Rachael Stirling
Encyclopedia
Rachael Atlanta Stirling (born 30 May 1977) is an English stage, film and television actress. She is a two-time Olivier nominee for her stage work, but is best known for her performance as Nancy Astley in the BBC
drama Tipping the Velvet
.
and theatre producer Archibald Stirling. Her parents subsequently married in 1982 and divorced in 1990. Through her father, she has a long line of ancestry from the Scottish parish of Lecropt
, near her namesake city of Stirling
.
Stirling attended Wycombe Abbey School. She earned a BA
in art history from Edinburgh University.
Stirling can speak Russian and is a highly skilled equestrian in horse-riding and jumping.
She has been in a relationship with fellow actor Oliver Chris
since 2007.
revival of Othello
at the Arts Theatre
opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor
in the title role. A year later, again at the Arts Theatre with the NYT, she played Olive in the female version of The Odd Couple
; while in 1998, portraying Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa
for NYT at the Arts, she gave what The Stage
reviewer described as "a performance of exceptional promise and authority".
She continues to be active in the theatre, covering a diversity of roles in plays such as Dusty Hughes
' Helpless (Donmar Warehouse
, 2000); A Woman of No Importance
(Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2003); Anna in the Tropics
(Hampstead Theatre
, 2004); Tamburlaine (Bristol Old Vic
and Barbican
, 2005); and she followed in her mother's footsteps, bringing an alluring erotic charge to her performance as Miranda Lionheart in the National Theatre
stage version of Theatre of Blood
(2005).
In 2006, for the Peter Hall Company at the Bath Theatre Royal, she played Helena in Peter Gill's revival of Look Back in Anger
; while in 2007 at Wilton's Music Hall
in London, she starred as Yelena in David Mamet
's version of Uncle Vanya
, and as Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew
.
Stirling starred onstage in The Priory
at the Royal Court Theatre
in 2009 directed by Jeremy Herrin
. Her role, as Rebecca, earned her a nomination for Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. In 2010 she appeared as Helena in Peter Hall's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
, at The Rose Theatre
, Kingston.
She starred as Lady Chiltern in a 2010 production of An Ideal Husband
at the Vaudeville Theatre
, for which she received her second nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award.
(starring Stephen Rea
, Billy Connolly
, Timothy Spall
and Jimmy Nail
).
Other film projects include Maybe Baby, Complicity
(with her Tipping the Velvet co-star Keeley Hawes
), Another Life
(with Vanity Fair actress Natasha Little
), The Triumph of Love
(starring Mira Sorvino
), and Redemption Road.
miniseries In the Beginning
, which was adapted from Genesis. Stirling played the young Rebeccah, with her mother, Diana Rigg, as the older Rebeccah.
In 2011, she starred in the BBC Four
adaptation of D. H. Lawrence
's Women in Love
, as Ursula Brangwen.
. She also wrote a restaurant column for Diplomat magazine.
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 Tipping the Velvet
Tipping the Velvet (TV serial)
Tipping the Velvet is a 2002 BBC television drama serial based on the bestselling debut novel by Sarah Waters of the same name. It originally screened in three episodes on BBC Two and was produced for the BBC by the independent production company Sally Head Productions...
.
Personal life
Stirling is the daughter of the actress Diana RiggDiana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
and theatre producer Archibald Stirling. Her parents subsequently married in 1982 and divorced in 1990. Through her father, she has a long line of ancestry from the Scottish parish of Lecropt
Lecropt
Lecropt is a rural parish lying to the west of Bridge of Allan, Scotland.The population of the parish of Lecropt is estimated to be around 75, consisting entirely of isolated farms and houses, as well as the Keir Estate owned by the landed Stirling family...
, near her namesake city of Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
.
Stirling attended Wycombe Abbey School. She earned 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...
in art history from Edinburgh University.
Stirling can speak Russian and is a highly skilled equestrian in horse-riding and jumping.
She has been in a relationship with fellow actor Oliver Chris
Oliver Chris
Oliver Chris is an English actor from Tunbridge Wells.-Early life:He passed his Eleven plus exam and attended Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys before moving to the Michael Hall Steiner School in his fourth year. He later attended the Central School of Speech and Drama...
since 2007.
Theatre
Stirling made her first major appearance on stage in 1996 as Desdemona in the National Youth TheatreNational Youth Theatre
The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....
revival of Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
at the Arts Theatre
Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It now operates as the West End's smallest commercial receiving house.-History:...
opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Chiwetelu Umeadi "Chiwetel" Ejiofor, OBE is an English actor of stage and screen. He has received numerous acting awards and award nominations, including the 2006 BAFTA Awards Rising Star, three Golden Globe Awards' nominations, and the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor for his...
in the title role. A year later, again at the Arts Theatre with the NYT, she played Olive in the female version of The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
; while in 1998, portraying Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa
Dancing at Lughnasa
Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator...
for NYT at the Arts, she gave what The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...
reviewer described as "a performance of exceptional promise and authority".
She continues to be active in the theatre, covering a diversity of roles in plays such as Dusty Hughes
Dusty Hughes (playwright)
Dusty Hughes is a British playwright and director, writing for both the theatre and television.His Grrr was first performed in Edinburgh...
' Helpless (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...
, 2000); A Woman of No Importance
A Woman of No Importance
A Woman of No Importance is a play by Irish playwright Oscar Wilde. The play premièred on 19 April 1893 at London's Haymarket Theatre. It is a testimony of Wilde's wit and his brand of dark comedy...
(Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2003); Anna in the Tropics
Anna in the Tropics
Anna in the Tropics is a play by Nilo Cruz.When Cuban immigrants brought the cigar-making industry to Florida in the 19th Century, they carried with them another tradition. As the workers toiled away in the factory hand rolling each cigar, the lector, , would read to them...
(Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
, 2004); Tamburlaine (Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
and Barbican
Barbican
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages A barbican, from...
, 2005); and she followed in her mother's footsteps, bringing an alluring erotic charge to her performance as Miranda Lionheart in the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
stage version of Theatre of Blood
Theatre of Blood
Theatre of Blood is a horror film starring Vincent Price as vengeful actor Edward Lionheart and Diana Rigg as his daughter Edwina Lionheart. The cast includes such distinguished actors as Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Joan Hickson, Robert...
(2005).
In 2006, for the Peter Hall Company at the Bath Theatre Royal, she played Helena in Peter Gill's revival of Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger
Look Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...
; while in 2007 at Wilton's Music Hall
Wilton's Music Hall
Wilton's Music Hall is a grade II* listed building, built as a music hall and now a more general-purpose performance space in Grace's Alley, off Cable Street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets...
in London, she starred as Yelena in David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
's version of Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
, and as Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
.
Stirling starred onstage in The Priory
The Priory (play)
The Priory is a play by Michael Wynne that opened at the downstairs theatre of the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2009. The production starred Jessica Hynes, Rupert Penry-Jones, Charlotte Riley, Alastair Mackenzie, Joseph Millson and Rachael Stirling. After receiving good reviews, its run was...
at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
in 2009 directed by Jeremy Herrin
Jeremy Herrin
Jeremy Herrin is an English theatre director and currently the Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre in London. He trained as a theatre director at both the Royal Court and the National Theatre...
. Her role, as Rebecca, earned her a nomination for Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. In 2010 she appeared as Helena in Peter Hall's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
, at The Rose Theatre
Rose Theatre, Kingston
The Rose Theatre, Kingston is a theatre on Kingston High Street in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The theatre seats 899 around a wide, lozenge shaped stage....
, Kingston.
She starred as Lady Chiltern in a 2010 production of An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour...
at the Vaudeville Theatre
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
, for which she received her second nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award.
Film
Stirling's first screen appearance was in the 1998 British comedy film Still CrazyStill Crazy
Still Crazy is a 1998 comedy film about a fictional 1970s rock band named "Strange Fruit", who, after being split up for several decades, are persuaded to get back together to perform at a reunion of the same concert venue where they played their last gig...
(starring Stephen Rea
Stephen Rea
Stephen Rea is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in high profile films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire and Breakfast on Pluto...
, Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
, Timothy Spall
Timothy Spall
Timothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
and Jimmy Nail
Jimmy Nail
James Bradford "Jimmy" Nail is an English singer-songwriter, actor, musician, film producer, film score composer and television writer....
).
Other film projects include Maybe Baby, Complicity
Complicity (film)
Complicity is a 2000 film based on the novel Complicity by Iain Banks. The screenplay was written by Bryan Elsley. It was directed by Gavin Millar...
(with her Tipping the Velvet co-star Keeley Hawes
Keeley Hawes
Keeley Hawes is an English actress and model, known for many television roles. She is best known for her roles as Zoe Reynolds in Spooks and Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes and Lady Agnes in the remake of Upstairs, Downstairs...
), Another Life
Another Life
Another Life is an American television soap opera produced and broadcast by the Christian Broadcasting Network from June 1, 1981 to October 5, 1984...
(with Vanity Fair actress Natasha Little
Natasha Little
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.- Early life :...
), The Triumph of Love
The Triumph of Love
The Triumph of Love is a 2001 romantic comedy film, based on Marivaux's play Le Triomphe de l'amour , directed by Clare Peploe, produced by her husband Bernardo Bertolucci, and starring Mira Sorvino and Ben Kingsley...
(starring Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino
Mira Katherine Sorvino is an American actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Mighty Aphrodite and is also known for her role as Romy White in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.- Early life :Sorvino was born in Tenafly, New Jersey...
), and Redemption Road.
Television
Stirling's first break in television was in the 2000 NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
miniseries In the Beginning
In the Beginning (2000 film)
In the Beginning is a 2-part miniseries directed by Kevin Connor. It stars Martin Landau and Jacqueline Bisset and it premiered on NBC on 12 November 2000.-Plot:...
, which was adapted from Genesis. Stirling played the young Rebeccah, with her mother, Diana Rigg, as the older Rebeccah.
In 2011, she starred in the BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
adaptation of D. H. Lawrence
D. H. Lawrence
David Herbert Richards Lawrence was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanising effects of modernity and industrialisation...
's Women in Love
Women in Love
Women in Love is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence published in 1920. It is a sequel to his earlier novel The Rainbow , and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, pursues a destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, an...
, as Ursula Brangwen.
Other work
Stirling is an occasional interviewer on the Radio Four chat-show Loose EndsLoose Ends (radio)
Loose Ends is a British radio programme originally broadcast on Saturday mornings, and then transmitted early Saturday evenings from 1998 by BBC Radio 4. It was hosted by Ned Sherrin until he became ill in late 2006 with a reported throat infection, and later throat cancer...
. She also wrote a restaurant column for Diplomat magazine.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Still Crazy | Clare Knowles | |
| 2000 | Maybe Baby | Joanna | |
| Complicity Complicity (film) Complicity is a 2000 film based on the novel Complicity by Iain Banks. The screenplay was written by Bryan Elsley. It was directed by Gavin Millar... |
Claire | ||
| In the Beginning In the Beginning (2000 film) In the Beginning is a 2-part miniseries directed by Kevin Connor. It stars Martin Landau and Jacqueline Bisset and it premiered on NBC on 12 November 2000.-Plot:... |
Young Rebeccah Rebecca Rebecca a biblical matriarch from the Book of Genesis and a common first name. In this book Rebecca was said to be a beautiful girl. As a name it is often shortened to Becky, Becki or Becca; see Rebecca .... |
TV movie | |
| 2001 | Redemption Road | Becky | |
| 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.... |
Avis Graydon | ||
| The Triumph of Love The Triumph of Love The Triumph of Love is a 2001 romantic comedy film, based on Marivaux's play Le Triomphe de l'amour , directed by Clare Peploe, produced by her husband Bernardo Bertolucci, and starring Mira Sorvino and Ben Kingsley... |
Corine | ||
| Othello | Lulu | TV movie | |
| 2002 | Tipping the Velvet | Nan Astley | TV series (3 episodes) Dallas OUT TAKES—Best Actress |
| Bait | Stephanie Raeburn | TV movie | |
| 2003 | Agatha Christie: Poirot | Caroline Crale | TV series (1 episode: "Five Little Pigs") |
| 2004 | Freeze Frame Freeze Frame (film) Freeze Frame is a psychological thriller film written and directed by John Simpson, and starring comedian Lee Evans in a rare dramatic role.-Production:The film was shot in Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast Northern Ireland.... |
Katie Carter | |
| Agatha Christie's Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage | Griselda Clement | TV movie | |
| The Final Quest | Young Annabelle | TV movie | |
| 2005 | Riot at the Rite | Marie Rambert | TV movie |
| 2006 | Beyond | Guilean Hade | TV movie |
| The Truth The Truth (2006 film) The Truth is a darkly comic murder-mystery satirising new age therapy. It was directed by George Milton, co-written by Milton and Mark Tilton and produced by Julie-anne Edwards... |
Martha | ||
| Hotel Babylon Hotel Babylon Hotel Babylon was a BBC television drama series based on the book of the same name by Imogen Edwards-Jones, that aired from 19 January 2006 to 14 August 2009, produced by independent production company Carnival Films for BBC One... |
Nina Bailey | TV series (1 episode: "Episode #1.1") | |
| The Haunted Airman | Julia Jugg | TV movie | |
| 2007 | Dangerous Parking Dangerous Parking Dangerous Parking is a 2007 drama film based on the novel of the same name by Stuart Browne.-Plot:Dangerous Parking tells the story of Noah Arkwright, a cult director in the indie film world, whose life is dominated by alcohol, drugs, and casual sex.Alcoholism and drug addiction have him firmly in... |
Kirstin | |
| 2008 | Lewis | Zöe Kenneth | TV series (1 episode: "Life Born of Fire") |
| 2009 | The Young Victoria The Young Victoria The Young Victoria is a 2009 period drama film based on the early life and reign of Queen Victoria, and her marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The film was directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and written by screenwriter Julian Fellowes. Graham King, Martin Scorsese, Sarah, Duchess of... |
Duchess of Sutherland Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Howard was born Lady Harriet Howard, daughter of the 6th Earl of Carlisle and his wife Lady Georgiana Cavendish, who was a daughter of the famous Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. On 18 May 1823 Harriet married Earl Gower, eldest son of the 2nd Marquess of Stafford, and... |
|
| Minder Minder (TV series) Minder is a British comedy-drama about the London criminal underworld. Initially produced by Verity Lambert, it was made by Euston Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television and shown on ITV... |
Eve Cornell | TV series (1 episode: "Thank Your Lucky Stars") | |
| Boy Meets Girl Boy Meets Girl (TV series) Boy Meets Girl is an ITV comedy-drama television mini-series starring Rachael Stirling and Martin Freeman. In the show, Danny Reed is struck by lightning. When he wakes up from the attack, he is inside the body of a woman, fashion journalist Veronica Burton... |
Veronica Burton | TV series (4 episodes) | |
| 2010 | Centurion Centurion (film) Centurion is a 2010 British action thriller film directed by Neil Marshall, loosely based on the supposed disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion in Caledonia in the second century CE. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Olga Kurylenko and Dominic West.... |
Druzilla | |
| 2011 | Women in Love Women in Love Women in Love is a novel by British author D. H. Lawrence published in 1920. It is a sequel to his earlier novel The Rainbow , and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an artist, pursues a destructive relationship with Gerald Crich, an... |
Ursula Brangwen | TV series |