Cheryl Campbell (born St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England) is an English actor of stage, film and television.
Cheryl Campbell was educated at Francis Bacon Grammar School, St Albans; London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Her repertory theatre experience includes the Watford Palace Theatre, Birmingham Rep and Glasgow Citizens' Theatre.
Cheryl Campbell is known for her starring role as Vera Brittain in the BBC's television dramatisation of Testament of Youth (1979), for which she received Best Actress awards from the British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) and theBroadcasting Press Guild Award.
Campbell earned her first BAFTA nomination the previous year for Eileen Everson, a very different character, opposite Bob Hoskins in Dennis Potter's television serial Pennies from Heaven (1978). Campbell's one other role in a work by Potter is as Janet in Rain on the Roof (1980).
Cheryl Campbell is also a stage performer of considerable note and great range. She has been twice a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. At the RSC in 1982, she played Nora Helmer in Adrian Noble's memorable production of Ibsen's A Doll's House (for which she was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Revival). In that same season, she also appeared as Diana in All's Well That Ends Well. She returned to the RSC in the 1992-94 season, playing Lady Macbeth to Derek Jacobi's lead in Noble's controversial production of Macbeth; Beatrice-Joanna in The Changeling; Mistress Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor; and Natasha in Misha's Party. She has also worked at the Royal National Theatre: playing as a junior member of the company in 1975, as Freda in Peter Hall's Old Vic production of John Gabriel Borkman (starring Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft and Wendy Hiller) and as Maggie in W. S. Gilbert's Engaged; in 1995, as Lady Politic Would-Be in Matthew Warchus's Volpone; and in 2003 as Dotty Otley in the NT's touring (and London) revival of Noises Off.
Campbell's other stage performances in London have encompassed the classics as well as new plays; they include You Never Can Tell (Lyric, 1979); Miss Julie (1983) in the title role; Little Eyolf (1985) as Asta; The Daughter-in-Law(1985) as Minnie; The Sneeze (a Chekhov selection) (1988) in various roles; Betrayal (1991) as Emma; The Strip (1995) as Loretta; Some Sunny Day (1996) as Emily; The Seagull (1997) as Arkadina; Passion (2000) as Nell; and Life After George (2002) as Beatrix. In provincial theatre (aside from the touring productions of The Seagull and Noises Off), Campbell has appeared in: The Country Wife (Manchester Royal Exchange) as Margery Pinchwife; The Constant Wife (Theatr Clwyd) as Constance; A Streetcar Named Desire (Leicester Haymarket) as Blanche (for which she received a Regional Theatre Best Actress award); and So Long Life (touring production) as Wendy.
She has also appeared regularly on British TV:
In period pieces: Sarah Bernhardt in Lillie, Winnie Verloc in The Secret Agent, Bessy Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss, Lady Carbury in The Way We Live Now, Lady Somerset in To the Ends of the Earth.
In dramas: Madeleine Cranmere in Malice Aforethought, Lady Eileen 'Bundle' Brent in The Seven Dials Mystery, Eva Jackson in Absurd Person Singular, Caroline Ashurst in A Winter Harvest, Elizabeth Fellowes in A Sort of Innocence, Maria Wearing in Centrepoint, Louie Williams in Fantabulosa.
In episodic TV: Erica Taylor in The Sweeney, Griselda Clement in Miss Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage, Pamela Drake in Boon, Sylvie Maxton in Inspector Morse, Lady Frances Carfax in the The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes: The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax, Aline Bauche in Maigret, Emily Coxon in Bramwell, Louise McAllister in Wing and a Prayer, Diana Grey in A Touch of Frost, Sandra MacKillop in Midsomer Murders, Emily Gascoigne in Foyle's War (in the episode entitled A Lesson in Murder), Maureen Hunt in Waking the Dead, Deputy PM in Spooks, Jean Swainbank in Dalziel and Pascoe, Valli Helm in Lewis, Ocean Waters in The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Vault of Secrets.
In regular series: Madeleine Claveau in Monsignor Renard, Molly Gilcrest in William and Mary, Lola's mum in Funland, Sophie's mum in Peep Show. In 2011 she joined the cast of Casualty as the ED's new joint Clinical Lead Miriam Turner.
On film, her roles have included: Sheila McVicar (to Roger Daltrey's John McVicar) in 1980's McVicar; Jennie Liddell in 1981's Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire; Lady Aline Hartlip in 1984's The Shooting Party (with Dorothy Tutin, James Mason and John Gielgud); and Lady Alice Clayton (Tarzan's mother) in 1984's Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.
Biography from the Wikipedia article, licensed under CC-BY-SA