Hannah Waddingham

Hannah Waddingham was born on 28 July 1974^[1] in Wandsworth, London.^[2] Her mother, Melodie Kelly, was an opera singer, as were both of her maternal grandparents.^[3] Her mother joined the English National Opera when Waddingham was eight years old, and she grew up around the theatre.^[3][4]

Waddingham is a graduate of the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts.^[5] She has a four-octave vocal range.^[6] She started out in dinner theatre, performing in the interactive comedy Joey and Gina's Wedding, produced by Anthony and Joseph Tomaska.^[3][7]

Waddingham has been a stage actress on both London's West End and New York's Broadway.^[3] She made her West End debut in Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens at The Queens Theatre in 1998 and went on to star in Lautrec by Charles Aznavour in March 2000,^[8] then created the role of Christine Warner in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton’s The Beautiful Game, staying with the show for the year-long run at the Cambridge Theatre from September 2000.^[9] Further stage roles included Starbird in Space Family Robinson (Julian & Stephen Butler, 2002)^[5] and Satan in Tonight's the Night: The Rod Stewart Musical at the Victoria Palace Theatre in 2003.^[10]

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.^[3] She received outstanding reviews for her portrayal of Desirée Armfeldt in Trevor Nunn's revival of A Little Night Music.^[11] Waddingham subsequently received a further Olivier Award nomination in 2010 for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Night Music.^[12]

In mid-2010, Waddingham played the Witch in the production of Into the Woods at London's Open Air Theatre.^[13][14] 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^[15] and was the first to perform the new Lloyd Webber and Rice song "Red Shoes Blues".^[3][16] She left the production on 4 September 2011.^[17] Waddingham won the whatsonstage.com Theatergoers Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her performance.^[18]

In 2012, Waddingham starred in Chichester Festival Theatre's revival of Kiss Me, Kate.^[19] The show transferred to the Old Vic Theatre on London's South Bank in November 2012.^[20]

On 25 August 2023, Waddingham was announced as the host of the Fantasy, Myths and Legends Prom as part of that year's BBC Proms; on 28 August, she pulled out just hours before the performance, in solidarity with the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.^[21][22]

In 2011, Waddingham appeared in series 4, episode 3 of the BBC sitcom, Not Going Out. She played the role of Jane, an actress in an adult film being recorded in the show.^[23]

She had a small role in the 2012 film Les Misérables,^[3] and in 2014, she appeared in the ITV comedy Benidorm.^[6]

Waddingham portrayed the "Shame Nun", Septa Unella, in season 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones. She began filming her scenes nine weeks after the birth of her daughter and claims that she underwent actual waterboarding during filming so that the scene would look authentic.^[3][7][24] She was given the role's iconic "shame bell" as a parting gift.^[3][25] She also had a recurring role on the Netflix series Sex Education as Jackson's mother, Sophia Marchetti.^[3][26]

Since 2020, Waddingham has portrayed Rebecca Welton, the owner of AFC Richmond, on the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso.^{[4][27][28][29]} She did 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".^[30] 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.^[31]

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.^[32][33]

She portrayed Lady Bellaston in the ITV drama series Tom Jones, based on Henry Fielding's 1749 novel, inspired by the real life of Etheldreda Townshend.^[34][26][35]

In March 2023, Waddingham was announced as part of the cast for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.^[36]

In May 2023, Waddingham co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, alongside Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina, with Graham Norton joining them for the final.^[37][38]

Waddingham appeared in the 2024 action-comedy film The Fall Guy alongside Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, playing producer Gail.^[39]

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.^[40]

She later sang the role of Starbird on the soundtrack recording of Space Family Robinson (composers: Julian Butler^[41] and Stephen Butler), 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.^[42]

On 22 November 2023, Waddingham's debut album, a live album, was released. Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas was recorded at the show of the same name for Apple TV.^[43][44][45] The album debuted and peaked at numbers 51 and 43 on the UK Albums Downloads and Soundtrack Albums charts, respectively.^[46]

Waddingham emigrated to Australia in 2012 but returned soon after.^[47] She was in a relationship with Italian businessman Gianluca Cugnetto for a decade and they had a daughter in 2014, whom Waddingham has raised as a single mother since 2023.^[48][49] Waddingham 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."^[3]

Waddingham speaks fluent French and Italian.^[50]

• List of British actors
• List of Primetime Emmy Award winners