Emily Beecham (born 12 May 1984) is an English actress. She is best known for her role in the Coen Brothers film Hail, Caesar!, the AMC series Into the Badlands and the title role in the 2017 film Daphne. She starred in the 2019 film Little Joe, for which she received the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Emily Beecham
Beecham in 2017
Born (1984-05-12) 12 May 1984 (age 40)
Citizenship
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Alma materLondon Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
OccupationActress
Years active2006–present

Early life

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Beecham was born in Wythenshawe, the daughter of an English father and American mother from Arizona. Her father is an airline pilot. She has dual British and American citizenship.[1] In 2003, at the age of 18, she enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and graduated with a BA in 2006.

Career

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In her final year at LAMDA, Beecham started accepting professional acting opportunities, with her first appearances occurring in the thriller Bon Voyage and the supernatural TV series Afterlife. Her first feature film, Bon Voyage, premiered that October and received positive notices following its showing on ITV. It won the Golden Nymph award at the June 2007 Monte Carlo Television Festival.

In mid-2007, Beecham was chosen by the director Jan Dunn for the leading role in her independent film The Calling, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the London Independent Film Festival, and the Edinburgh International Film Festival Trailblazer Award. The film received mixed reviews; however, one commented that "newcomer Emily Beecham plays a young woman determined to take the veil and holds her own well against such stalwarts as Brenda Blethyn and Susannah York".[2] Film columnist Hannah McGill, the Edinburgh Festival's artistic director from 2006 to 2010, decided that Beecham should be one of the recipients of the coveted Skillset Trailblazer Award. That year, Beecham gave her first professional stage performance in Ian McHugh's first play, How to Curse, at the Bush Theatre in Shepherd's Bush, London, directed by the theatre's artistic director Josie Rourke. In 2011, she received the Best Actress award at the London Independent Film Festival.[3]

Beecham has appeared in numerous television series, including Agatha Christie's Marple, Tess of The D'Urbervilles, Silent Witness and The Street. She was listed in Nylon magazine's "Young Hollywood" issue as one of 55 "Faces of the Future", with the photograph captioned "Young Hollywood London".[4] John Rankin, Esquire magazine's veteran glamour photographer, was quoted as saying that she has "that something special, that thing you just feel about someone... she's one of the most exciting actresses out there".

In 2013, Beecham starred as Caro Allingham in The Village, and as The Widow in the AMC martial arts action drama series Into the Badlands. In 2016, she had a supporting role in the Coen Brothers movie Hail, Caesar!. One year later she played the title role in Daphne, which earned her a nomination for the Best Actress award at the British Independent Film Awards.[5] In 2019, she starred in the film Little Joe, for which she received the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.[6] She also appeared in the Netflix series 1899, created by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar.[7] A period mystery/horror blend, the series was cancelled after one season despite being one of the service's highest-rated shows at the time.[8]

In March of 2024 it was announced that she had joined the cast of the upcoming period drama series King and Conqueror as Edith Swan-neck. [9]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2007 28 Weeks Later Karen
Rise of the Footsoldier Kelly
God's Wounds Poppy Short film
2009 The Calling Joanna
2010 Basement Pru
2012 Animal Charm Jezebel Short film
2013 Art Is... Lulu
2014 Happy Birthday to Me Lucy Short film
2016 Hail, Caesar! Diedre
2017 Daphne Daphne Nominated—BIFA for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film
Nominated—Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated—Evening Standard British Film Award for Breakthrough of the Year[10]
Nominated—Empire Award for Best Female Newcomer
2019 Berlin, I Love You Hannah
Little Joe Alice Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress
The Octopus Nest Claire Short film
2020 Sulphur and White Vanessa Tait
2021 Outside the Wire Sofiya
Cruella Catherine Miller
2023 Guy Ritchie's The Covenant Caroline Kinley
North Star Georgina
2023 Stockholm Bloodbath Christina Gyllenstierna
2024 Slingshot Zoe Post-production
TBA William Tell Filming

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2006 Afterlife Sash Episode: "Roadside Bouquets"
2006 Bon Voyage Rachel Aldred TV movie
2007 The Innocence Project Rachel 1 episode
2007 Agatha Christie's Marple Elvira Blake TV movie
2007 Party Animals Vienna Lurie 1 episode
2007 New Tricks Laura Small 1 episode
2007 The Bill Angela Myatt 1 episode
2008 Lewis Nell Buckley Episode: "And The Moonbeams Kiss The Sea"
2008 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Retty Priddle 2 episodes
2009 Unforgiven Lucy Belcome 3 episodes
2009 The Street Gemma 2 episodes
2009 Merlin Emmyria 1 episode
2010 Silent Witness Anna Flannery 2 episodes
2010 Pulse Stella Hamilton TV movie
2011 The Runaway Caroline Dixon 2 episodes
2012 Case Sensitive Mary Trelease 2 episodes
2012 Damages Rutger's Daughter 1 episode
2012 The Fear Janey Beckett 3 episodes
2013 The Thirteenth Tale Isabelle Angelfield TV movie
2013 Blandings Miss Younghusband 1 episode
2013–2014 The Village Caro Allingham Main cast
2014 The Musketeers Adele Besset 1 episode
2015–2019 Into the Badlands The Widow Main cast
2021 The Pursuit of Love Fanny Logan Main cast (miniseries)
2022 1899 Maura Franklin Main cast
TBA King and Conqueror Edith In production

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
2008 Mirror's Edge Celeste "Cel" Wilson Voice

References

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  1. ^ Famurewa, Jimi (26 September 2017). "Emily Beecham interview: 'I never went to school wanting to play cute characters'". Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Guerilla Films – The Calling directed by Jan Dunn starring Brenda Blethyn, Emily Beecham, Susannah York, Rita Tushingham, Pauline McLynn, Joanna Scanlan, Susannah Harker, Harriet Thorpe, Amanda Donohoe and Corin Redgrave". www.guerilla-films.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  3. ^ "The Film Festival Guild". Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  4. ^ "Emily Beecham in Nylon magazine". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  5. ^ "Nominations 2017". BIFA – British Independent Film Awards. 24 October 2018.
  6. ^ "Korean director Bong Joon-ho wins Cannes' top prize". Daily Sabah Cinema. Daily Sabah. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  7. ^ "How Emily Beecham Untangled the Mystery of '1899'". Netflix. 17 November 2022. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  8. ^ Kasey Moore (3 January 2023). "'1899' Canceled At Netflix; Why Season 2 Isn't Moving Forward". What's On Netflix. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Clémence Poésy, Emily Beecham Join James Norton in Period Drama 'King and Conqueror'". Variety. 5 March 2024.
  10. ^ "Evening Standard Nominations 2018". 12 January 2018.
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