Tuppence Middleton

Middleton was born in Bristol on 21 February 1987, the daughter of Tina and Nigel Middleton.[2] She has an older sister named Angel and younger brother named Josh.[2] She was named "Tuppence" after the childhood nickname her grandmother gave to her mother.[3] She was raised in Clevedon, Somerset.[2] She has described her younger self as shy, reclusive, and "geeky" at school, but "quite loud and brash" at home; she found youth theatre an "outlet" in which she could be confident.[3][4] She attended Bristol Grammar School, where she was involved in school plays such as Guys and Dolls.[5] She also attended Stagecoach, a performing arts school in Portishead. She appeared in local drama productions, including a pantomime with her sister at the Princes Hall in Clevedon.[2] She subsequently studied acting at the Arts Educational School in London, earning an honours degree in acting.[2]

Middleton gained a following for her appearance in the 2009 British horror/comedy film Tormented.[6] Her character, head girl Justine Fielding, dates one of the most popular boys in school, only to find that he and his friends were responsible for a classmate's death. She has also appeared in adverts for the chewing gum Extra and Sky TV.

In 2010 she was nominated for the London Evening Standard Film Awards 2010 for Most Promising Newcomer and she starred in Samuel Abrahams's BAFTA-nominated short film "Connect".[7] In 2011, she played the character Tanya Green in the British sitcom Friday Night Dinner,[8] and Sarah in Sirens. In 2012 she appeared in Cleanskin, a terrorist thriller.[9] In March 2013 she made her professional theatre debut in The Living Room.[10] She also played a minor role in the Danny Boyle film Trance. In 2015, she starred in the Netflix Original Series Sense8 as Riley Blue.

She starred in the 2016 BBC drama War & Peace, playing Russian aristocrat Princess Hélène Kuragina. The series received critical acclaim. The Daily Express said: "Rising star Tuppence Middleton takes on the role of the delightfully evil Hélène Kuragina, who is one half of the incestuous duo. Audiences witnessed her brother getting a little too intimate with his sibling in the first episode before she turned her attentions to Pierre and dug her claws into him. She is a vile character who will use and abuse Pierre without giving him a second thought."[11] Andrew Davies, who adapted War and Peace, described Middleton's Hélène as "the naughtiest woman on TV at the moment".[12]

She has narrated BBC World Service documentaries about the Spitfire and the life of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[13][14]

An August 2018 announcement indicated that Middleton would be among the new cast to join the original series's actors in the feature film Downton Abbey, which started principal photography at about the same time.[15] She will be starring alongside Ken Watanabe, Laura Dern and Felicity Jones in the Nine Network/Disney+ historical period drama miniseries The Golden Bowl.

In 2020, she starred in the psychological horror film Possessor and biographical drama film Mank on Netflix. She appeared in the miniseries The Defeated as Claire Franklin.

In October 2021, she was set to star in folk horror film Lord of Misrule with Ralph Ineson and Matt Stokoe, directed by William Brent Bell.[16]

In March 2022, she starred as Fi Lawson in ITV 1's drama Our House alongside Martin Compston and Rupert Penry-Jones.[17][18] The series is based on Louise Candlish's Sunday Times best-selling real-estate novel.

In April 2022 it was reported she was pregnant with her first child.

• Tuppence Middleton on Twitter
• Tuppence Middleton at IMDb