Natalie Press

Natalie Press
Born	15 August 1980 North London

Natalie Press (born 15 August 1980) is an English actress, perhaps best known for her award-winning performance in the 2004 film My Summer of Love and a number of short and feature length independent films, including Wasp, which won the 2005 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.

Personal life

Press is from North London. She was brought up in the Jewish religion (her father is Jewish and her mother converted to Judaism from Catholicism).^[1][2] After studying Fine Art at university, she worked as an office temp and as a video store clerk on the Fulham Road until the success of My Summer of Love.

Career

Press' first credited screen role was in a 2001 episode of the BBC television series Holby City. Her film debut and first lead role was in the short film Wasp (2003), which went on to win the Academy Award for best short film in 2005. She was recognized by the London Film Critics Circle and the Evening Standard British Film Awards for her work in My Summer of Love (2004) and nominated for a European Film Award in the category of Best European actress the same year. She made her professional stage debut in The Weather, a new play Clare Pollard, performed as part of the Royal Court Theatre's 2004 Young Playwrights Season. In 2005, Press appeared as Caddy Turveydrop (née Jellyby) in the acclaimed BBC serialisation of Dickens' Bleak House. Also in 2005 she appeared in the BBC television drama Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle.

In 2006, Press starred in Josh Appignanesi's feature film Song of Songs, which won a commendation in the Michael Powell Award for best British film 2005 at the Edinburgh festival. Later that year she also starred in the same director's short film Ex Memoria - produced by Oscar-winning producer Mia Bays - a film about a woman with Alzheimer's disease. Press starred as the young version of the character Eva. The short was nominated in the category of Best UK short at the British Independent Film Awards.

In 2006 Press appeared in Red Road (also by the director of Wasp) (the first film in the proposed Advance Party trilogy) which won the Jury Prize at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and in the two-part drama series Damage which was broadcast on Irish television. In the same year she won the Glamour magazine award for best newcomer in association with Nokia.

Press has recently been seen in the short films Son (2008) by BAFTA winner Daniel Mulloy, which went on to win a slew of international awards including Best British Short Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in the UK. She starred in Inseparable opposite Benedict Cumberbatch, and in In Transit a World War II drama set in Russia which also features John Malkovich. Forthcoming films include Knife Edge and The Sea Change.

On March 8, 2007, Press performed in an Art Plus drama fundraising event at the Whitechapel Art Gallery opposite Rhys Ifans, Martine McCutcheon and Samantha Morton. In 2007 she was, alongside Cecilia Dean and Helena Christensen, one of the new faces of the Japanese clothing label Uniqlo and featured in the Music Video for Turin Brakes' single "Stalker". She made her Radio debut in October 2007 in the BBC radio play Wes Bell by Matthew Broughton.

In 2010 she was nominated for Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her movie Fifty Dead Men Walking.

In 2011 Press appeared in the second series of British television serial drama The Jury. Press plays Lucy Cartwright, assistant to marketing firm owner Teresa Vestey (played by Sarah Alexander), and juror #11 in the re-trial of Alan Lane (played by John Lynch).

Filmography

Feature films

• My Summer of Love (2004) - Mona
• Red Road (2006) - April
• Song of Songs (2006) - Ruth Cohen
• In Tranzit (2007) - Zina
• Cass (2008) - Elaine
• Nightwatching (2009 TBC) - Mariejke
• Fifty Dead Men Walking (2009) - Lara
• Knife Edge (2009)
• Island (2011) - Nikki Black
• Ill Manors (2011)

Television

• Peter in Paradise (2003) - Maria
• Lie with Me (2004) - Sheena Cast
• Bleak House (2005) - Caddy Jellyby
• Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle (2005) - Helen Taylor
• Five Daughters (2010) - Paula Clennell
• The Jury (2011) - Lucy Cartwright

Short subject

• Wasp (2003) - Zoë
• Mercy (2004) - Alison
• The Undertaker (2005) - Young Woman
• Ex Memoria (2006) - Young Eva Lipschitz
• Inseparable (2007) - Jean
• Son (2008) - Mother

References

1. ^ http://www.thejc.com/arts/arts-interviews/interview-natalie-press
2. ^ http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article727729.ece

External links

• Natalie Press at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Press, Natalie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	15 August 1980
Place of birth	North London
Date of death
Place of death