Andrea Riseborough



Andrea Louise Riseborough (born 20 November 1981) is an English actress. She made her film debut in Venus (2006), and has subsequently appeared in Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Never Let Me Go, Brighton Rock, Made in Dagenham (all 2010), W.E. (2011), Shadow Dancer, Disconnect (both 2012), Welcome to the Punch, Oblivion (both 2013), Birdman (2014), Nocturnal Animals (2016), Battle of the Sexes and The Death of Stalin (both 2017) and Mandy (2018).

Outside of film, Riseborough received a BAFTA nomination for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the television film The Long Walk to Finchley (2008), and won critical acclaim for her performances in the Channel 4 miniseries The Devil's Whore (2008) and National Treasure (2016). Her stage credits include August Strindberg's Miss Julie and Shakespeare's Measure for Measure (Theatre Royal, both 2006), and Anton Chekhov's Ivanov (West End, 2008).

Early life
Riseborough was born in Wallsend, near Newcastle upon Tyne, the daughter of Isabel Johnson, a secretary, and George Riseborough, a car dealer. She grew up in Whitley Bay. In reference to The Long Walk to Finchley, she has described her parents as "working class Thatcherites".

At an early age, she appeared at the People's Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, in the play Riding England Sidesaddle by Christopher Goulding, as Celia Fiennes, and was a member of the Young People's Theatre for five years. Riseborough spent her schooldays at the independent school, Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School on Tankerville Terrace in Jesmond. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2005 and is a member of National Youth Theatre Her younger sister Laura Riseborough, also a pupil at Newcastle Church High School, studied acting at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the East 15 Acting School.

Career
Riseborough appeared in the 2010 films Made in Dagenham and Mark Romanek's adaptation of Never Let Me Go. She starred in the US premiere of Alexi Kaye Campbell's award-winning The Pride at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in January 2010. The production was directed by Joe Mantello and co-starred Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw.

She appears in Rowan Joffé's film adaptation of Brighton Rock alongside Helen Mirren and John Hurt. She worked with The Devil's Mistress author Peter Flannery on his screenplay based on the life of Angelica Fanshawe with Michael Fassbender. She played the role of Wallis Simpson in W.E., a film directed by Madonna. She stars alongside Michael Sheen and Iwan Rheon in Resistance, an adaptation of an Owen Sheers novel. The film was released on 25 November 2011.

She writes with her creative partner, actor Tom Burke, and with Mike Leigh. Riseborough starred with Alexander Skarsgård in the thriller Hidden, a low-budget film directed by The Duffer Brothers. Hidden was released for streaming September 2015.

She appeared alongside Tom Cruise in Oblivion (2013), in a supporting role. She co-starred in the acting ensemble of Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 87th Academy Awards. Riseborough also shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for the film.

She co-starred opposite Steve Coogan in apartheid drama Shepherds and Butchers (2016). She joined the cast of Netflix's Bloodline for Season 2, as a series regular character, Evangeline.

She acted as Emma Stone's love interest in the biographical sports film Battle of the Sexes, based on the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. She appeared as Stalin's daughter in the 2017 comedy-drama film The Death of Stalin and was praised by Variety for the "shrewd, multi-layered complexity" of her performance.

She will star opposite Garrett Hedlund in Andrew Heckler's indie feature Burden. She has been cast in Waco, a six-part television series about the 51-day 1993 standoff between the ATF, FBI, and David Koresh's Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas. The first episode was released on 24 January 2018.

Riseborough has been cast in Lone Scherfig's The Kindness of Strangers as an ER nurse who runs an eclectic therapy group. The film will start shooting at the Russian Tea Room in the spring of 2018.

She has been cast to star with Demián Bichir in a Sony remake of The Grudge, which will begin shooting in May 2018.

Riseborough will star along with Gabriel Byrne in the international cocaine trade drama ZeroZeroZero, an eight-part series adapted from the book by Roberto Saviano. The series has started production and will shoot for eight months over three continents and six countries, and will be filmed in six languages. It will debut on Sky in the UK and Amazon in the US in 2019.

She will star in Possessor, directed by Brandon Cronenberg from a script he wrote about Tasya Vos (Riseborough), an agent for a secretive organization who uses brain-implant technology to inhabit other people’s bodies, driving them to commit assassinations for the benefit of high-paying clients. The film is to begin shooting in early 2019.