| Phoebe Nicholls | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sarah Phoebe Nicholls 1958 London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1964 – present |
Phoebe Nicholls (born Sarah Phoebe Nicholls;[1] in 1958)[2][3] is an English film, television, and stage actor. She is known for her roles as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited and as the mother of John Merrick in The Elephant Man.
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Nicholls was born in London, England to actors Faith Kent (née Heaslip) and Anthony Nicholls. An undiagnosed dyslexic, she left school early.[3] Upon leaving, she trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.[4] Nicholls married Brideshead Revisited director Charles Sturridge on 6 July 1985;[5] they have three children.[3] Their eldest son Tom Sturridge and daughter Matilda Sturridge are also actors.
As a child actor in several films she was billed as Sarah Nicholls, appearing alongside her father, mother and sister Kate in her earliest performances.[6] In her early 20s, she appeared in David Lynch's The Elephant Man, Michael Palin's The Missionary and most famously as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited. Since then, she has worked almost exclusively in television and theatre. Debuting in Michael Lindsay-Hogg's original staging of Whose Life Is It Anyway? in 1978, she went on to perform in Robert Strura's revival of Three Sisters with Vanessa Redgrave, Stephen Daldry's acclaimed National Theatre version of J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls[4] and in the Olivier Award-winning productions of Pravda, with The Elephant Man co-star Sir Anthony Hopkins and Terry Johnson's Hysteria.[7] Her supporting performances in the 2008 West End revivals of Noel Coward's The Vortex and Harley Granville Barker's Waste earned her the 2009 Clarence Derwent Award from Equity.
She appeared in the 1995 television production of Jane Austen's Persuasion. She has made guest appearances on several television mystery series, including Kavanagh QC, Prime Suspect, Midsomer Murders, Inspector Lewis, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Foyle's War and Second Sight starring Clive Owen. She has also appeared in several works directed by her husband, Charles Sturridge, including his 1995 television adaptation of Gulliver's Travels, where she portrayed the Liliputian Empress, and the 1997 film Fairy Tale: A True Story.