Laura Pyper
Encyclopedia
Laura Pyper is a Northern Irish actress, known for portraying Ella Dee
in the second season of Hex
, Jane Fairfax in Emma
and Lexine in the video game Dead Space: Extraction
.
, Northern Ireland
, Pyper has two brothers and two sisters. She attended Rainey Endowed School
and later studied English and Drama at Trinity College, Dublin
.
, playing Vicky Nobel.
On television, Pyper played Ella Dee in the second season of the Sky One
supernatural
drama
Hex
, and Jane Fairfax in the 2009 BBC
adaptation of Jane Austen
's Emma
. She has also guest starred in episodes of Demons
, Doctors
, Silent Witness
, The Bill
and Bachelors Walk.
Pyper has also worked as a voice actor in the video game Dead Space: Extraction
, playing the character of Lexine Murdoch.
Pyper's theatre credits include Don Juan in Soho
at the Donmar Warehouse
and Blackwater Angel at the Finborough Theatre
. In 2009 she played Cressida in the first full-scale Shakespeare's Globe
production of Troilus and Cressida
. In 2010 she played Lily Cahill in the revival of Punk Rock
.
Ella Dee
Ella Dee is a fictional character in the British television series Hex, played by Ulster actress Laura Pyper.Pyper's character became the new female lead in the second series of Hex after the departure of Christina Cole. Ella's backstory is that of a 446 year-old witch, "last of the Anointed Ones"...
in the second season of Hex
Hex (TV series)
Hex is a British television programme developed by Shine Limited and aired on the Sky One satellite channel. The story is about a remote English country school that becomes the battleground between a demonic entity and the witches who oppose it...
, Jane Fairfax in Emma
Emma (2009 TV serial)
Emma is a four-part BBC television drama serial adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Emma, first published in 1815. The episodes were written by Sandy Welch, acclaimed writer of previous BBC costume-dramas Jane Eyre and North and South, and directed by Jim O'Hanlon...
and Lexine in the video game Dead Space: Extraction
Dead Space: Extraction
Dead Space: Extraction has received favorable reviews, with an average rating of 82/100 on review aggregator Metacritic. Official Nintendo Magazine awarded the game 84 percent and called it "A first rate introduction to one of the finest survival horror franchises of recent years." The website...
.
Background
Born in MagherafeltMagherafelt
Magherafelt is a small town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,372 people recorded in the 2001 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of County Londonderry and is the social, economic and political hub of the area...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, Pyper has two brothers and two sisters. She attended Rainey Endowed School
Rainey Endowed School
Rainey Endowed School,known colloquially as "The Rainey", is a voluntary grammar school in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The school was founded in 1707 and currently has an enrolment of approximately 750 pupils. The school borders three counties and draws its students from each...
and later studied English and Drama at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
.
Career
Pyper made her film debut playing Lin in Reign of Fire, a role she won while still studying. She has also appeared in the Irish film HeadrushHeadrush (film)
Headrush is a 2003 Irish crime comedy, written and directed by Shimmy Marcus about two young guys, Charlie and T-Bag, who hope to solve all their problems by working for a notorious Underworld Criminal, The Uncle....
, playing Vicky Nobel.
On television, Pyper played Ella Dee in the second season of the Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
Hex
Hex (TV series)
Hex is a British television programme developed by Shine Limited and aired on the Sky One satellite channel. The story is about a remote English country school that becomes the battleground between a demonic entity and the witches who oppose it...
, and Jane Fairfax in the 2009 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...
adaptation of Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
's Emma
Emma
Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively 'comedy of manners' among...
. She has also guest starred in episodes of Demons
Demons (TV series)
Demons is a pilot episode of a proposed drama series, initially competing to run as part of the CBS primetime schedule during Fall 2007. Demons was created by Barbara Hall, who also created Joan of Arcadia. The pilot starred Ron Eldard and Harold Perrineau. The pilot was not picked up by the network....
, Doctors
Doctors (BBC Soap Opera)
Doctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional Midland town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the City of Birmingham. It was created by Chris Murray; Mal Young drove its development, and Carson Black was the original producer. The first episode was broadcast on...
, Silent Witness
Silent Witness
Silent Witness is a BBC crime thriller series focusing on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in February 1996, the series is still airing to the present day, with a fifteenth series expected to air in January 2012. The series was...
, 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...
and Bachelors Walk.
Pyper has also worked as a voice actor in the video game Dead Space: Extraction
Dead Space: Extraction
Dead Space: Extraction has received favorable reviews, with an average rating of 82/100 on review aggregator Metacritic. Official Nintendo Magazine awarded the game 84 percent and called it "A first rate introduction to one of the finest survival horror franchises of recent years." The website...
, playing the character of Lexine Murdoch.
Pyper's theatre credits include Don Juan in Soho
Don Juan in Soho
Don Juan in Soho is a play by the British playwright Patrick Marber after Molière .Directed by Michael Grandage, it premiered at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London on 6 December 2006, running until 10 February 2007,...
at the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
and Blackwater Angel at the Finborough Theatre
Finborough Theatre
The Finborough Theatre is a fifty seat theatre in the Earls Court area of London, United Kingdom , which presents new British writing, UK and premieres of new plays, primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Scotland and Ireland, music theatre, and rarely seen...
. In 2009 she played Cressida in the first full-scale Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
production of Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was also described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus...
. In 2010 she played Lily Cahill in the revival of Punk Rock
Punk Rock (play)
Punk Rock is a play by the British playwright Simon Stephens which premiered at the Royal Exchange in 2009 and transferred to the Lyric Hammersmith directed by Sarah Frankcom...
.
Television
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Bachelors Walk | Vicki Lester - Episode 3.1 (2003) - Episode 3.2 (2003) |
TV series |
| 2004 | Omagh Omagh (film) Omagh was a film dramatising the events surrounding the Omagh bombing and its aftermath, co-produced by Irish state broadcaster RTÉ and UK network Channel 4, and directed by Pete Travis. It was first shown on television in both countries in June, 2004.... |
Lorraine Wilson | Television film Television movie A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to... |
| Holby City Holby City Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999... |
Alison Kerman - Playing with Fire (2004) |
Medical drama Medical drama A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the... |
|
| 2005 | Hex Hex (TV series) Hex is a British television programme developed by Shine Limited and aired on the Sky One satellite channel. The story is about a remote English country school that becomes the battleground between a demonic entity and the witches who oppose it... |
Ella Dee Ella Dee Ella Dee is a fictional character in the British television series Hex, played by Ulster actress Laura Pyper.Pyper's character became the new female lead in the second series of Hex after the departure of Christina Cole. Ella's backstory is that of a 446 year-old witch, "last of the Anointed Ones"... |
TV series |
| 2006 | The IT Crowd The IT Crowd The IT Crowd is a British sitcom by Channel 4, written by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson and Matt Berry... |
Laura - Yesterday's Jam (2006) |
Sitcom |
| 2007 | Doctors | Hannah Farmer - The Big Issue (2007) |
Soap opera Soap opera A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,... |
| 2008 | 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... |
Mandy Glover - Shadow Stalker (2008) - Spilt Blood (2008) |
Police drama Police procedural The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several... |
| Silent Witness Silent Witness Silent Witness is a BBC crime thriller series focusing on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in February 1996, the series is still airing to the present day, with a fifteenth series expected to air in January 2012. The series was... |
Esther Rubutkin - Judgement: Part One (2008) |
Police drama Police procedural The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several... |
|
| 2009 | Demons Demons (TV series) Demons is a pilot episode of a proposed drama series, initially competing to run as part of the CBS primetime schedule during Fall 2007. Demons was created by Barbara Hall, who also created Joan of Arcadia. The pilot starred Ron Eldard and Harold Perrineau. The pilot was not picked up by the network.... |
Grace - Saving Grace (2009) |
TV series |
| Vidiotic | Sketch show Sketch comedy A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting... |
||
| 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... |
Sarah Lawler - Old Habits (2009) |
Police drama Police procedural The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several... |
|
| Doctors | Ursula Lenton - Dummy (2009) |
Soap opera Soap opera A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,... |
|
| Emma Emma (2009 TV serial) Emma is a four-part BBC television drama serial adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Emma, first published in 1815. The episodes were written by Sandy Welch, acclaimed writer of previous BBC costume-dramas Jane Eyre and North and South, and directed by Jim O'Hanlon... |
Jane Fairfax | TV serial Serial (radio and television) Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from... |
|
| 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... |
Young Woman - Episode 8.4 (2009) |
TV series |
Film
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Reign of Fire | Lin | Feature film Feature film In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie... |
| Padraig agus Nadia | Nadia | Short film | |
| 2003 | Headrush Headrush (film) Headrush is a 2003 Irish crime comedy, written and directed by Shimmy Marcus about two young guys, Charlie and T-Bag, who hope to solve all their problems by working for a notorious Underworld Criminal, The Uncle.... |
Vicky Nobel | Feature film Feature film In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie... |
| 2005 | Tess: A Tale of Love and Darkness | Tess | Short film |
| 2009 | Sam and Jenny Go to a Play | Jenny | Short film |
| 2010 | Isle of Dogs | Kelly | Feature film Feature film In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie... |
Theatre
- Blackwater Angel - Finborough TheatreFinborough TheatreThe Finborough Theatre is a fifty seat theatre in the Earls Court area of London, United Kingdom , which presents new British writing, UK and premieres of new plays, primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Scotland and Ireland, music theatre, and rarely seen...
, February - March 2006 (playing Lizzie Maher) - Don Juan in SohoDon Juan in SohoDon Juan in Soho is a play by the British playwright Patrick Marber after Molière .Directed by Michael Grandage, it premiered at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London on 6 December 2006, running until 10 February 2007,...
- Donmar WarehouseDonmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
, November 2006 - February 2007 (playing Elvira) - Troilus and CressidaTroilus and CressidaTroilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was also described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus...
- Shakespeare's GlobeShakespeare's GlobeShakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
, July - September 2009 (playing Cressida) - Punk RockPunk Rock (play)Punk Rock is a play by the British playwright Simon Stephens which premiered at the Royal Exchange in 2009 and transferred to the Lyric Hammersmith directed by Sarah Frankcom...
- Lyric Hammersmith and tour, September - November 2010 (playing Lily Cahill)