Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Anna Chancellor

Highest Rated: 94% Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)

Lowest Rated: 0% Nativity Rocks! (2018)

Birthday: Apr 27, 1965

Birthplace: Richmond, England, UK

One of those ubiquitous supporting players whose faces are instantly recognizable but whose names are rarely remembered, Anna Chancellor bolstered the casts of British films and television series for more than a quarter of a century. Breaking into notability in the mid 1990s with small screen projects like "Kavanagh QC" (ITV 1995-2001), Chancellor only grew more prominent a show business fixture with time. The years thereafter would run her through the genres of drama, romantic comedy, science fiction, and dark satire, proving that almost no corner of the cinematic or television world might aptly survive without her. Anna Theodora Chancellor was born in the town of Richmond in London, England on April 27, 1965. She hailed from an impressive family: her mother, the Hon. Mary Jolliffe, was herself a great granddaughter of Herbert Henry Asquith, the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the early 1900s. This lineage also makes Chancellor a distant relative of actress Helena Bonham Carter. Her paternal bloodline traces her back to a number of Earls, as well as novelist Jane Austen. Chancellor kicked off her screen career with a central role on the sci-fi soap opera series "Jupiter Moon" (Galaxy Channel 1990). The program fell into oblivion following the demolition of its home network, leading Chancellor to pursue work elsewhere. Following a minor part in the comedy "Killing Dad or How to Love Your Mother" (1990) and a handful of one-off television appearances, Chancellor landed her first role of note: Henrietta (a.k.a. "Duckface") in the Hugh Grant rom-com "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (1994), a part that Chancellor herself credited with helping to get her career off the ground in earnest. Soon after, she would take on another of her best known roles: the prominent recurring character Julia Piper on the courtroom and interpersonal drama "Kavanagh QC" (ITV 1995-2001). Also at this time, Chancellor would go onto play Miss Bingley in a miniseries adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice" (BBC One 1995), and the character Anna Griffiths in the partnered miniseries "Karaoke" (BBC One/Channel 4 1996) and "Cold Lazarus" (BBC One/Channel 4 1996). The next several years would afford Chancellor more fortune in the realm of high profile cinema. She landed roles in the Bill Murray comedy "The Man Who Knew Too Little" (1997), the Colin Firth/Amanda Bynes family film "What a Girl Wants" (2003), the Bernardo Bertolucci period piece "The Dreamers" (2003), and the sci-fi comedy "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (2005). Chancellor juggled films, television programs, and stage productions of repute, starring notably in the dark satire series "Suburban Shootout" (Channel 5 2006-07), the TV movie "Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars" (BBC 2007) as iconic character Irene Adler, the romantic comedy film "Hysteria" (2011), and the thriller series "The Hour" (BBC Two 2011-12). In 2015, she began a recurring role as the Dowager Lady Anstruther on the esteemed television series "Downton Abbey" (ITV/PBS 2010-).

Show Less Show More

Highest rated movies

94% 93% Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Watchlist
92% 74% Four Weddings and a Funeral
Watchlist
90% 77% Benjamin Watchlist
84% 78% Testament of Youth
Watchlist
83% 84% Longitude
Watchlist
71% 51% The Happy Prince Watchlist
66% 55% How I Live Now
Watchlist
66% 60% The Carer
Watchlist
61% 75% This Beautiful Fantastic Watchlist
60% 65% The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Watchlist

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet 76% Stromboli Diane (Character) - 2022
94% 93% Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Lady Dant (Character) $10.3M 2022
29% 51% Come Away Eleanor Morrow (Character) $106.1K 2020
No Score Yet 69% For Love or Money Carol (Character) - 2019
90% 77% Benjamin Tessa (Character) - 2018
71% 51% The Happy Prince Mrs. Arbuthnott (Character) $464.5K 2018
0% 37% Nativity Rocks! Unknown (Character) - 2018
17% No Score Yet Love of My Life Grace (Character) - 2017
66% 60% The Carer Milly (Character) - 2016
61% 75% This Beautiful Fantastic Bramble (Character) - 2016
No Score Yet No Score Yet Grantchester, Christmas Special Aunt Cece (Character) - 2016
84% 78% Testament of Youth Mrs. Leighton (Character) $1.8M 2014
66% 55% How I Live Now Aunt Penn (Character) $60.1K 2013
No Score Yet 50% We'll Take Manhattan Lucie Clayton (Character) - 2012
59% 54% Hysteria Unknown (Character) $1.8M 2011
No Score Yet No Score Yet Marple: Murder Is Easy Lydia Horton (Character) - 2008
32% 55% St. Trinian's Miss Bagstock (Character) - 2007
No Score Yet 53% The Baker Street Irregulars Unknown (Character) - 2007
No Score Yet No Score Yet Christmas at the Riviera Diane (Character) - 2007
34% 52% Breaking and Entering Kate (Character) $929.0K 2006
No Score Yet No Score Yet Suburban Shootout Unknown (Character) - 2006
No Score Yet 51% The Best Man Dana (Character) - 2005
60% 65% The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Questular Rontok (Character) $51.0M 2005
No Score Yet 40% A Waste of Shame Anne Hathaway (Character) - 2005
13% 31% Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London Lady Josephine Kenworth (Character) $23.2M 2004
No Score Yet No Score Yet Roman Road Unknown (Character) - 2004
59% 78% The Dreamers Mother (Character) $2.5M 2003
35% 62% What a Girl Wants Glynnis Payne (Character) $36.0M 2003
No Score Yet 89% Tipping the Velvet Unknown (Character) - 2002
36% 57% Crush Molly (Character) $1.1M 2001
83% 84% Longitude Unknown (Character) - 2000
No Score Yet No Score Yet Heart Nicola Farmer (Character) - 1999
37% 69% The Man Who Knew Too Little Barbara Ritchie (Character) $13.8M 1997
92% 74% Four Weddings and a Funeral Henrietta - Wedding Two (Character) $49.3M 1994
No Score Yet 38% Staggered Carmen Svennipeg (Character) - 1994
No Score Yet No Score Yet Inspector Morse: Cherubim & Seraphim Sally Smith (Character) - 1992

TV

Credit
95% 91% My Lady Jane Lady Frances Grey (Character) 2024
No Score Yet 51% Hotel Portofino Lady Latchmere (Character) 2022-2024
60% 50% Fifteen-Love And Woodward (Character) 2023
94% 69% Ordeal by Innocence Rachel Argyll (Character) 2018 2023
80% 79% That Dirty Black Bag Hellen (Character) 2022
76% 91% The Split Melanie Aickman (Character) 2020 2022
No Score Yet 83% Timewasters Lady Victoria (Character) 2019
No Score Yet No Score Yet Portrait Artist of the Year Guest 2019
No Score Yet 85% Death in Paradise Ciss Dacre (Character) 2019
78% 79% Trust Penelope Kittson (Character) 2018
No Score Yet No Score Yet Celebrity Antiques Road Trip Guest 2017
No Score Yet No Score Yet Three Wives, One Husband Narrator 2017
No Score Yet 100% New Blood Eleanor Davies (Character) 2016
No Score Yet No Score Yet Mapp and Lucia Emmeline `Lucia' Lucas (Character) 2014-2015
No Score Yet No Score Yet Queen Victoria's Letters: A Monarch Unveiled Voice of Queen Victoria (Character) 2014
88% 93% Downton Abbey Lady Anstruther (Character) 2014
No Score Yet 76% Pramface Janet Derbyshire (Character) 2013-2014
57% No Score Yet Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond Second Officer Monday (Character) 2014
100% 91% Inside No. 9 Unknown (Character) 2014
88% 88% The Hour Lix Storm (Character) 2011-2012
No Score Yet 50% Hidden Unknown (Character) 2011
No Score Yet No Score Yet Spooks Juliet Shaw (Character) 2005-2006
No Score Yet No Score Yet Fortysomething Unknown (Character) 2003
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tipping the Velvet Diana Lethaby (Character) 2002
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Cazalets Diana Mackintosh (Character) 2001
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Vice Unknown (Character) 1999
88% 96% Pride and Prejudice Miss Bingley (Character) 1995