Andrea Riseborough Biography

Andrea Louise Riseborough (born 20 November 1981) is an English stage and film actress. Her film appearances include Birdman, Oblivion, Welcome to the Punch, Disconnect, Shadow Dancer, W.E., Brighton Rock, Made in Dagenham, Never Let Me Go, Happy-Go-Lucky, and Venus.

Early life

Riseborough was born in Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne, the daughter of Isabel (ne Johnson), a secretary, and George Riseborough, a car dealer. She grew up in Whitley Bay, England. In reference to The Long Walk To Finchley, she has described her parents as "working class Thatcherites".

At an early age, she appeared at the People's Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, in the play Riding England Sidesaddle by Christopher Goulding, as Celia Fiennes, and was a member of the Young People's Theatre for five years. Riseborough spent her schooldays at the independent school, Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School on Tankerville Terrace in Jesmond. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2005. Andrea is a member of National Youth Theatre

Her younger sister Laura Riseborough, also a pupil at Newcastle Church High School, studied acting at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the East 15 Acting School.

Career

She appeared in the 2010 films Made in Dagenham and Mark Romanek's adaptation of Never Let Me Go. She starred in the US premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell's award-winning The Pride at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in January 2010. The production was directed by Joe Mantello and co-starred Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw.

She appears in Rowan Joffe's film adaptation of Brighton Rock alongside Helen Mirren and John Hurt. She worked with The Devil's Mistress author Peter Flannery on his screenplay based on the life of Angelica Fanshawe with Michael Fassbender.

Riseborough played the role of Wallis Simpson in W.E., a film directed by Madonna. She stars alongside Michael Sheen and Iwan Rheon in Resistance, an adaptation of an Owen Sheers novel. The film was released on 25 November 2011.

She writes with her creative partner, the actor Tom Burke, and with Mike Leigh. Riseborough starred with Alexander Skarsgrd in the thriller Hidden, a low-budget film directed by Matt and Ross Duffer. Hidden was released for streaming September 2015.

She appeared alongside Tom Cruise in Oblivion (2013), in a supporting role.

She co-starred in the acting ensemble of Birdman, which won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 87th Academy Awards. Riseborough also shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for the film.

Riseborough will star as Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It at the National Theatre's Olivier stage in November 2015. Polly Findlay will direct. (Riseborough has withdrawn from the cast for personal reasons.)

She will co-star opposite Steve Coogan in apartheid drama Shepherds and Butchers, which begins shooting June 15, 2015 in South Africa.

Riseborough joined the cast of Netflix's Bloodline for Season 2, as a series regular character, Evangeline.

Awards and nominations

In 2009 she was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for playing the title character in Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley. She won the Royal Television Society Award and The Broadcasting Press Guild for her role in The Devil's Whore. In 2007 she won the Ian Charleson Award for her performances as Isabella in Measure For Measure and as the title character in Miss Julie both directed by Sir Peter Hall. She was nominated as London Newcomer of the year at the 2005 Theatre Goers Choice Awards for A Brief History of Helen of Troy at the Soho Theatre. In 2007 she was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in The Pride. She was nominated at the 2008 Theatre Goers Choice Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Play for The Pain and the Itch. Riseborough was a recipient of the Shooting Stars Award from the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival. For her performance in W.E. she was honored with the Hollywood Film Festival Spotlight award. Riseborough won the Best Actress award at the British Independent Film Awards 2012 for the role of Colette McVeigh in the film Shadow Dancer.

Selected credits

Year	Title	Role	Format
2001	A Cat in the Road	Daughter	The Customs House, South Shields
2005	A Brief History of Helen of Troy	Charlotte	UK tour
	A Very Social Secretary	Amanda	TV
	Whatever Love Means	Anna Wallace
	Doc Martin	Samantha	TV series: 1 episode
2006	Burn	Linda	National Theatre
	Chatroom	Emily
	Citizenship	Chantel/Tarot reader's daughter
	Measure For Measure	Isabella	Theatre Royal, Bath
	Miss Julie	Miss Julie
	Venus	Actress
	The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton	Myra	TV
2007	Party Animals	Kirsty	TV series
	Magicians	Dani
	The Pain and the Itch	Kalina	Royal Court Theatre
	Blood Wedding	Leonardo's wife/Girl	BBC Radio 3/Audiobook
2008	Love You More	Georgia	Short film
	Happy-Go-Lucky	Dawn
	Being Human (Pilot)	Annie	TV
	A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians	Dzina	Soho Theatre
	The Long Walk to Finchley	Margaret Thatcher	TV film Nominated"?British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
	Ivanov	Sasha	Wyndhams Theatre
	The Devil's Mistress	Angelica	TV miniseries RTS Television Award for Best Actor (Female)
2009	O.P.C. (Obsessive Political Correctness)		Santa Monica Bay Woman"?s Club (rehearsed reading)
	Mad Sad & Bad	Julia
2010	The Pride	Sylvia	MCC Theater
	Made in Dagenham	Brenda
	Never Let Me Go	Chrissie
	Brighton Rock	Rose	Nominated"?BIFA Award for Most Promising Newcomer Nominated"?BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film
2011	Resistance	Sarah
	W.E.	Wallis Simpson
2012	Shadow Dancer	Colette McVeigh	BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress Nominated"?Irish Film and Television Award for Best International Actress London Film Critics' Circle Award for Best British Actress of the Year Edinburgh International Film Festival Best Performance in British Feature Film (shared with Brid Brennan)
	Disconnect	Nina Dunham
2013	Welcome to the Punch	Sarah Hawks
	Oblivion	Victoria
	Mrs Fox		BBC Radio 4/BBC National Short Story Award(2013) / Audiobook
2014	Birdman	Laura	Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Ensemble Boston Online Film Critics Association Awards for Best Ensemble Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Acting Ensemble Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble New York Film Critics Online Award for Best Ensemble Cast North Texas Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Cast Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Acting San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Film Ensemble Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards for Best Acting Ensemble Nominated - Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast 2nd Place Nominated - Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Nominated - Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Cast Nominated - Georgia Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble
	The Silent Storm	Aislin
2015	Hidden	Claire	Streaming video and DVD
2016	Shepherds and Butchers	Kathleen Murray
	Bloodline	Evangeline Radosevich	Netflix original series - Season 2
2017	Battle of the Sexes	Marilyn Barnett
	The Death of Stalin	Svetlana Stalin
	The Witness for the Prosecution	Romaine	BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie's short story