Cast:...
(1999) - The Clandestine MarriageThe Clandestine Marriage (film)The Clandestine Marriage is a 1999 British comedy film directed by Christopher Miles and starring Nigel Hawthorne, Joan Collins, Timothy Spall and Tom Hollander. It is based on the 1766 play The Clandestine Marriage by David Garrick and George Colman....
(1999) - GreenfingersGreenfingersGreenfingers is a 2000 British comedy film directed and written by Joel Hershman. It is loosely based on a true story about the award-winning prisoners of HMP Leyhill, a minimum-security prison in the Cotswolds, England.-Cast:...
(2000) - Another LifeAnother Life (film)Another Life is a 2001 UK Independent murder mystery film written and directed by Philip Goodhew. It stars Ioan Gruffudd, Natasha Little, Nick Moran, Imelda Staunton, Rachael Stirling and Tom Wilkinson....
(2001) - Vanity FairVanity Fair (2004 film)Vanity Fair is a 2004 British-American costume drama film directed by Mira Nair and adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray's novel of the same name...
(2004) - The Queen of Sheba's PearlsThe Queen of Sheba's PearlsThe Queen of Sheba's Pearls is a 2004 Swedish-British drama film set in England post WWII. Helena Bergström plays Nancy Ackerman who mysteriously arrives on the Pretty family doorstep. Ackerman looks eerily similar to Jack Bradley's mother who inexplicably died in an WWII-related accident 8 years...
(2004) - The Boys Are BackThe Boys Are Back (film)The Boys Are Back is a 2009 Australian/British drama film directed by Scott Hicks, produced by Greg Brenman and starring Clive Owen. Based on the book The Boys Are Back In Town by Simon Carr, the film features a score composed by Hal Lindes and a soundtrack by Sigur Rós.-Plot:Joe Warr is a British...
(2009) - Mr. NobodyMr. Nobody (film)Mr. Nobody is a 2009 Belgian science fiction drama film directed by Jaco Van Dormael, starring Jared Leto, Diane Kruger, Linh Dan Pham, Sarah Polley, Natasha Little, Rhys Ifans and Daniel Mays. This movie tells the life story of Nemo Nobody, the last mortal on Earth. Nemo is 118 years old and lives...
(2009) - A Congregation of GhostsA Congregation of GhostsA Congregation of Ghosts is a 2009 film directed by Mark Collicott. It is based on the true story of the Reverend Frederick Densham. The film was shot on location in rural Cornwall in England.-Background:...
(2009)