Amanda Root


Amanda Root is an English stage and screen actress and a former voice actress for children's programmes.
Root is known for her starring role in the 1995 BBC film adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion, her role in the British TV comedy All About Me, as Miranda, alongside Richard Lumsden in 2004, and for voicing Sophie in The BFG.
She trained for the stage at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

Life and career

Root was born in Chelmsford, Essex. She began her career at the Leeds Playhouse in 1983 when she played Essie in Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple.

She was a remarkably complete actress even in her early twenties, when physically she looked little more than a child. With her dark soulful eyes she could command a stage, and the Royal Shakespeare Company saw her talent very early on.

She worked regularly with the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon and London from 1983 to 1991, including playing the role of Juliet to Daniel Day-Lewis's Romeo; a very young Lady Macbeth; Cressida to Ralph Fiennes's Troilus, and Rosaline to his Berowne.
In 1995, she starred as Anne Elliot in Persuasion, co-starring Ciarán Hinds and John Woodvine. The film was based on the novel by Jane Austen and was her first leading role in a film.
She won rave reviews in October 2008 for her portrayal of the control freak Sarah in The Old Vic's revival of Alan Ayckbourn's interlinked trilogy The Norman Conquests, directed in the round by Matthew Warchus.

Audio

She was the voice of Sophie in the animated film of Roald Dahl's The BFG.
She portrayed Joan la Pucelle in the Arkangel Shakespeare's 2000 production of Henry VI, Part 1.
In 2006, Root undertook the task of recording an unabridged audiobook of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Published by Naxos it has a running time of 20 hours 30 minutes, spread across 17 audio CDs:. She had previously recorded an abridged 3-hour reading of Jane Austen's Persuasion, published by Hodder & Stoughton Audiobooks in July 2004:.
In November 2007 for BBC Radio 4 she played in the Woman's Hour Drama serial adaptation of F. Tennyson Jesse's novel A Pin to See the Peep Show, and on 2 December 2007 was heard in Arnold Wesker's 75-minute radio play The Rocking Horse, commissioned by the BBC World Service to celebrate its 75th anniversary. As part of the BBC Radio 4 Hopes and Desires season, she played Lindsey, an incurable romantic who yearns to meet a modern-day Heathcliff, in Nick Warburton's 30-minute comedy Catching Heathcliff, broadcast at 11 pm on 15 January 2008. She was the voice of Fanny in the 2-cassette 1997 BBC radio dramatisation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.

Theatre

Her stage credits include:
YearFilmRoleNotes
1985StoryboardPolly SwiftTV series
1985This Lightning Always Strikes TwiceSarah PenwardenTV movie
1989The BFGSophievoice
1991The House of Bernarda AlbaAdela
1993The Man Who CriedHilda MaxwellTV movie
1993The Buddha of SuburbiaFirst TV ProducerTV mini-series
1993CasualtyBarb Edmonds/Evelyn Winnell/Joyce PaiceTV series
1994Hildegard of BingenRicardisTV documentary
1994Love on a Branch LineMiss MounseyTV series
1994'KateTV series
1995PersuasionAnne Elliot
1996Jane EyreMiss Temple
1996Breaking the CodePatricia "Pat" GreenTV movie
1996Deep in the HeartKate Markham
1997Harry Enfield and ChumsMiss HetheringtonTV series
1997Turning WorldEvelyn SharplesTV series
1997Original SinFrances PeverellTV series
1997Sunnyside FarmDawnTV series
1997DangerfieldAlice StrattonTV series
1998Mortimer's LawRachel MortimerTV series
1998Big CatAliceTV movie
1999Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?Margaret Robinson
2000Anna KareninaDollyTV mini-series
2001Holby CityAbbie SawyerTV series
2001A Small Summer PartyKarenTV movie
2002Waking the DeadLorna GylesTV series
2002Daniel DerondaMrs. DavilowTV mini-series
2002The Forsyte SagaWinifred Dartie née ForsyteTV series
2003Midsomer MurdersRuth ScholeyTV series
2003The Forsyte Saga: To LetWinifred Dartie née ForsyteTV mini-series
2003Love AgainMaeve BrennanTV movie
2003A Touch of FrostDolores DelmonteTV series
2003Little BritainBaby's MotherTV series
2003Foyle's WarElizabeth LewesTV series
2004Girl Afraidshort
2004LondonCharlotte BrontëTV movie
2004Rose and MaloneyMarsha CampeseTV series
2004BloomHelen Chapmanshort
2005The RobinsonsMaggie RobinsonTV series
2005EmpireNoellaTV mini-series
2005'Vera SidneyTV series
2006The Afternoon PlayAndreaTV series
2006The ImpressionistsAlice HoschedéTV mini-series
2006Brief EncountersJune MakenzieTV series
2006'Federation AmbassadorTV series
2007The Robber BrideTony FremontTV movie
2007Miss Marie Lloyd – Queen of The Music HallMrs. ChantTV movie
2008Fiona's StoryJulieTV movie
2008Agatha Christie's PoirotMrs. RendellTV movie
2010'Patricia SmithTV series
2010Thorne: SleepyheadTeresa MaxwellTV movie
2011The Iron LadyAmanda
2012DCI BanksMary RothwellTV series
2013CasualtyEvelyn WinnellTV series
2013ZouVoiceTV series
2013The TunnelDoctor CrossTV series
2015Count Arthur StrongKarenTV series
2015Death in ParadiseTeresa GowerTV series
2015New TricksEleanorTV series
2016Their FinestCecy/Mrs Brown
2017SherlockEmma WelsboroughTV series
2017The Black PrinceQueen Victoria
2018The Other Side of the CoinWifeTV movie
2018UnforgottenCarol FinchTV series
2018Patrick MelroseVirginia Watson-ScottTV mini-series
2019Silent WitnessOlivia WalshTV series
2020Call the MidwifeFlorrie WatkinsTV series