Anna Chancellor

 ( Living People ) 

Anna Theodora Chancellor (born 27 April 1965) is an English actress who has appeared widely on TV, film and in the theatre. She received a nomination for BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lix Storm in The Hour (2011–2012), and has twice been nominated for Olivier Awards, in 1997 for her performances in Stanley at the National Theatre, and again in 2014 for Private Lives at the Gielgud Theatre. She was also nominated for an award at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival in 2007 and for one at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards in 2013.

On television, she is also known for her roles in the ITV series Kavanagh QC (1995–1997) and Grantchester (2016); the BBC series Pride and Prejudice (1995), Tipping the Velvet (2002), Spooks (2005-2007), Pramface (2012–2014), Ordeal by Innocence (2018) and Rain Dogs (2023); the Channel 5 series Suburban Shootout (2006–2007); the Netflix series The Crown (2017); the Epix series Pennyworth (2019–2021); and the BritBox series Hotel Portofino (2022).

Her films include Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), and How I Live Now (2013).

---

Background and early life Chancellor was born in Richmond, England to barrister John Paget Chancellor and Hon. Mary Jolliffe, a daughter of Lord Hylton. Her father was the son of Sir Christopher Chancellor and Sylvia Mary Paget baronets, a daughter of Sir Richard Paget and philanthropist Lady Muriel, daughter of Murray Finch-Hatton, 12th Earl of Winchilsea. The Chancellor family were Scottish landed gentry who had owned land at Quothquan since 1432.Burke's Landed Gentry, eighteenth edition, vol. I, ed. Peter Townend, 1965, p. 130

Chancellor was brought up in Somerset and educated at St Mary's School, Shaftesbury, which was a Roman Catholic boarding school for girls in Dorset, but left at sixteen to live in London, later describing her early years there as "quite wild". In her early twenties she married the poet Jock Scot (1952–2016), with whom she had a daughter in 1988 while still studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She separated from Scot a few years later. "Jock Scot, performance poet – obituary", in The Daily Telegraph online dated 15 April 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2016

Chancellor is a niece of the journalist Alexander Chancellor, a great-granddaughter of Raymond Asquith (son of the Liberal prime minister H. H. Asquith), a first cousin of both the actress Dolly WellsBurke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, vol. III, 2003, pg 3046 and the model Cecilia Chancellor, a second cousin of the actress Helena Bonham Carter. Chancellor was also the great niece of Jane Austen eight generations removed through Edward Austen Knight.Jane Merrick, world's most elitist election. Hereditary peers will vote to fill the gap created by the death of Lord Ferrers dated 9 December 2012 at independent.co.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2016Gerard Gilbert, Anna Chancellor has a lineage worthy of Tatler but... dated 20 December 2014 at independent.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2016 Chancellor herself has spoken of her lineage, stating:

---

Career Chancellor got her first acting role on television playing Mercedes Page in Jupiter Moon, a BSkyB soap, then came a commercial for Boddingtons beer and a part in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), playing Henrietta (nicknamed "Duckface") opposite Hugh Grant.

She played Julia Piper in series 1 to 3 of Kavanagh QC. She also played Caroline Bingley in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

In 1997, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Stanley at the Royal National Theatre-Cottesloe.

She played Questular Rontok in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005). The same year, she joined the cast of BBC One television drama series Spooks as Juliet Shaw. She has also appeared in The Vice, Karaoke, Cold Lazarus, The Dreamers, Tipping the Velvet (2002), and Fortysomething, and had a leading role in the satirical black comedy Suburban Shootout.

In 2011, she took a supporting role as Lix Storm in the BBC thriller serial The Hour, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 2012 British Academy Television Awards.

In 2014, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her part in Private Lives at the Gielgud Theatre.

---

Charity

She is a patron of the London children's charity Scene & Heard.

---

Personal life

Chancellor had one daughter, Poppy Chancellor, with poet Jock Scot. Poppy died from leukaemia on 29 September 2023 aged 36.

---

Filmography

+Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

---

Film

1990	Killing Dad or How to Love Your Mother	Barmaid
1993	Century	Woman in Police Station
1994	Four Weddings and a Funeral	Henrietta ‘Duck Face’– Wedding Four
	Tom and Viv	Woman
	Staggered	Carmen Svennipeg
	Princess Caraboo	Mrs. Peake
1997		Peter Pan
	The Man Who Knew Too Little	Barbara Ritchie
1999	Heart	Nicola Farmer
2001	Crush	Molly Cartwright
2003	What a Girl Wants	Glynnis Payne
	The Dreamers	Mother
	Confused		Short film
2004		Lady Josephine Kenworth
2005	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Questular Rontok
	Feeder	Doctor	Short film
	The Best Man	Dana
2006	Breaking and Entering	Kate
2007	St. Trinians	Miss Bagstock
2010	Critical Eye	Laura
2011	Hysteria	Mrs Bellamy
2012	More Afraid of You	Lucy	Short film
2013	How I Live Now	Aunt Penn
	Confessions of an Alien Abductee	Narrator
	Noël Coward's Private Lives	Amanda Prynne
2014	Death Knight Love Story	Miria	Voice role
	Testament of Youth	Mrs. Leighton
2016	The Carer	Milly
	This Beautiful Fantastic	Bramble
2017	Love of My Life	Grace
2018	The Happy Prince	Mrs Arbuthnot
	Benjamin	Tessa
	Nativity Rocks!	Clara Hargreaves
2019	For Love or Money	Carol
2020	Come Away	Eleanor Murrow	Film
2022	Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris	Lady Dant
2022	Stromboli	Diane

---

Television

1990–1996	Jupiter Moon	Mercedes Page	50 episodes
1992	Inspector Morse	Sally Smith	Episode: "Cherubim and Seraphim"
1993	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Virginie Mesnard	Episode: "The Chocolate Box"
	Comedy Playhouse	Julia	Episode: "The Complete Guide to Relationships"
1994	Ellington	Ally Stone	TV film
1995	Pride & Prejudice	Caroline Bingley	Miniseries; 6 episodes
1995–1997	Kavanagh QC	Julia Piper	11 episodes
1996	Karaoke	Anna Griffiths	Miniseries; 4 episodes
	Cold Lazarus	Anna Griffiths	Miniseries; 3 episodes
1999	The Vice	Dr. Christina Weir	6 episodes
2000	Longitude	Muriel Gould	TV film
2001	The Cazalets	Diana Mackintosh	6 episodes
2002	Tipping the Velvet	Diana Lethaby	2 episodes
2002	The Real Jane Austen	Herself/host	TV special
2003	Georgian Underworld	Narrator	Episode: "Queer as 18th Century Folk"
	Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie	Nicky Bowden	TV film
	Fortysomething	Estelle Slippery	6 episodes
2004	Blue Dove	Maria Bishop	2 episodes
	Roman Road	Maddy Bancroft	TV film
2005		Anne Hathaway	TV film
2005–2007	Spooks	Juliet Shaw	15 episodes
2006	Rebus	Amanda Morrison	Episode: "Let It Bleed"
	The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton	Elizabeth Dorling	TV film
2006–2007	Suburban Shootout	Camilla Diamond	11 episodes
2007	Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars	Irene Adler	TV film
	Christmas at the Riviera	Diane	TV film
2008	My Family	Zelda Nobbs	Episode: "Cards on the Table"
	Agatha Christie's Marple: Murder Is Easy	Lydia Horton	TV film
2009		Evelyn Wyndham	2 episodes
2010	Silent Witness	Chief Supt. Karen Somerville	2 episodes
	Miranda	Helena	Episode: "A New Low"
2011	Hustle	Wendy Stanton	Episode: "As Good as it Gets"
	Waking the Dead	Lucy Christie	2 episodes
	Lewis	Judith Suskin	Episode: "The Gift of Promise"
	Hidden	Elspeth Verney	4 episodes
2011–2012	The Hour	Lix Storm	12 episodes Nom – BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress Nom – Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress
2012–2014	Pramface	Janet Derbyshire	14 episodes
2012	We'll Take Manhattan	Lucie Clayton	TV film
2013	A Touch of Cloth	Hope Goodgirl	2 episodes
2014	Inside No. 9	Elizabeth	Episode: "Sardines"
		Second Officer Monday	4 episodes
	Penny Dreadful	Claire Ives	1 episode
	Downton Abbey	Lady Anstruther	1 episode
	Mapp & Lucia	Emmeline 'Lucia' Lucas	3 episodes
2016	Shetland	Phyllis Brennan	4 episodes
	New Blood	Eleanor Davies	7 episodes
	Grantchester	Aunt Cece	Christmas special
	Flowers	Aunty Viv	1 episode
2017	The Crown	Lady Rosse	Episode: "Matrimonium"
2018	Ordeal by Innocence	Rachel Argyll	3 episodes
	Trust	Penelope Kittson	5 episodes
2019	Death in Paradise	Ciss Dacre	Episode: "Frappe Death Day"
	Timewasters	Victoria	5 episodes
2019–2021	Pennyworth	Dr. Frances Gaunt	7 episodes
2020–2022	The Split	Melanie Aickman	Series 2-3
2021	The Watch	Lord Vetinari	Main role
2022	Hotel Portofino	Lady Latchmere	Main role
	That Dirty Black Bag	Hellen	TV Series
2023	Rain Dogs	Allegra
2024	My Lady Jane	Lady Frances Grey	8 episodes
2025	Outrageous	Sydney Bowles

---

Theatre

• Boston Marriage, Donmar Warehouse – March–April 2001; Donmar in the West End – November 2001–February 2002
• Mammals at the Oxford Playhouse and touring – Lorna, January 2006
• Never So Good, National Theatre – summer 2008
• The Observer, National Theatre – spring 2009
• The Last of the Duchess, Hampstead Theatre – October–November 2011
• Private Lives (playing Amanda), Chichester Festival Theatre, September 2012, and the Gielgud Theatre, London (July–September 2013)
• The Wolf From the Door, Royal Court Theatre, September–November 2014
• The Seagull by Anton Chekhov at National Theatre – summer 2016

---

Audiobooks

Chancellor has played the role of Ann Smiley in BBC dramatisations of the John le Carré novels Call for the Dead, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People.

---

Awards and nominations

1997	Laurence Olivier Awards	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Stanley, at RNT Cottesloe
2007	Monte-Carlo TV Festival	Golden Nymph, Outstanding Actress Comedy Series	Suburban Shootout
2012	BAFTA TV Awards	BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress	The Hour
2013	Broadcasting Press Guild Awards	BPG Award for Best Actress	Pramface and The Hour
2014	Laurence Olivier Awards	Best Actress	Private Lives at Gielgud Theatre

---

External links

• Anna Chancellor at the bbc.co.uk official Spooks website
• The Anna Chancellor Page
• Anna Chancellor sponsored video interview at The Huffington Post

Categories: Living People, 1965 Births, 20th-century English Actresses, 21st-century English Actresses, Actresses From London, Actresses From Somerset, Asquith Family, English Film Actresses, English Radio Actresses, English Stage Actresses, English Television Actresses, People Educated At St Mary's School, Shaftesbury, Actors From The London Borough Of Richmond Upon Thames, Jolliffe Family, People From Richmond, London

Post Comment