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Wikipedia

Anna Maxwell Martin (born 1978), sometimes credited as Anna Maxwell-Martin, is a BAFTA award winning English actress who has won acclaim for her performances as Lyra in His Dark Materials at the Royal National Theatre and as Esther Summerson in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House (2005).

Biography

Early life

Martin was born in Beverley, East Yorkshire, England in May 1978 and adopted the middle name Maxwell (her grandfather's name) to distinguish her from another member with the same name when she joined Equity. Her father was the managing director of a pharmaceutical company and her mother was a research scientist. Her mother gave up her job to bring up Anna and her elder brother Adam. After she left school Martin studied history at Liverpool University, specialising in the First World War. She joined the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) after completing her studies at Liverpool. In her final year at LAMDA her father was diagnosed with cancer, although he lived long enough to see her stage performance as Alexandra in The Little Foxes at the Donmar Warehouse. Martin is in a relationship with the director Roger Michell.

Career

Martin first came to prominence on the London West End stage playing the leading role of Lyra in the National Theatre's production of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. She was then cast in the part of Bessie Higgins in the BBC television adaptation of the Elizabeth Gaskell novel, North and South, in 2004, and made a guest appearance in the 2005 series of Doctor Who. She played Esther Summerson, the central character in the 2005 BBC TV adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House, for which she won the 2006 Best Actress BAFTA Television Award.

In January 2006, she took part in a reading of The Entertainer at the Royal Court Theatre, and in February and March she appeared in Laura Wade's Other Hands, directed by Bijan Sheibani at the Soho Theatre. She is the narrator of the CD version of The Foreshadowing, a children's book about the First World War by Marcus Sedgwick, which was published in May 2006.

In the same year she worked on I Really Hate My Job directed by Oliver Parker, appeared as Sally Bowles in Bill Kenwright and Rufus Norris's West End production of Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre.

She played Cassandra Austen in Becoming Jane, a 2007 film about the early life of the novelist Jane Austen starring American actress Anne Hathaway in the title role. At the end of the year she played the gaoler's daughter in Lee Hall's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, a multi-million pound production by Box TV for BBC One, and was the joint narrator (with Anton Lesser) of the CD version of Tamar, a children's book about the Second World War by Mal Peet, which was published in December 2007.

In 2008 she starred in the BBC Two drama White Girl and with Naomie Harris in Channel 4's adaptation of Poppy Shakespeare.

She is currently appearing with Dame Eileen Atkins in the The Female of the Species at the West End's Vaudeville Theatre and is also to play Neil Armstrong's wife, Janet, in Moonshot a drama to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing which will be aired in July 2009 on ITV1.

List of credits

Television

Midsomer Murders as Arabella Heywood in "Murder on St Malley's Day" (ITV1, 22 September 2002)
North and South as Bessie Higgins (BBC One, 2004)
Doctor Who as Suki Macrae Cantrell in "The Long Game" (BBC One, 7 May 2005)
Bleak House as Esther Summerson (BBC One, 27 October to 16 December 2005)
The British Academy Television Awards as herself (ITV1, 8 May 2006) and subsequent interview (ITV2, 8 May 2006)
BBC Breakfast as herself (interview) (BBC One, 17 October 2006)
The Wind in the Willows as the gaoler's daughter (BBC One, 1 January 2007)
White Girl as Debbie (BBC Two, 10 March 2008)
Poppy Shakespeare as N (Channel 4, 31 March 2008)

Film

The Hours (2002)
Eddie Loves Mary (2002) (short film)
Enduring Love as Penny (2004)
The Other Man (2005) (short film)
Becoming Jane as Cassandra Austen (2007)
I Really Hate My Job as Madonna (2007)

Radio

The Tall One as Samantha (BBC Radio 4, 1 to 5 September 2003)
The Raj Quartet as Daphne Manners (BBC Radio 4, 10 April to 5 June 2005)
The Ante Natal Clinic as Ros (BBC Radio 4, 19 January 2006)
The Sea as Rose (BBC Radio 4, 15 April 2006)
Great Expectations as Estella (BBC Radio 4, 6 and 13 August 2006)
The Invention of Childhood as one of several readers (BBC Radio 4, 25 September to 3 November 2006)
Berlin- Soundz Decadent as herself (BBC Radio 2, 2 January 2007)
Woman's Hour as herself (interview) (BBC Radio 4, 5 March 2007)
Crooked House as Sophia Leonides (BBC Radio 4, 8 to 29 February 2008)
The Soft Machine as one of two poetry readers (BBC Radio 3, 1 June 2008)
The Portrait of a Lady as Isabel Archer (BBC Radio 4, 13 to 27 July 2008)

Theatre

The Little Foxes as Alexandra at the Donmar (2001)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as Lucy for the RSC at the Sadler's Wells Theatre (6 December 2001- 26 Jan 2002)
The Coast of Utopia as Alexandra, Maria and Tata at the Royal National Theatre (2002)
The Lady of Larkspur Lotion (rehearsed reading) as Mrs Hardwicke-Moore at the National Theatre (21 October 2002)
Hello From Bertha (rehearsed reading) as Goldie at the National Theatre (22 October 2002)
Collateral Damage II (poetry) at the National Theatre (14 March 2003)
Honour as Sophie at the Royal National Theatre (2003)
Three Sisters as Irina at the Royal National Theatre (2003)
His Dark Materials as Lyra at the Royal National Theatre (January to 27 March 2004)
Songs of Innocence and Experience (poetry) at the National Theatre (18 February 2004)
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (poetry) at the National Theatre (25 February 2004)
Will and Lyra as herself (interview) at the National Theatre (26 March 2004)
Dumb Show as Liz at the Royal Court Theatre (2 September to 9 October 2004)
After the Fire (rehearsed reading) at the National Theatre (7 March 2005)
The Black Glove (rehearsed reading) at the National Theatre (15 March 2005)
Snowbound (showcase) at the Royal National Theatre Studio (October 2005)
The Entertainer (rehearsed reading) as Jean at the Royal Court Theatre (16 January 2006)
Other Hands as Hayley at the Soho Theatre (15 February - 11 March 2006)
Cabaret as Sally Bowles at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue (23 September 2006 to 31 March 2007)
The Female of the Species as Molly Rivers at the Vaudeville Theatre (10 July 2008 to present)

Awards

Martin was nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance as Lyra in His Dark Materials. She came third in the best actress category of the 2005 BBC Drama Poll for her performance as Esther in Bleak House. (Gillian Anderson came second, and Billie Piper won.) She won the best actress award at the 2006 British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs) for her acting in Bleak House. In 2006, she was also nominated for Best Actress at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards for her role in Bleak House (Gillian Anderson won).