Haydn Gwynne

In 2013 Haydn Gwynne played Margaret Thatcher opposite Helen Mirren as the Queen in the West End production of The Audience. She played Queen Elizabeth opposite Kevin Spacey as Richard III in Sam Mendes’s acclaimed Bridge Project production, following a season at London’s Old Vic Theatre, BAM New York and a sell-out world tour. For Stephen Daldry, she appeared in the West End and later on Broadway as the dance teacher in Billy Elliot The Musical winning a Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theater World Awards for Best Actress in a musical, as well as nominations for an Olivier and a Tony Award. She was also nominated for an Olivier for her role in the London production of Cy Coleman and Larry Gelbart’s City Of Angels. Other British premiere productions include Becky Shaw at the Almeida, The Memory Of Water for Hampstead Theatre, and Ziegfeld at the London Palladium. Also:Company (Donmar Warehouse West End concerts), Duet For One (tour), The Recruiting Officer, The Cabinet Minister andThe Bluebird of Unhappiness (Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre), Macbeth (Ludlow Festival), The Way of the World(Royal Theatre Northampton), Hedda Gabler (Bolton Octagon), and His Monkey Wife (Stephen Joseph Theatre). She has made numerous appearances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Peer Gynt, and The Merry Wives of Windsor alongside Judi Dench and Simon Callow.

Haydn is best known on television for her lead roles in Peak Practice, Merseybeat, Nice Work, and Drop The Dead Donkey, winning three Royal Television Society Awards for Best Actress, and nominations for a British Comedy Award and a BAFTA. Her numerous TV credits include HBO's Rome, Sherlock, Death in Paradise, Uncle, Silent Witness, Father Brown, The Secret, Lewis, Poirot, Midsomer Murders, Dalziel and Pascoe, New Tricks, Absolute Power, Consenting Adults, Time Riders and The Merchant of Venice. She will next be seen on screen in Ripper Street, and a new BBC 1 screenplay The C Word with Sheridan Smith.

Her film work includes Remember Me, The Pleasure Principle, These Foolish Things, and Hunky Dory with Minnie Driver.

She can often be heard on Radio 4, both in drama and reading for Book of The Week and Book At Bedtime.

(Source: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown show website.)