Hermione Norris

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Hermione Norris (born 1968) is an English actress.

Early life and education

Norris was born the second of four children to Michael and Helen Norris, the latter a health visitor, in 1968. Her parents divorced when she was five years old, and she moved with her mother and siblings to live with her grandmother in Derbyshire, but moved back to London a few years later. She failed her eleven plus exam but won a scholarship to Elmhurst Ballet School in Surrey. She took up drama at an after-school club, performing there alongside her dance studies until she left aged 17. For the next two years she did "various office jobs to get by" while living in London with friends. At age 19 she enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). On an exchange to the Moscow Art Theatre School she played Nina in a production of The Seagull.

Career

Her earliest television roles include appearances in Agatha Christie's Poirot, the television serial Clarissa and a 1991 episode of Drop the Dead Donkey. She continued to make guest appearances in series such as Between the Lines and Casualty. After being out of work for four months in 1996, she considered quitting acting and reading for a degree in law, intending to become a solicitor. However, she got a part in Cold Feet playing Karen Marsden, a middle-class woman who feels trapped by her middle-class lifestyle. Norris appeared in every episode and was nominated for a British Comedy Award for Best Actress in 2001.

During the six years Cold Feet ran, Norris appeared in a leading role in the BBC drama Berkley Square, Killing Time: The Millennium Poem, starring opposite Christopher Ecclestone, and the 2002 television film Falling Apart, playing a woman in a violent relationship. In 2002 she co-starred with Robson Green in Wire in the Blood, playing Detective Inspector Carol Jordan. She stayed with the series until 2005 when she was replaced by Simone Lahbib. Further film roles include an appearance in an adaptaion of Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, and in David Kane's Born Romantic.

At the end of 2005 she was cast in the BBC One spy drama Spooks, playing Ros Myers, an MI6 agent who is transferred to MI5. She returned for eight of the ten episodes in the 2007 series. Since 2006 she has filmed two series of Kingdom playing Beatrice Kingdom, the deranged half-sister of Stephen Fry's character. She took the role as a change of pace from the "ice maiden" characters she often portrays.

Personal life

Norris maintained what she describes as a "formal relationship" with her father; the two met regularly after her parents divorced. He died when she was 21. In 2002 Norris began a relationship with Simon Wheeler, a writer on Wire in the Blood. The couple married in December 2002 in a ceremony at the Tower of London.

Their first child, Wilf, was born in June 2004, with a second, Hero, following in August 2007.

Selected credits

Stage

Year	Production	Role	Other notes
1991	Man and Superman	Ann Whitfield	Citizens Theatre production.
1991	Three Judgements in One	Dona Violante	Gate, Notting Hill production.
1994	September Tide	Cherry	Comedy Theatre production.
1995	Look Back in Anger	Helena	Royal Exchange production.
1995	Reader	Secretary	Traverse Theatre production. World premiere
1996	Blinded by the Sun	Barbara	Royal National Theatre production.

Screen

Year	Series	Role	Awards and other notes
1991	Drop the Dead Donkey	Octavia	Television series
1991	Clarissa	Anna Howe	Television serial
1997	Cold Feet	Karen Marsden
1997	See You Friday	Sophie	Television serial
1998	Berkeley Square	Victoria St. John	Television serial
1998	Cold Feet	Karen Marsden	Nominated, British Comedy Award Television series, 1998–2003
2000	Killing Time: The Millennium Poem	Unnamed lead role	Television film
2002	Falling Apart	Clare	Television film
2002	Wire in the Blood	DCI Carol Jordan	Television series, 2002–2005
2005	Separate Lies	Priscilla	Feature film
2006	The Kindness of Strangers	Fiona	Television film
2006	''Spooks	Ros Myers	Television series, 2006–2007
2007	Kingdom	Beatrice Kingdom	Television series

References

External links

Hermione Norris at the British Film Institute
Hermione Norris at the Internet Movie Database

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Last updated on Saturday January 19, 2008 at 09:48:04 PST (GMT -0800)
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