Anna Maxwell Martin

At 46 years old, Anna Maxwell Martin has this physical status:

Anna Maxwell Martin (born Anna Charlotte Martin; 10 May 1977), sometimes credited as Anna Maxwell-Martin, is an English actress who has played Lyra Belacqua in His Dark Materials at the Royal National Theatre, Esther Summerson in the BBC's 2005 adaptation of Bleak House, and "N" in Channel 4's 2008 adaptation of Poppy Shakespeare.

Early life and education

Anna Charlotte Martin was born in Beverley on 27 May 1977 to Rosalind (née Lugassy) and Ivan Martin. Her father was managing director of a pharmaceutical company and her mother was a research scientist. Her mother gave up her job to bring up Anna and her elder brother Adam. She attended Beverley High School where she appeared in school plays. After she left school, Maxwell Martin studied history at Liverpool University.

Maxwell Martin joined the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) after completing her studies at Liverpool. She added the name Maxwell (her grandfather's name) to her surname to distinguish her from another member with the same name when she joined Equity.

Personal life

Maxwell Martin was married to film director Roger Michell after his divorce from Kate Buffery. The couple have two daughters. In April 2020, Maxwell Martin announced that the couple had separated. Michell died in September 2021.

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Career

Maxwell Martin first rose to fame on the London stage as the leading role of Lyra in Philip Pullman's production of His Dark Materials. She appeared in Bessie Higgins' book North and South in 2004 and made a guest appearance in the 2005 series Doctor Who. Esther Summerson, the central character in Charles Dickens' Bleak House's 2005 BBC adaptation, for which she received the Best Actress BAFTA Television Award in 2006.

Maxwell Martin appeared in a reading of The Entertainer at the Royal Court Theatre in January 2006 and March in Laura Wade's Other Hands, directed by Bijan Sheibani at the Soho Theatre, and in 2006. Marcus Sedgwick's CD version of The Foreshadowing, a children's book about the First World War, was published in May 2006. Sally Bowles appeared in Bill Kenwright and Rufus Norris' West End production of Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre in the same year.

In Becoming Jane, a 2007 film about Jane Austen's early life, she played Cassandra Austen, starring American actress Anne Hathaway in the title role. She appeared in Lee Hall's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, a multimillion-pound production by Box TV for BBC One, and she was the joint narrator (with Anton Lesser) of the CD version of Tamar, a children's book about the Second World War by Mal Peet, which was released in December 2007.

In 2008, she appeared in the BBC Two drama White Girl and alongside Naomie Harris in Channel 4's version of Poppy Shakespeare, for which she received her second Best Actress BAFTA Television Award in 2009.

She appeared in The Female of the Species in London from July to October of that year. She appeared in a BBC Radio 4 version of Agatha Christie's book Crooked House. Janet was a young actress in Freefall, a BBC Two drama set in July 2009, and she played Neil Armstrong's wife in Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, an ITV1 drama film devoted to the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 2009.

Heather Brooke played freedom of information campaigner Heather Brooke in On Expenses, a BBC Four comedy film, and then performed Isabella in Shakespeare's Measure For Measure at the Almeida Theatre in February 2010.

In February 2011, she appeared in a three-part BBC adaptation of Winifred Holtby's book South Riding. In a BBC Two dramatization of The Night Watch on July 12, she appeared as Kay Langrish. She appeared in the drama mini-series The Bletchley Circle (2012–2014), beginning in September 2012. She appeared in Jimmy McGovern's Accused on September 4, 2012.

Jane Austen's return to Pemberley, a three-part television revival of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which continues the tales of Darcy and Elizabeth's marriage in December 2013 with a murder mystery plot involving the same characters.

She appeared in the ITV drama series The Frankenstein Chronicles in 2015. Ethel Rogers appeared in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None As Ethel Rogers.

She appeared in sitcom Motherland in 2017. In 2019, the show returned for a second series and another in May 2021.

In the Amazon Prime TV serial Good Omens, she played Beelzebub, the chief of the denizens of Hell, based on Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's book. Patricia Carmichael, a role she reprised in series six, appeared on Line of Duty for the fifth time in the same year.

She appeared in 2021 as a co-lead in Hollington Drive, an ITV television drama series that premiered on September 29th, 2021. The two sisters, Theresa (Anna Maxwell Martin) and Helen (Rachachael Stirling), and their families as they cope with the possibility of their children's murder. Sophie Petzal wrote and illustrated the book.

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Awards

• Nominated for Olivier Award for Best Actress in 2005 for role of Lyra in His Dark Materials (Clare Higgins won)
• Third in BBC Drama Poll for Best Actress in 2006 for role of Esther Summerson in Bleak House (Billie Piper won, Gillian Anderson second)
• Nominated for Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress in 2006 for role of Esther Summerson in Bleak House (Gillian Anderson won)
• Won British Academy Television Award for Best Actress in 2006 for role of Esther Summerson in Bleak House
• Nominated for Royal Television Society Programme Award for Best Actor (Female) in 2009 for role of N in Poppy Shakespeare (Andrea Riseborough won)
• Won British Academy Television Award for Best Actress in 2009 for role of N in Poppy Shakespeare
• Nominated for British Academy Television Award for Best Actress in 2011 for role of Sarah Burton in South Riding (Vicky McClure won)
• Nominated for British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance in 2018 for role of Julia in Motherland (Daisy May Cooper won)