Sophie Winkleman Biography

Sophie Lara Winkleman (born 5 August 1980) is an English television, film and stage actress. As the wife of Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Queen Elizabeth II's cousin Prince Michael of Kent, Winkleman is formally referred to as Lady Frederick Windsor.

Early life

Winkleman was born in Primrose Hill in London. Her father, Barry, is a publisher and non-practising Jew. Her mother is children's author Cindy Black. Her half sister, born to her father and his first wife journalist Eve Pollard, former editor of the Sunday Express, is the television presenter Claudia Winkleman. Winkleman is the step-daughter of Sir Nicholas Lloyd. Winkleman was educated at the City of London School for Girls and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she read English literature. She joined the university's dramatic society Cambridge Footlights and wrote and performed in the comic revue Far Too Happy. For the first time in twenty years, the Footlights received a Perrier award nomination. Winkleman is also a member of the National Youth Theatre. She is a soprano.

Career

Television

Winkleman's credits include roles in numerous series including Peep Show, Harry & Paul, White Teeth, The Trial of Tony Blair, Plus One, Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, Lead Balloon, Keen Eddie, Chasing Alice, Poirot (in the episode "Five Little Pigs"), The Palace, Robin Hood, Death in Paradise and Titanic.

Winkleman was nominated for Best Newcomer by the BBC for her leading guest role in Waking the Dead. Winkleman also debuted on American television as the star of the short lived NBC sitcom 100 Questions as the main character Charlotte Payne and as recurring star on the hit series Two and a Half Men as Zoey, the love interest of Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher).

Stage

Winkleman's stage career includes a spell at the Royal Shakespeare Company where she played Veronique in Laurence Boswell's adaptation of Beauty and the Beast and a summer in Bath with the Peter Hall Company playing a variety of roles including Archangela in Gallileo's Daughter, a new play by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Violet in George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman and Charlotte in Don Juan directed by Thea Sharrock. She played Helena in Eric Idle's musical 'What About Dick' at the Orpheum Theatre alongside Eddie Izzard, Russell Brand and Billy Connolly. Her numerous roles whilst at Cambridge included the Bride in Lorca's Blood Wedding which toured the amphitheatres of Greece for three months, Elizabeth in 'Six Degrees of Separation' which played at the Edinburgh Festival, Abigail in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Dockdaisy in Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Kate in Alan Ayckbourn's Confusions.

Film

Winkleman's film credits include the lead roles in the films Shattered and "Love Live Long" written and directed by Mike Figgis. Winkleman also played the comic role of Debbie Levine in Pathe's romantic comedy Suzie Gold and the older Susan Pevensie in the Disney film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Other film roles include the leads in the shorts 'Seared', Love Letters, 'The Lost Domain', a cinematic take on Alain-Fournier's Le Grand Meaulnes and 'Post' directed by Debs Gardner-Paterson.

Radio

Winkleman is a regular in BBC Radio 4 comedy and drama. She is among the cast of comedy programmes such as Marcus Brigstocke's Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off, and such afternoon plays as 'Tea for Two'. She played Polly Pot in P.G. Wodehouse's 'Uncle Fred in the Springtime' with Alfred Molina and Rufus Sewell and Zoe in Alan Ayckbourn's Henceforward alongside Jared Harris. She also played Anna Freud in Radio 4 play Dr. Freud Will See You Now, Mrs. Hitler, by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran and the Amazon warrior princess Penthiselea alongside Alistair McGowan and Stephen Mangan in the Radio 4 comic fantasy series ElvenQuest by Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto. She will shortly be recording the lead role of Sasha in 'Von Ribbentrop's Watch', a historical drama for Radio 4.

Marriage

On 14 February 2009, Winkleman became engaged to Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. They married in Hampton Court Palace on 12 September 2009. The bride wore a dress designed by Anna-Roza Bistroff. By virtue of her marriage, she became entitled to be styled as Lady Frederick Windsor, but continues to use her maiden name in her professional career. Lord Frederick is currently 41st in the line of succession to his father's cousin, Queen Elizabeth II. On 15 August 2013, Lord and Lady Frederick became the parents of a daughter named Maud Elizabeth Daphne Marina. She was born at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles and is the first grandchild of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

Filmography

• 2002: Ultimate Force as Woman in Bank`(1 episode)
• 2002: White Teeth as Joely
• 2002: Waking the Dead as Joanna Gold/Clara Gold (1 episode)
• 2003: Chasing Alice as Unknown
• 2003: Keen Eddie as Prudence (1 episode)
• 2003: Agatha Christie's Poirot as Angela Warren (1 episode)
• 2004: Suzie Gold as Debbie Levine
• 2004: AD/BC: A Rock Opera as Wise Man
• 2005: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as Older Susan
• 2005"2010: Peep Show as Big Suze (9 episodes)
• 2006: Lewis as Regan Peverill
• 2006: Dalziel and Pascoe as Alice Shadwell (2 episodes)
• 2007: The Trial of Tony Blair as Fiona
• 2007: Shattered as Natalie Encore
• 2007"present: Harry and Paul as various roles/characters
• 2008: The Palace as Princess Eleanor (8 episodes)
• 2008: Love Live Long as Rachel
• 2008: Seared as Stranger
• 2009: Plus One as Abby Ross (1 episode)
• 2009: Kingdom as Kate (1 episode)
• 2009: Red Dwarf: Back to Earth as Katerina (2 episodes)
• 2009: Red Dwarf: The Making of Back to Earth as Herself
• 2009: Robin Hood as Ghislaine (1 episode)
• 2010: 100 Questions as Charlotte Payne (6 episodes)
• 2011: Lead Balloon
• 2011: CSI: Miami as Sharon Kirby (1 episode)
• 2011"present: Two and a Half Men as Zoey (Season 9)
• 2011: Death in Paradise as Mrs Hamilton (1 episode)
• 2012: Titanic (TV series) as Dorothy Gibson