Hannah Waddingham is a British actress and singer and she was recently revieled to be one of the hosts of Eurovision 2023.
Let’s find out some trivia and facts about the actress.
- Hannah Waddingham was born on 28 of July 1974
- She is a British actress and singer
- She is best known for playing Rebecca Welton in the comedy series Ted Lasso (2020–present)
- For the role she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2021
- And the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2021 and 2022
- She has also appeared in a number of West End shows, including Spamalot, the 2010 Regent’s Park revival of Into the Woods, and The Wizard of Oz as the Wicked Witch of the West
- She has received three Olivier Award nominations for her work
- Her other work includes appearing as an ensemble member in the 2012 film adaptation of Les Misérables
- She was part of the cast of the fifth season of the HBO series Game of Thrones as Septa Unella in 2015
- She co-starred in the 2018 British psychological thriller Winter Ridge
- And has had a supporting role on the series Sex Education since 2019
- Waddingham was born in Wandsworth in London
- Her mother, Melodie Kelly, was an opera singer, as were both her maternal grandparents
- Her mother joined the English National Opera when Waddingham was eight years old
- She grew up around the theatre
- Waddingham is a graduate of the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts
- She has a four octave vocal range
- She started out in dinner theatre, performing in the interactive comedy Joni and Gina’s Wedding
- Waddingham is in a relationship with Italian businessman Gianluca Cugnetto
- Their daughter was born in 2014
- Her daughter has an autoimmune disease, Henoch–Schönlein purpura
- She keeps her Emmy award in her daughter’s bedroom to remind her that “mummy will only ever be away when it’s for a really, blooming good reason”
- Waddingham has been a stage actress on both London’s West End and New York’s Broadway
- She performed as Starbird in Space Family Robinson (Julian & Stephen Butler, 2002) and Suzanne Valadon in Lautrec
- Waddingham portrayed the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot, both in the London production and then on Broadway
- She received an Olivier Award nomination for the role
- She received outstanding reviews for her portrayal of Desirée Armfeldt in Trevor Nunn’s revival of A Little Night Music, including being described by one critic as the “Joanna Lumley of musical theatre”
- Waddingham subsequently received a further Olivier Award nomination in 2010 for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Night Music
- In mid-2010, Waddingham played the Witch in the production of Into the Woods at London’s Open Air Theatre
- She originated the role of The Wicked Witch of the West in the West End production of The Wizard of Oz, which opened on 1 March 2011 at the London Palladium
- She was the first to perform the new Lloyd Webber and Rice song “Red Shoes Blues”
- She left the production on 4 September 2011
- Waddingham won the whatsonstage.com Theatergoers Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her performance
- Waddingham appeared in the concert premiere of Styles and Drew’s Soho Cinders at the Queens Theatre, London in 2011
- She was replaced by Jenna Russell for the show’s first fully staged production in 2012
- In 2012, Waddingham starred in Chichester Festival Theatre’s revival of Kiss Me, Kate
- The show transferred to the Old Vic Theatre on London’s South Bank in November 2012
- In 2011, Waddingham appeared in Season 4, Episode 3 of the hit BBC sitcom, Not Going Out. She played the role of Jane, an actress in an adult film being recorded in the show.[20]
- She had a small role in the 2012 film Les Misérables,[4] and in 2014, starred on the ITV comedy Benidorm.[7]
- Waddingham portrayed the “Shame Nun”, Septa Unella, in season 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones
- She started filming nine weeks after giving birth to her daughter
- She did her own stunts for a scene in which she is waterboarded
- She was given the role’s iconic “shame bell” as a parting gift
- She also has a recurring role on the Netflix series Sex Education as Jackson’s overbearing mother, Sophia Marchetti
- Since 2020, Waddingham has portrayed Rebecca Welton, the owner of AFC Richmond on the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso
- The show has been praised for its “refreshing” portrayal of a supportive female friendship between Rebecca and Juno Temple’s character, Keeley
- She does her own singing in the season one episode “Make Rebecca Great Again” and the season two episodes “Carol of the Bells” and “No Weddings and a Funeral”
- In 2021, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the role
- Waddingham also appears as the character Mother Witch in Hocus Pocus 2, Disney’s sequel to Hocus Pocus released on Disney+ on 30 September 2022
- The actor’s time on screen has been described as an “Oscar-worthy performance” and “from the moment she enters, she commands the screen with unquestionable authority”
- She will portray Lady Bellaston in the ITV drama miniseries Tom Jones, based on Henry Fielding’s 1749 novel
- In 2000, Waddingham played the role of Christine in the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton musical The Beautiful Game in London’s West End
- In October 2000, Waddingham (billed simply as “Hannah”), released a single of the song “Our Kind of Love” from the production
- The single peaked at No. 41 in the UK charts
- She later sang the role of Starbird on the soundtrack recording of Space Family Robinson
- It was released by Pop! Records in May 2002
- Coinciding with the stage production (also featuring Waddingham as Starbird) which ran for three weeks at London’s Pleasance Theatre
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