Tracy-Ann Oberman

Infobox actor
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name = Tracy-Ann Oberman


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birthdate = August 1966
location = London, England
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spouse = Rob Cowan
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Tracy-Ann Oberman (born August 1966 in London) is an English television, theatre and radio actress, best known for her role as Chrissie Watts in the popular BBC soap opera "EastEnders".

Biography

Education

Oberman is a former student of Heathfield School for Girls, Manchester University and the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Career

In 2004-2005 Oberman played the character of Chrissie Watts in "Eastenders" for almost two years, and won acclaim for both her portrayal and bringing back some light to the show which had become a little lacklustre, after her tough character murdered cheating husband Den Watts and tried to frame two other people who were there at the killing. She left the show in November 2005 after her character was arrested for Den's murder. Oberman has since been quoted as saying that although she loved the character some of Chrissie Watts's ' volte-face personality changes, were unbelievable" and "illogical" and that she often used Bette Davis, her heroine, as a role model when approaching some of the huge melodramatic scenes she sometimes played. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0643322/bio]

Other roles in television, radio and stage

She has appeared in other TV programmes including "SuperTex" (2003), "Big Train" (2002), "The Way It Is" (2000), "Lenny Henry in Pieces" (2000-2001) and in episodes of "Doctors", "The Last Detective", "Where the Heart Is", "The Bill", "Casualty" and the acclaimed, though little seen "Bob Martin" opposite Michael Barrymore. She played the previously unseen character of Marion in a special half-hour episode of the previously 10-minute monologue series "Marion and Geoff" in 2001. She has also appeared as a character named Yvonne Hartman, head of the Torchwood Institute, in "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday", the two-part season finale of the 2006 series of "Doctor Who".

On the evening of 30 March 2007, Tracy-Ann appeared on a special BBC One "Doctor Who" edition of "Weakest Link". She was the second to be voted off.

In addition to her television credits, Oberman has acted extensively in radio drama and comedy, appearing regularly on BBC Radio 4 as a member of the station's unofficial "repertory" company, including the leading role in "The Attractive Young Rabbi' The Way It Is, The Sunday Format' "getting Nowhere Fast". She has also written comedy sketches, an award-winning sitcom for BBC Three, "The Harringham Harker" and starred in a number of episodes of "Big Train". Prior to "Eastenders" she worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company for four years and also the National Theatre. She is the voiceover for TV series Superhomes

In 2004, Oberman was runner up on a celebrity edition of "Mastermind" (her specialist subject being the "Imperial Roman family"), scored the highest IQ when she appeared on "Test The Nation" and was nominated for a National Television Award for "Most Popular Newcomer" for her work on "EastEnders".

Since departing "EastEnders", Oberman has been seen in the BBC comedy drama series "Sorted", provided the voice of "Miss Dickson" in two series of the adult themed cartoon series "Bromwell High" for Channel 4 and worked on an adaptation of Chekhov's "Three Sisters" at the National Theatre. She played Alice James in the BBC (CBBC)series "Summerhill"(2008) and played Gretchen in the West End hit "Boeing Boeing" at The Comedy theatre London(2007-2008). Her original idea led to a co-written play "3 Sisters on Hope Street" (2008 Hampstead Theatre) which garnered critical acclaim.

She has recently been a regular columnist for "The Guardian", appeared as a guest reviewer on an episode of "Film 2007" with Jonathan Ross, as a contestant on a "Doctor Who" special of "The Weakest Link" and as a special guest performer in Tim Crouch's two-hander "The Oak Tree" at the Soho Theatre.

She is currently staring in the Radio 4 show "Rudy's Rare Records".

In September 2005 she was a guest on "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" In 2006 she was the guest on Nigel Slater's "A Taste of My Life"., and in 2007 Oberman appeared on BBC One's "Saturday Kitchen".

Personal life

In 2005, Oberman was cast in Mike Leigh's play "Two Thousand Years" at the National Theatre but had to drop out when she became ill. In August 2006, Oberman gave birth to a baby girl, Anoushka India, at a Central London hospital with her husband Rob Cowan by her side.

External links

*imdb|name=Tracy-Ann Oberman|id=0643322
* [http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/experts/tracyannoberman/story/0,,2032483,00.html "Guardian"] "Life & Health Expert"
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=P8&xml=/arts/2006/06/17/bvtracy17.xml "EastEnders" was just the start] "Telegraph.co.uk" (2006-06-17)