Amanda Drew

Amanda Drew
Born	(1969-12-21)21 December 1969 Boston,Lincolnshire,England
Alma mater	King's School Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992–present

Amanda Drew(born 21 December 1969)is an English actress with extensive credits in theatre, television and film.

Biography

One of four children, Drew was born inBoston, Lincolnshire.Drew's mother was a nurseand her father was avicar.When her parents moved toLeicestershirefor work, Drew was educated atBeauchamp CollegeinOadby,where she joined a youth theatre, playing Charity inSweet Charity.She later attendedKing's School,Ottery St. Mary,when her family moved toDevon.

After graduating fromRADAin 1992,Drew made her name on stage at theRoyal Court Theatreand various otherWest Endproductions in both drama and comedy roles. In 2001, she joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company.

In March 2009 she starred in the UK premiere ofParlour Songat theAlmeida Theatre.In July 2009 she took the role of Claudia Roe, a fictional amalgamation of female executives of the failedEnron Corporation,inENRONat theMinerva Theatre, Chichester,transferring toRoyal Court Theatrein October 2009 and theWest Endin January 2010.She made herBroadwaydebut inFlorian Zeller's playThe Height of the Stormin 2019.

Her television credits includeA Very British Scandal,The Girl Before,Broadchurch,The Last Post,Chernobyl,Wednesday,and theBlack Mirrorepisode "Smithereens".

EastEnders

Drew played the part ofDr. May Wrightin theBBC Onesoap opera,EastEnders,between September 2006 and June 2007, and again in June 2008. Drew was involved in one of largest storylines of the year, a love triangle between May, her husbandRob Minter(Stuart Laing), andDawn Swann(Kara Tointon).

The personality of the character has earned her the nickname "Mad May" and "Psycho Doctor" from the media.Drew has described the role as "a gift of a role for any actor because of her complexity."Of her return toEastEnders,she has stated: "I'm so excited to be playing her again. It'd be a shame to give too much away, but she has changed in many ways."Executive producerDiederick Santerhas said: "It's great to have Amanda back. May is a hugely popular character. I'm sure viewers will be keen to see what she gets up to and how she's changed."

In May 2007, it was decided that the ending of a current storyline featuring characters of May, Dawn and Rob would be substantially rewritten due to thedisappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann.The storyline would have seen May ran off with Dawn and Rob's baby shortly after it had been born.The move attracted some criticism as to how it relates directly to the disappearance of the toddler; the BBC said that "In the current circumstances it was felt any storyline that included a child abduction would be inappropriate and could cause distress to our viewers."May holds Dawn hostage, intending to steal her baby by performing acaesarean section.May is arrested and Drew left the series.

Trailers for Drew's return toEastEnders,had been shown in the weeks running up to her return onBBCchannels; on 6 June 2008. She reprised her role as May, under the assumed name of "Jenny". She was seen smoking a cigarette and drinking alcohol, two new activities for the character. May was killed-off on 18 June 2008 when she causes a gas explosion at the Miller house.

Awards

Drew won the "Outstanding Newcomer" at the 2003 LondonEvening StandardTheatre Awardsfor her performance inEastward Ho!at the Gielgud Theatre.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Between the Lines	Angela
1993	Full Stretch	Natasha
	Performance	Daisy
	Paul Calf's Video Diary	Emma
1994	Soldier Soldier	Siobhan Mitchell
1995	Degrees of Love	Cordell Hospital Nurse
1994, 2003	The Bill	Various roles
1998	Men Behaving Badly	Wendy
2002	Tough Love	Jilly Barnes
	Spooks	Reporter
2003	M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team	Ruth Taylor
2004	No Angels	Dr. Jane Salter
2005	The Golden Hour	Peta Larkinson
2006–2008	EastEnders	Dr. May Wright	Regular role; 93 episodes
2008	HolbyBlue	Judy Burrows
2010	Midsomer Murders	Liz Gerrard
2012	Switch	Janet
	Paddy and Sally's Excellent Gypsy Adventure	Narrator
2013–2015	Broadchurch	Cate Gillespie	6 episodes
2013	Silent Witness	DI Reed
	Life of Crime	Beverley Reid
	New Tricks	Laura Highsmith
	Southcliffe	Jacqui Whitehead
2014	Horizon	Narrator
	The Passing Bells	Annie Edwards
2017	The Last Post	Mary Markham
2018	Trust	Belinda
2019	Father Brown	Miss Cynthia Rosewood
	Black Mirror	Hayley	Episode: "Smithereens"
	Chernobyl	Kremlin Aide
2019–2020	The Trial of Christine Keeler	Julie Ellen Payne
2020	Gangs of London	Ms. Kane
	Criminal: UK	Solicitor
2021	The Outlaws	Ruth
	Doctor Who	The Mouri (voice)	Episode: "Once, Upon Time"
	The Girl Before	Carol Younsen (Psychotherapist)
	A Very British Scandal	Yvonne MacPherson
2022	Vampire Academy	Diane
	Wednesday	Esther Sinclair	Episode: "You Reap What You Woe"
	The Peripheral	Mrs West
2023	The Gold	CS Cath McLean	6 episodes
TBA	Lockerbie	TBA	Filming

Eric

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Remember Me?	Police officer
1997	Mrs Dalloway	Lucy
1999	This Year's Love	Old Friend
2004	Between Us	Lukas' Mother
2008	The Other Man	Joy
2010	Jerusalem	Kate Blake	Short film
2012	Anonymous	Helen	Short film
2014	Charity	Mother	Short film
2015	Blue Borsalino	Donna	Short film
2018	A Private War	Amy Bentham
2021	The Hitman and Her	Mrs. Pierce	Short film

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018	Hitman 2	Nancy Burnwood

Selected stage appearances

• The Memory of Water
• The Man of Mode(1994)
• The Way of the World(1995)
• John Gabriel Borkman(1996)
• Taking Sides(1997)
• The School of Night(1999)
• The House of Bernarda Alba(1999)
• Top Girls(2000)
• Jubilee(2001)
• Eastward Ho!(2002)
• The Island Princess(2002)
• Blithe Spirit(2004)
• Otherwise Engaged(2005)
• Parlour Song(2009)
• ENRON(2009–2010)
• House of Games(2010)
• Butley(2011)
• Twelfth Night(2011)
• A Streetcar Named Desire(2012)
• Three Days in the Country(2015)

External links

• Amanda DrewatIMDb