Teresa Churcher is an English actress whose film credits include Gosford Park

Gosford Park

Gosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...

, Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

's Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist (2005 film)

Oliver Twist is a 2005 British drama film directed by Roman Polanski. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood is based on the 1838 novel of the same title by Charles Dickens....

, Being Julia

Being Julia

Being Julia is a 2004 drama film with comic undertones directed by István Szabó and starring Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood is based on the 1937 novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham...

, Creation

Creation (2009 film)

Creation is a 2009 British biographical drama film. Produced by Jeremy Thomas, the film was directed by Jon Amiel, and stars Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles and Emma Darwin...

and The Woman in Black

The Woman in Black (2011 film)

The Woman in Black is an upcoming 2012 supernatural thriller film directed by James Watkins and written by Jane Goldman, and is based on Susan Hill's novel of the same name. It is produced by Hammer Film Productions. The film will star Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer, Sophie Stuckey,...

.

Churcher was born in St Albans

St Albans

St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

.

Churcher graduated with a Drama Diploma (honours) and the award for Most Promising Student from a London drama school in the mid nineties. She began her career on the London stage playing Olga in Three Sisters

Three Sisters (play)

Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...

, Agnes in Agnes of God

Agnes of God

Agnes of God is a play by John Pielmeier which tells the story of a novice nun who gives birth and insists that the dead child was the result of a virgin conception. A psychiatrist and the mother superior of the convent clash during the resulting investigation...

and Sue Murray in The Truth Game.

Television roles followed in Casualty

Casualty (TV series)

Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...

and Kavanagh QC

Kavanagh QC

Kavanagh QC is a British television series made by Carlton Television for ITV between 1995 and 2001. It has been shown on ITV3 as recently as August 2011; series 1–6 are available on Region 2 DVDs....

before Churcher landed the lead role in the ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 drama Bomber. Her performance gained her positive reviews and the part of Bertha, the ‘naughty’ kitchen maid, in Robert Altman

Robert Altman

Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...

's Gosford Park

Gosford Park

Gosford Park is a 2001 British-American mystery comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and written by Julian Fellowes. The film stars an ensemble cast, which includes Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Alan Bates, and Michael Gambon...

, for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award. Film roles followed in Being Julia

Being Julia

Being Julia is a 2004 drama film with comic undertones directed by István Szabó and starring Annette Bening and Jeremy Irons. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood is based on the 1937 novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham...

, as Charlotte in Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

's Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist (2005 film)

Oliver Twist is a 2005 British drama film directed by Roman Polanski. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood is based on the 1838 novel of the same title by Charles Dickens....

, in Creation

Creation (2009 film)

Creation is a 2009 British biographical drama film. Produced by Jeremy Thomas, the film was directed by Jon Amiel, and stars Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles and Emma Darwin...

and The Woman in Black

The Woman in Black (2011 film)

The Woman in Black is an upcoming 2012 supernatural thriller film directed by James Watkins and written by Jane Goldman, and is based on Susan Hill's novel of the same name. It is produced by Hammer Film Productions. The film will star Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer, Sophie Stuckey,...

. Churcher has continued to appear in television shows such as 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...

, Agatha Christie's Poirot

Agatha Christie's Poirot

Agatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...

, The Last Detective

The Last Detective

The Last Detective is an ITV drama starring Peter Davison as Dangerous Davies. The first series aired in 2003 with three more seasons succeeding this...

, 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...

and Garrow's Law

Garrow's Law

Garrow's Law is a British period legal drama about the 18th-century lawyer William Garrow. The series debuted on 1 November 2009 on BBC One and BBC HD. A second series was announced on 7 July 2010 and aired from 14 November 2010...

, as well as the television films of Ballet Shoes

Ballet Shoes (film)

Ballet Shoes is a 2007 British television film, adapted by Heidi Thomas from Noel Streatfeild's 1936 novel Ballet Shoes. It was produced by Granada Productions and premiered on BBC One on 26 December 2007...

, Colditz and Belonging, amongst others.

Churcher returned to the stage in 2009 to play the lead role of Jane in The Girls of Slender Means

The Girls of Slender Means

The Girls of Slender Means is a novella written in 1963 by Scottish author Muriel Spark. It was included in Anthony Burgess's 1984 book Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939 — A Personal Choice.-Plot introduction:...

at The Assembly Rooms

Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh)

The Assembly Rooms is a former assembly rooms located in central Edinburgh, the rooms now host a number of events including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Hogmanay celebrations. There are four rooms that are used year-round and are available for private functions: Music Hall, Ballroom,...

, Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, gaining a Stage Award for Acting Excellence

Stage Awards for Acting Excellence

The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence are a set of Scottish theatre awards which were established in 1995 to recognise outstanding theatre performances by individuals and companies on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Organised by theatrical newspaper The Stage, the initial award categories of Best...

nomination.

External links