Helen Baxendale Biography

Helen Victoria Baxendale (born 7 June 1970) is an English actress of stage and television, best known for her roles in Cold Feet, Friends, Cardiac Arrest and An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.

Early life

Baxendale was born on 7 June 1970 in Pontefract, West Riding of Yorkshire.

She grew up in Shenstone, Staffordshire and wanted to be a ballet dancer when she was younger. She trained at the Elmhurst School for Dance but dropped out at 17 in favour of an acting career. She moved to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and then worked at the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre from 1992"1994.

Career

It was via Glasgow Citizens' Theatre that she was cast in the hospital TV series Cardiac Arrest (although it was not her first television role). Her role as Dr. Claire Maitland earned her a Scottish BAFTA nomination in 1995.

She was one of the stars of the popular TV series Cold Feet, playing Rachel Bradley, a role which garnered her a British Comedy Award nomination in 1997 in the pilot episode. She also starred in An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, playing Cordelia Gray, and made notable recurring appearances on the American series Friends as Ross Geller's girlfriend, wife and finally ex-wife Emily Waltham, which gave her wide exposure on American network television. Other notable roles include Lorna Johnson in Truth or Dare (in which John Hannah also starred), Caroline Meagher in The Investigator (alongside Laura Fraser), and Julie Matthews in Curt Truninger's Dead by Monday.

She was nominated for another Scottish BAFTA in 1997 for her role as Lorna Johnson. Dead by Monday won the Angel Award for Best Film at the Monaco International Film Festival in 2003 and the Portland Festival of World Cinema award for best feature film in 2001.

On-stage, Baxendale starred as Christine in Patrick Marber's After Miss Julie, and in 2005 appeared as Romy, the eponymous title role in The Woman Before at the Royal Court alongside Nigel Lindsay, Saskia Reeves, Tom Riley and Georgia Taylor but has also played various roles including that of Ophelia in Hamlet (the Marovitz Hamlet) along with Henry Ian Cusick. She was a finalist for the 1993 Sunday Times Royal National Theatre Ian Charleson Award (best classical actor under 30). In 2009 Baxendale played Lara in Amongst Friends alongside Aden Gillett and Emma Cunniffe at Hampstead Theatre.

She played Pandora Braithwaite in Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years in 2001 and "Maggie" in the multiple award-winning Bolse Vita. She also appeared in Saving Nellie, a physics programme running on Teachers TV. In 2007 to January 2008 she starred in Swimming with Sharks alongside Christian Slater at London's Vaudville Theatre. In 2008 and 2009 she has also appeared in several TV adverts for Morrisons, a British supermarket chain.

In January 2011, she co-starred with Trevor Eve in the three-part ITV drama Kidnap and Ransom, filmed on location in South Africa. Later in the same year, she starred as DCI Marion Bettany in Val McDermid's radio crime drama Village SOS.

In 2010 Helen Baxendale appeared in the pilot episode of Dirk Gently as Susan Harmison. In 2012 she reprised her role in the second episode of the commissioned first and only series. She then appeared in the Inspector George Gently episode "The Lost Child" alongside Mark Gatiss.

She currently stars in Cuckoo as Lorna, the mother in-law of the titular Dale 'Cuckoo' Ashbrick.

Personal life

Baxendale has been with her partner David L. Williams since her Glasgow days and together they have three children: Nelly, Eric, and Rudi. Her first pregnancy was written into An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and her second was written into the fourth series of Cold Feet.

Her first pregnancy (coupled with the fact that her country of residence was Britain, rather than the USA) meant that her character was written out of Friends earlier than the writers had originally intended. Baxendale appeared in only 14 episodes, despite her character dating, marrying, and then divorcing Ross Geller (David Schwimmer), one of the show's main characters.

Filmography

Film & television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Marshal	Anita	Television film
1993	Euphoric Scale		Short film
1993	The Good Guys	Miss Lomax	Episode: "All for Love"
1993	Casualty	Emma	Episode: "Give Us This Day"
1994	Cardiac Arrest	Dr. Claire Maitland	1994"1996; 27 episodes "? Nominated: BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actress in Television (1995)
1994	Love's Lost Hour	Hilary	Short film
1995	Dangerfield	Tara 'Crystal' Jackson	Episode: "The Call Girl"
1996	Crossing the Floor	Ruth Clarke	Television film
1996	Truth or Dare	Lorna Johnston	Television film "? Nominated: BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actress in Television (1997)
1996	In Suspicious Circumstances	Queen Elizabeth I	Episode: "An Evil Business"
1996	Bolse vita	Maggie
1997	An Unsuitable Job for a Woman	Cordelia Gray	4 episodes
1997	Cold Feet	Rachel Bradley	1997 (pilot), 1998"2003 (series); 32 episodes Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress "? Nominated: British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress (1997)
1997	The Investigator	Sgt. Caroline Meagher	Television film
1997	I'd Like a Word With You	Joan	Direct-to-video
1997	Macbeth	Lady Macbeth
1998	Friends	Emily Waltham	1998"1999; 14 episodes
2000	The Servant Girl		Television film
2000	Ordinary Decent Criminal	Lisa
2000	Tales from the Madhouse	The Servant Girl	Television mini-series; episode: "The Servant Girl"
2001	Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years	Pandora Braithwaite	6 episodes
2001	Dead by Monday	Julie Matthews
2002	Flyfishing	Sam
2002	Lost in the Snow	Lily	Short video
2003	Skagerrak	Stella
2003	Murder in Mind	Helen Robbins	Episode: "Justice"
2006	The Only Boy for Me	Annie	Television film
2007	Dead Clever	Sarah	Television film
2008	Agatha Christie's Marple	Mary Dove	Episode: A Pocket Full of Rye
2009	Lewis	Caroline	Episode: "Counter Culture Blues"
2010	Dirk Gently	Susan Harmison	2010"2012; 2 episodes
2010	Beyond the Pole	Becky
2010	Big Mouth	Mum	Short film
2010	The Rendezvous		Voice
2011	Kidnap and Ransom	Angela Beddoes	2011"2012; television mini-series; 6 episodes
2011	Anonymous	Anne de Vere
2012	Inspector George Gently	Frances Groves	Episode: "The Lost Child"
2012 - present	Cuckoo	Lorna Thompson	6 episodes
2013	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Elizabeth Cole	Episode: "Curtain"