Anna Chancellor

On television, she is also known for her roles in the ITV series Kavanagh QC (1995–1997) and Grantchester (2016); the BBC series Pride and Prejudice (1995), Tipping the Velvet (2002), Spooks (2005–2007), Pramface (2012–2014), Ordeal by Innocence (2018) and Rain Dogs (2023); the Channel 5 series Suburban Shootout (2006–2007); the Netflix series The Crown (2017); the Epix series Pennyworth (2019–2021); and the BritBox series Hotel Portofino (2022). Her films include Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005) and How I Live Now (2013).

• Name — Anna Chancellor • Birth Name — Anna Theodora Chancellor • Born — 27 April 1965 • Birthplace — Richmond, Surrey, England • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1990–present • Spouse — Nigel Willoughby (1993–98, divorced) • Children — Poppy • Relatives — Edward Chancellor (brother) Cecilia Chancellor (cousin)

Anna Theodora Chancellor was born on 27 April 1965 in Richmond, England, to publisher John Paget Chancellor and Hon. Mary Jolliffe, a daughter of Lord Hylton. Her father was the son of Sir Christopher Chancellor and Sylvia Mary Paget, a daughter of Sir Richard Paget and philanthropist Lady Muriel, daughter of Murray Finch-Hatton, 12th Earl of Winchilsea. The Chancellor family were Scottish landed gentry who had owned land at Quothquan since 1432. Chancellor is a niece of the journalist Alexander Chancellor, a great-granddaughter of Raymond Asquith (son of the Liberal prime minister H. H. Asquith), a first cousin of both the actress Dolly Wells and the model Cecilia Chancellor, a second cousin of the actress Helena Bonham Carter. Chancellor was also the great niece of Jane Austen eight generations removed through Edward Austen Knight. Chancellor has said that she had worked hard to become an actress, and her lineage does not define who she is. Chancellor was brought up in Somerset and educated at St Mary's School, Shaftesbury, a Roman Catholic boarding school for girls in Dorset, but left at sixteen to live in London, later describing her early years there as "quite wild". She studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. In her early twenties she married the poet Jock Scot (1952–2016), whom she met at LAMDA, and with whom she had a daughter in 1988. She separated from Scot a few years later.

Chancellor got her first acting role on television playing Mercedes Page in Jupiter Moon, a BSkyB soap, then came a commercial for Boddingtons beer and a part in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), playing Henrietta (nicknamed "Duckface") opposite Hugh Grant. She played Julia Piper in series 1 to 3 of Kavanagh QC. She also played Caroline Bingley in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. In 1997, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Stanley at the Royal National Theatre-Cottesloe. She played Questular Rontok in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005). The same year, she joined the cast of BBC One television drama series Spooks as Juliet Shaw. She has also appeared in The Vice, Karaoke, Cold Lazarus, The Dreamers, Tipping the Velvet (2002), and Fortysomething, and had a leading role in the satirical black comedy Suburban Shootout. In 2011, she took a supporting role as Lix Storm in the BBC thriller serial The Hour, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 2012 British Academy Television Awards. In 2014, she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her part in Private Lives at the Gielgud Theatre.

She is a patron of the London children's charity Scene & Heard.

Chancellor had one daughter, Poppy, with poet Jock Scot. Poppy died from leukaemia on 29 September 2023 aged 36.

Key • Denotes works that have not yet been released

• Year — Film — Role — Notes • 1990–1996 — Jupiter Moon — Mercedes Page — 50 episodes • 1992 — Inspector Morse — Sally Smith — Episode: "Cherubim and Seraphim" • 1993 — Agatha Christie's Poirot — Virginie Mesnard — Episode: "The Chocolate Box" • Comedy Playhouse — Julia — Episode: "The Complete Guide to Relationships" • 1994 — Ellington — Ally Stone — TV film • 1995 — Pride & Prejudice — Caroline Bingley — Miniseries; 6 episodes • 1995–1997 — Kavanagh QC — Julia Piper — 11 episodes • 1996 — Karaoke — Anna Griffiths — Miniseries; 4 episodes • Cold Lazarus — Anna Griffiths — Miniseries; 3 episodes • 1999 — The Vice — Dr. Christina Weir — 6 episodes • 2000 — Longitude — Muriel Gould — TV film • 2001 — The Cazalets — Diana Mackintosh — 6 episodes • 2002 — Tipping the Velvet — Diana Lethaby — 2 episodes • 2002 — The Real Jane Austen — Herself/host — TV special • 2003 — Georgian Underworld — Narrator — Episode: "Queer as 18th Century Folk" • Doc Martin and the Legend of the Cloutie — Nicky Bowden — TV film • Fortysomething — Estelle Slippery — 6 episodes • 2004 — Blue Dove — Maria Bishop — 2 episodes • Roman Road — Maddy Bancroft — TV film • 2005 — A Waste of Shame: Shakespeare and His Sonnets — Anne Hathaway — TV film • 2005–2007 — Spooks — Juliet Shaw — 15 episodes • 2006 — Rebus — Amanda Morrison — Episode: "Let It Bleed" • The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton — Elizabeth Dorling — TV film • 2006–2007 — Suburban Shootout — Camilla Diamond — 11 episodes • 2007 — Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars — Irene Adler — TV film • Christmas at the Riviera — Diane — TV film • 2008 — My Family — Zelda Nobbs — Episode: "Cards on the Table" • Agatha Christie's Marple: Murder Is Easy — Lydia Horton — TV film • 2009 — Law & Order: UK — Evelyn Wyndham — 2 episodes • 2010 — Silent Witness — Chief Supt. Karen Somerville — 2 episodes • Miranda — Helena — Episode: "A New Low" • 2011 — Hustle — Wendy Stanton — Episode: "As Good as it Gets" • Waking the Dead — Lucy Christie — 2 episodes • Lewis — Judith Suskin — Episode: "The Gift of Promise" • Hidden — Elspeth Verney — 4 episodes • 2011–2012 — The Hour — Lix Storm — 12 episodes Nom – BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress Nom – Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress • 2012–2014 — Pramface — Janet Derbyshire — 14 episodes • 2012 — We'll Take Manhattan — Lucie Clayton — TV film • 2013 — A Touch of Cloth — Hope Goodgirl — 2 episodes • 2014 — Inside No. 9 — Elizabeth — Episode: "Sardines" • Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond — Second Officer Monday — 4 episodes • Penny Dreadful — Claire Ives — 1 episode • Downton Abbey — Lady Anstruther — 1 episode • Mapp & Lucia — Emmeline 'Lucia' Lucas — 3 episodes • 2016 — Shetland — Phyllis Brennan — 4 episodes • New Blood — Eleanor Davies — 7 episodes • Grantchester — Aunt Cece — Christmas special • Flowers — Aunty Viv — 1 episode • 2017 — The Crown — Lady Rosse — Episode: "Matrimonium" • 2018 — Ordeal by Innocence — Rachel Argyll — 3 episodes • Trust — Penelope Kittson — 5 episodes • 2019 — Death in Paradise — Ciss Dacre — Episode: "Frappe Death Day" • Timewasters — Victoria — 5 episodes • 2019–2021 — Pennyworth — Dr. Frances Gaunt — 7 episodes • 2020–2022 — The Split — Melanie Aickman — Series 2-3 • 2021 — The Watch — Lord Vetinari — Main role • 2022 — Hotel Portofino — Lady Latchmere — Main role • |That Dirty Black Bag — Hellen — TV Series • 2023 — Rain Dogs — Allegra • 2024 — My Lady Jane — Lady Frances Grey — 8 episodes • 2025 — Outrageous — Sydney Bowles • 2025 — The Girlfriend — Lillith Greenway — 3 episodes • 2026 — My Brilliant Career — Mrs Bossier

• Boston Marriage, Donmar Warehouse – March–April 2001; Donmar in the West End – November 2001–February 2002 • Mammals at the Oxford Playhouse and touring – Lorna, January 2006 • Never So Good, National Theatre – summer 2008 • The Observer, National Theatre – spring 2009 • The Last of the Duchess, Hampstead Theatre – October–November 2011 • Private Lives (playing Amanda), Chichester Festival Theatre, September 2012, and the Gielgud Theatre, London (July–September 2013) • The Wolf From the Door, Royal Court Theatre, September–November 2014 • The Seagull by Anton Chekhov at National Theatre – summer 2016

Chancellor has played the role of Ann Smiley in BBC dramatisations of the John le Carré novels Call for the Dead, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People.