Advanced search

Lily Jane Collins was born in Guildford, Surrey, England. Her father is English musician Phil Collins, while her mother, Jill Tavelman, who is from Los Angeles, California, was president of the Beverly Hills Women's Club for three terms. Lily moved with her mother to LA at the age of five, after her parents split up. She is of Russian Jewish (from her maternal grandfather), English, and German descent.

Her first screen role was at the age of two in the BBC series Growing Pains, in 1992. Collins performed at the Youth Academy for Dramatic Arts as a child, but her main interest was journalism. She graduated from the Harvard-Westlake School, and attended the USC, where she majored in broadcast journalism. She began writing a column ("NY Confidential") for the British magazine Elle Girl in her teens as well as contributing to Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and the Los Angeles Times magazines.

After some early television appearances as a presenter/reporter (for instance, covering the 2008 US Presidential campaign as a host on the Nickelodeon show, Kids Pick the President (2000)), she made a couple of appearances on 90210 (2008) in 2009. She co-starred as the daughter of Tim McGraw and Sandra Bullock's characters in the massive box office hit The Blind Side (2009). More dramatic roles followed, and she came to worldwide attention when she played the starring role in Mirror Mirror (2012), following it up by headlining The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013) and Love, Rosie (2014).

Ritu Arya is an English actress and drummer. She first became known for her role as Dr. Megan Sharma in the soap opera "Doctors" (2013-2017), for which she was nominated for a British Soap Award. She gained further recognition for her roles as Flash in the sci-fi series "Humans" (2016-2018) and Lila Pitts in the Netflix superhero series "The Umbrella Academy."

Celia Imrie is an Olivier award-winning and Screen Actors Guild-nominated actress, a Variety magazine 'Icon' and Women in Film and Television 'Lifetime Achievement award' winner. As well as her acclaimed film, television and theatre work, she is also a Sunday Times best-selling author. Celia is much loved for her film roles including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel film series, The Bridget Jones film series, Calendar Girls, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Finding Your Feet and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again. Most recent film work include Mrs Green in independent horror feature, Malevolent and Joan Erikson in Year By The Sea.

Television roles include, Phyllis in Pamela Adlon's semi-autobiographical comedy Better things, Kettle in Sky Atlantic and Showtime's Patrick Melrose, Vera in Barbara Vine's A Dark Adapted Eye and Maggie Pit in unconventional comedy Hang Ups.

Celia also has an extensive list of theatre credits and she has performed in many of London's major theatres. These include, Tony and Olivier Award winning comedy Noises Off at The Old Vic Theatre, Acorn Antiques: The Musical! at Theatre Royal Haymarket in which Celia won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2005, The Sea at The National Theatre opposite Dame Judi Dench and the universally acclaimed production of King Lear at the Old Vic in 2016.

Celia will soon take to the stage in Party Time/Celebration, the sixth double-bill of one-act plays in The Jamie Lloyd Company's Pinter at the Pinter Season, commemorating the 10th anniversary of Nobel Prize-winning writer Harold Pinter.

David Hemmings, one of the great English cinema icons of the 1960s, was born in Guildford, Surrey, on November 18, 1941, to a cookie merchant and his wife. He was educated at Glyn College, Epsom, but while still a child, Hemmings made his first forays into the world of entertainment. An accomplished singer, he toured as a boy soprano with the English Opera Group, famed for his performances of the works of Benjamin Britten. Britten, who befriended the youngster, wrote some roles specifically for Hemmings, including that of "Miles" in "The Turn of the Screw". Hemmings subsequently took up painting after his career as a soprano was ended by his transit through puberty. He studied painting at the Epsom School of Art, where he staged the first exhibition of his work at the school when he was 15 years old.

Hemmings made his film debut in 1954, with The Rainbow Jacket (1954) for Ealing Studios. He also had bit part in Otto Preminger's 1957 version of Saint Joan (1957). In his 20s, he returned to singing, appearing at nightclubs before concentrating on the stage and the cinema. As the youth culture hit Britain in the late 50s (the Notting Hill race riots of August 1958 limned in Julien Temple's 1986 film Absolute Beginners (1986) being a kind of bookmark signaling its arrival), Hemmings was in the right place at the right time to capitalize on his skills and looks. Boyish-looking, with large, protuberant blue eyes covered with heavy lids, his face was at once startling and decadent while simultaneously conveying an air of fragility. He starred in pop music movies Sing and Swing (1963) and Be My Guest (1965), as well as co-starring in one of Michael Winner's first films, The Girl-Getters (1964), with Oliver Reed.

The 24-year-old Hemmings desperately wanted what would become his career-defining role, as the morally jaded fashion photographer Thomas in master-director Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966). He was up against the crème of British actors, including Terence Stamp, who already had an Oscar nomination under his belt and was conventionally handsome.

Hemmings thought he had blown his audition as Antonioni shook his head constantly throughout his audition. However, he later found out the great director had a mild form of Tourette's which caused him to move his head from side to side.

The role made him a star and, for a while, a darling of the pop culture filmmaking that was expected to revolutionize the English-speaking cinema in the 1960s, after the 1964 Best Picture Oscar-win of Tony Richardson's Tom Jones (1963). He was cast as Mordred in the big-screen adaptation of Lerner & Lowe's musical Camelot (1967) with Richard Harris and Hemmings Blow-Up (1966) co-star Vanessa Redgrave to critically panned results. The same year that "Camelot" was released (1967), he put out a pop single ("Back Street Mirror") and an album, "David Hemmings Happens", recorded in Los Angeles. His album was produced by Jim Dickinson, the early producer of The Byrds, and featured instrumental backing by several members of group. It was re-released on CD in 2005.

In 1968, he appeared as Dildano opposite Jane Fonda (in her incarnation as a sexpot) in Roger Vadim's kitsch classic Barbarella (1968).

However, to reduce stereotyping and his identification with pop culture filmmaking, he took on the role of the anti-hero Captain Nolan in Tony Richardson's masterful satire The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) and later, the eponymous role in Alfred the Great (1969). While both films were imbued with the counter-cultural attitudes of their times, the roles themselves were rather straightforward. Hemmings had reached the summit of his career as an actor. These were the heights he never reached again.

As the quality of his roles declined, Hemmings turned more to directing. He had directed his first film in 1972, helming the thriller Running Scared (1972) which starred Gayle Hunnicutt, his wife from 1968 to 1974. Hemmings also co-wrote the script. In the 1970s, he had relocated to Malibu, California to live with Hunnicutt, and the fabled beach community which was his home for the next generation. In 1975, he starred as Bertie Wooster in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, "Jeeves", one of Lord Webber's few flops.

Hemmings formed the independent production company Hemdale Corp. with his business partner, John Daly, in the early 1970s as a tax shelter. He was able to use Hemdale and his role as a producer to vivify his directing career. In 1979, Hemmings the director first attracted major attention with Just a Gigolo (1978), but the film was a flop in spite of its interesting cast. After directing the 1981 adventure film Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr (1981) and an adaptation of James Herbert's novel "The Survivor", he focused on TV directing. He soon became one of the top directors of American action TV programs, including The A-Team (1983), Airwolf (1984), Magnum, P.I. (1980) and Quantum Leap (1989).

However, in the nineties, he abandoned directing, and returned to live in the UK. The role of "Cassius" in Gladiator (2000) heralded his full-time return to acting. He was also memorable in a small role in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002). But it was his last major role, in the cinema adaption of Graham Swift's Last Orders (2001), that showed Hemmings at the top of his talent. Unrecognizable from the boy-man of 1966-70, he was memorable as the ex-boxer who ruefully remembers the past with his remaining buddies as they travel to throw the ashes of a departed friend into the sea. That two of the other major roles were filled by Michael Caine and Tom Courtenay, two other British actors whose careers first flourished in the 1960s, added to the poignancy of this tale of men trying to recapture lost time. He also appeared, less memorably, in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) opposite the ultimate 60s male British cinema icon, Sean Connery.

David Hemmings died of a heart attack on December 3, 2003, in Bucharest, Romania, on the set of Blessed (2004), after playing his scenes for the day. He was 62 years old. His autobiography, "Blow Up... and Other Exaggerations" was published in 2004.

Julie Dawn Cole is an English actress from Guildford, Surrey. She is primarily remembered for playing the insatiably greedy and demanding character of Veruca Salt in the fantasy film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" (1971). This was her film debut, and the first adaptation of the novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (1964) by Roald Dahl. The character's nationality was never specified in the novel, But Cole's version of Veruca was depicted as a British girl.

Cole was educated in a boarding school. She was only 12-years-old in 1970, during the filming of "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory". Cole took central stage in the "I Want It Now" sequence of the film, where Veruca states her desires. The sequence was filmed on Cole's 13th birthday. Cole had recorded her vocals for the song earlier, and focused on the character's dancing moves during the filming of the sequence.

Shortly after her film debut, Cole was cast in the recurring role of Arabella in the first two seasons of the sitcom "..And Mother Makes Three" (1971-1973). Her character in this series was depicted as snobbish adolescent girl. Early in her career, Cole was typecast in playing "bad girls" in various television productions. Her characters included a number of juvenile delinquents, such as burglars and prisoners. She played against type when cast as Alice (from Alice In Wonderland) in Christmas commercials for the retail chain Woolworths.

Cole was given a more substantial role when cast as student nurse Jo Longhurst in the first 3 seasons of the medical drama "Angels" (1975-1983). Jo was depicted as a genuinely compassionate character, who had to question the cynical decisions of various authority figures. This was Cole's first major role in a television series.

Cole also played a complex character in the second (and last season) of the period drama "Poldark" (1975-1977). She portrayed Rowella Chynoweth, younger sister of the season's romantic lead Morwenna (played Jane Wymark). Rowella was the mistress of the Reverend Osborne Whitworth (played by Christopher Biggins), who was also Morwenna's husband and her own brother-in-law. Rowella was able to manipulate Osborne into arranging her marriage to a man she herself chose, and to provide her entire dowry.

Cole portrayed the supporting character of Lucy Deane is a 1979 television adaptation of the novel "The Mill on the Floss" (1860) by George Eliot. In the novel, Lucy is both a cousin and a friend to the protagonist Maggie Tulliver. Maggie's efforts to rescue Lucy from a river flood result in Maggie's death at the end of the novel.

Cole was a familiar face in television over the following decades, though she was often limited to playing one-shot characters. She was eventually cast in the regular role of Judy Hollingsworth in the short-lived sitcom "Married for Life" (1996). The series was a British remake of the American sitcom "Married... with Children", while the character of Judy was a British version of Marcy Rhoades from the original series. The British sitcom only lasted for 7 episodes.

By the end of the 1990s, Cole had earned qualifications as a fitness instructor and psychotherapist. She pursued these new careers in the 2000s, while regularly appearing in television roles. In 2004, Cole was a guest-star in a theatrical show called "Willy Wonka Explained (The Search for Veruca Salt)" which was part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In 2016, Cole published her memoir. It was titled "I Want It Now!", named after Veruca Salt's famous song.

In 2019, Cole's keepsake props from the "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" were sold at auction for upwards of 15,000 pounds sterling. By 2022, Cole was 65-years-old. She has had no known television roles for several years, but she still has fans who fondly recall her debut role. Several actresses have followed her footsteps in playing Veruca Salt, with the character remaining popular for decades.

Georgina Frances Reilly is a British Canadian actress born in Guildford, United Kingdom, to songwriter/composer David Reilly and business administrator Frances Reilly. She comes from a long line of performers, her grandfather being Tommy Reilly, the world's first classical harmonica player. Growing up in an artistic household, she soon took to the family business, performing in musical theatre productions throughout her schooling. She met Philip Bateman (musical director of Billy Elliot, London production), who became a great mentor and supporter of her singing and acting. At the age of 16, she and her family made the move to Toronto, Canada, where Georgina finished her formal education. While attending Havergal College, she took a break from performing to focus on school. She was soon discovered by celebrated independent filmmaker Bruce McDonald, who cast her in the critically acclaimed 'Pontypool', which premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. It wasn't very long before Georgina became a household name in Canada. She is best known for her role as the feisty young coroner Dr. Emily Grace on Canada's acclaimed Victorian series Murdoch Mysteries and as the cynical Sabrina Reynolds on The CW's The L.A Complex. She married actor and filmmaker Mark O'Brien January 6, 2013, after meeting him on set. They reside in Los Angeles.

Stuart Wilson was born in Guildford, Surrey in England, on December 25th, 1946. He went to thirteen different schools, as his father served in the Royal Air Force and travelled around the world. After the RAF, his father worked as an engineer in the copper mines in Rhodesia. Stuart moved to London in the mid-sixties and trained at RADA. After RADA, he began working in repertory in Liverpool and at the RSC. His career took off when he played "Johann Strauss, Jr." in the The Strauss Family (1972), in which his character aged from 14 to 74. He continued to have a successful television career, playing various roles, including "Vronsky" in Anna Karenina (1977) and "Major Jimmy Clarke" in The Jewel in the Crown (1984). In the late 1980s, Stuart moved to Hollywood, where he landed roles in The Age of Innocence (1993) with Martin Scorsese, Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) and Roman Polanski's Death and the Maiden (1994). Stuart Wilson occasionally returns to the London stage and, in 2002, played "Antony" in "Antony and Cleopatra" at the RSC.

Simon Bird was born on 19 August 1984 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for The Inbetweeners 2 (2014), The Inbetweeners (2011) and Such Brave Girls (2023). He has been married to Lisa Owens since 2012.

Bart Edwards was born in 1989 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. He is an actor, known for The Witcher (2019), UnREAL (2015) and State of Happiness (2018).

Nicola Bryant was born the daughter of a heating engineer, in 1960, in Surrey, England. At age 3,Nicola began training in dance and music, as well as studying classical ballet, jazz and tap. Nicola also studied the piano, flute and guitar, and finally began to study acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Here, apart from developing her acting skills, she continued her hobbies of golf and music. It was during her time at drama school, that Nicola married the Broadway singer, Scott Kennedy, (although they later separated). Her final production at Webber Douglas was No, No, Nanette, in which she played lead.

Bryant was spotted by an agent, Terry Carney (William Hartnell's son-in-law), and asked to audition for the part of Peri in Doctor Who (1963), which she got. On leaving, she appeared in Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988), Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993), which was a Doctor Who spoof, as well as the highly successful Stranger videos and The Airzone Solution (also with Colin Baker).

In 1995, Nicola appeared as Martine in The Biz (1995), a children's series, which has run for 3 series. She also has sung with Colin Baker, Anthony Ainley, Nicholas Courtney and a number of British pop stars on the Doctor In Distress record.

Nicola lives in Notting Hill, where her understanding neighbours allow her to write music at all hours of the day and night.

Katy Manning trained as an actress at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1971, she became known to millions of British television viewers when she joined Doctor Who (1963) as the companion Jo Grant, which she played for three seasons opposite Jon Pertwee as the Doctor until 1973. Straight after, she hosted her own show, entitled Serendipity (1973) about arts and crafts, before appearing in Armchair Theatre (1956), Whodunnit? (1972) - also starring Jon Pertwee - and Target (1977) amongst others.

In 1982, she moved to Australia to live when her twin son and daughter were very young and has been a special guest at many Australian Doctor Who (1963) conventions. She continued her acting career and took part in many Australian stage productions, including "Run For Your Wife" and "Educating Rita", among others. After living in Australia for several years, she moved to the USA, but returned to Australia on a regular basis to take part in stage plays. She became an Australian citizen on 15 September 2004 and hosted her own show called 'Preview with Katy Manning' from 2001 to 2008. In 2010, she reprised her role as Jo Jones (nee Grant) in the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007).

Manning has two children, twins born in 1978, with Dean Harris. She also famously appeared in the soft porn magazine "Girl Illustrated" in 1976, posing naked with a Dalek. Barry Crocker has been her partner since 1989. Manning is still most famous for her role in Doctor Who (1963) and has contributed to many documentaries and DVD commentaries connected to her time on the series. After moving back to the UK in 2009, she continues to appear on television and in both feature films and short films.

Mimî M Khayisa was born on 31 August 1991 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. She is an actress, known for The Legend of Tarzan (2016), Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and Cinderella (2015).

Barry Evans was born on 18 June 1943 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Mind Your Language (1977), Journey to Murder (1971) and Journey to the Unknown (1968). He died on 11 February 1997 in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England, UK.

Marcus began his comedy career at Bristol University where he performed stand up and character shows and soon won the BBC New Comedian of 1996. He has since emerged as a major comedy, writing and acting talent, performing in the UK and beyond and has become a regular voice on BBC Radio with an impressive list of TV and film credits.

The Edinburgh festival has been a regular haunt for Marcus, and has seen him receive a great deal of critical acclaim.

Radio 4 has become a second home for Marcus as he is rarely off the 18.30 slot in one form or another. He is the regular angry young man on The Now Show with Punt and Dennis. He has written and recorded three series of Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off (Series one - now available on BBC CD) and The Museum Of Everything with Danny Robins and Dan Tetsell. He plays the head of Unthinkable Solutions in Think The Unthinkable. Other recordings include Just a Minute, Newsquiz, The Today Program, and the wonderfully silly 99p Challenge. He played a starring role in the first series of 2000 Years Of Radio and also made Risking Everything, a serious investigation in to the world of insurance.

On the big screen he has appeared in Richard Curtis' movie Love Actually as a Radio DJ interviewing the wonderfully jaded Billy Mack (Bill Nighy). He went to Berlin with Kevin Spacey to film Beyond The Sea - the life story of Bobby Darin. In the forthcoming Piccadilly Jim Marcus appears with Sam Rockwell and Tom Wilkinson as 'man having sex under stairs', a small but vital role. He also played a desperately ambitious and tragically unable arts presenter in A Short Film About John Bolton, directed by Neil Gaiman - available now on DVD - for Ska Films.

Marcus now lives in South London, happily married to his university sweetheart, and may well be the proudest dad in the world. He is committed to non-violence and is an active campaigner for CND and 'Campaign Against Arms Trade'. He once had a #11 chart smash with DJ Dee-Kline's, Don't Smoke Da Reefa. Without wishing to scrape the barrel further it is worth saying that Marcus very briefly worked as a podium dancer, and also on an oil-rig in the North Sea (although not as a dancer). He is fanatical about snowboarding - so much so he has set up a stand up tour in the Alps - and adores music and movies. Marcus can be seen and heard in venues across the country delivering his award-winning stand up, on screens large and small and on Radio 4 more frequently than the shipping forecast.

Born in Guildford, Surrey, UK, he was educated at Felsted School in Essex and was a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. He trained at the Guildford School of Acting graduating in 1989. He has also appeared in West End musicals including roles in, Les Misérables, Buddy, A Slice of Saturday Night and Marguerite. Doherty played the role of Amos Hart in the West End production of Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre in 2011 opposite Christie Brinkley. He later reprised this role when the show transferred to the Garrick Theatre playing opposite America Ferrera. In the summer of 2012 Doherty appeared in London Road at the Royal National Theatre.

In 2013 Doherty returned to The Royal National Theatre to appear in NT:50 a show celebrating the theatres 50th birthday. This one off performance was broadcast live on BBC2 and around the world. In 2014 Doherty appeared at The Royal Albert Hall as Gangster 1 in Kiss Me Kate. The Show was filmed live as part of the BBC Proms season and broadcast on BBC2 on Christmas Day 2014. In January 2020, Doherty began playing the role of Claude in the multi award-winning Come From Away at the Phoenix Theatre London, notching up over 600 performances.

Mica Levi is a musician and composer born in Guildford, UK and living in South East London.

She has previously written music for films including Under The Skin (2014, dir. Jonathan Glazer), Jackie (2016, dir. Pablo Larraín), Monos (2018, dir. Alejandro Landes), Zola (2020, dir. Janicza Bravo) and Mangrove (2020, dir. Steve McQueen).

James Anderson is a British actor, writer and director, born on November 3, 1980 in Surrey, England, UK.

He trained at the Actors Studio in New York, and is best known for Endeavour (2012), Holby City (1999), and Poirot (1989). For his debut film he was a recipient of the Gold Hugo Award (2006).

Bill Wallis was born on 20 November 1936 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Brazil (1985), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) and The Bourne Identity (1988). He was married to Karen Mills and Jean Spalding. He died on 6 September 2013 in Bath, Somerset, England, UK.

In 1933, she was hired to be a secretary by Alfred Hitchcock. She soon graduated to reading books and scripts, writing synopses and contributing to scripts. In 1939, she accompanied Hitchcock to Hollywood, working as his assistant and as a writer. In 1941, she was hired as a scriptwriter by MGM. In 1943, she became a producer at Universal. From 1955 to 1962, she produced the TV series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955).

David Farr was born on 29 October 1969 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for The Night Manager (2016), Hanna (2011) and Hanna (2019).

Gemma Jackson was born on 14 May 1951 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. She is a production designer and art director, known for Aladdin (2019), The Gentlemen (2019) and Game of Thrones (2011). She has been married to Andrew McAlpine since 1982.

Gunnar Cauthery began acting as a child, playing lead roles in the Icelandic feature film Benjamin Dove and the much-loved BBC children's drama series The Demon Headmaster. After university he studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and since graduating in 2008 he has sustained a prolific career in UK theatre. He has also been seen on screen in War Horse, Genius and The Tudors. In 2018, he joined the cast for season 2 of Mars, playing new series regular Lieutenant Mike Glenn, second-in-command of the Olympus Town colony.

Paulene Stone was born on 10 May 1941 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. She is an actress, known for ITV Playhouse (1967), I Am a Bounty Hunter: Domino Harvey's Life (2006) and Fame, Fashion and Photography: The Real Blow Up (2002). She was previously married to Mark Burns, Peter Morton, Laurence Harvey and Anthony Norris.

Tom Edden was born on 21 August 1978 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Cinderella (2015), Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) and Mr. Turner (2014).

Jessica Ashworth was born on 23 December 1987 in Guildford, Surrey, England, UK. She is a writer and actress, known for Becoming Jane (2007), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007) and Killing Eve (2018).