Janie Dee

Infobox actor
name = Janie Dee


caption =
birthdate = 1966
birthplace = U.K.

Janie Dee (born 1966) is an award-winning English actress and singer.

She is married to the actor Rupert Wickham.

Theatre

Dee has performed a wide range of stage productions, from modern comedy to Shakespeare, contemporary drama to musical theatre and opera. She has also directed school productions.

In 2007, she played Kate in the Harold Pinter play "Old Times", alongside Neil Pearson and Susannah Harker. In 2005 she starred as Beatrice in Sir Peter Hall's acclaimed production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Theatre Royal in Bath. Hall remarked in a radio interview that the reason he had chosen to produce that play was to see Dee perform the role. Early in 2003, she played the role of Nurse Fay in the premiere production of "Anyone Can Whistle" at the Bridewell Theatre.

Dee presented her one woman show at the "Divas at the Donmar" strand in 2002. In the same year she also played Edythe Herbert in the UK premiere of the Gershwin musical "My One and Only" at the Chichester Festival Theatre (and when it transferred to the Piccadilly Theatre, again to wonderful reviews and much praise). As the season's guest lead at Chichester, Dee also demonstrated her classical range, earning high praise for her performance as Masha in Chekov's "Three Sisters". Prior to Chichester she played the lead Lydochka in Opera North's production of "Paradise Moscow", by Dmitri Shostakovitch in London and throughout England.

In 2000 Dee appeared in the lead role Jacie Triplethree in Sir Alan Ayckbourn's new comedy "Comic Potential" at the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. This was a virtuoso performance for which she was rewarded with the three most prestigious drama awards for theatre in the capital, an achievement only ever matched by Dame Judi Dench: the Olivier, London Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Theatre Best Actress Awards. This remarkable performance and reaction to it was repeated at The Manhattan Theatre Club in New York, where she received the following award and honours: OB Awards, Theatre World Awards, Lucille Lortel Nomination, Drama League Citation and Drama Desk Nomination for 'Best Actress'.

Work in other plays written and directed by Ayckbourn includes, "Dreams From A Summerhouse", and "House And Garden", originating the roles of Amanda and Joanna respectively. Ayckbourn also directed her own show, which began its life at the NT studio, with songs by Britain's hottest new song writers.

Her work at the National Theatre includes - Helen of Troy in "The Women Of Troy", Julie in "Johnny On A Spot", and a platform exploring "The Childrens Hour" as part of NT200. For the Royal Shakespeare Company she appeared in "The Shakespeare Revue" (1995), and Ellie in the musical "Showboat" (a coproduction with Opera North). Other theatre includes "Twelfth Night", "Romeo and Juliet", "A Connecticut Yankee" (New Shakespeare Company at Regent's Park), "A Chorus Of Disapproval" (Salisbury Playhouse), "Parallel Vision", "You Can't Take It With You" (King's Head Theatre), "Cinderella" (Tokyo), "Glory Of Gershwin", "Oklahoma!" (National Tour), "The Sound Of Music" and "South Pacific" (The Crucible, Sheffield), "Enter The Guardsman" (Donmar Warehouse), "They're Playing Our Song", "Love Song's For Shopkeeper's", "Figuring Thing's", and "Bolt From The Blue" (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough).

Cinema

"The Virtuoso"

BBC Radio 2

*"The Vicissitudes of Evangaline"
*"Paradise Moscow"
*"Finian's Rainbow"
*"Carousel"
*"Salad Days"

Television

*"House of Cards"
*"The Live Show"
*"Midsomer Murders"
*"Heartbeat"
*"London's Burning"
*"Love Hurts"
*"The Boot St Band" (BBC)
*"Little White Lies"
*"The Murder Room"

Dee also starred as Emma Lavenham in the BBC's adaptation of PD James's "Death in Holy Orders" (one in the series of the Adam Dalgliesh books) transmitted in the Spring of 2003.

Recordings

In 2008 Dee recorded a song for the CD "Act One - Songs From The Musicals Of Alexander S. Bermange", an album of 20 brand new recordings by 26 West End stars, released in October 2008 on Dress Circle Records.

External links

*imdb name|id=0214178|name=Janie Dee