- Matilda Ziegler
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Matilda Ziegler Born 23 July 1964 (age 47)[1]
Ashford, Kent, England[2]Occupation Actress Years active 1987–present Matilda Ziegler (born 23 July 1964) is a British television, stage and film actress best known for her roles as Irma Gobb in Mr. Bean (Mr. Bean's girlfriend) and as Donna Ludlow in the long-running BBC1 serial EastEnders and Ruth in the BBC Three sitcom Swiss Toni.
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Television career
Matilda Ziegler's first screen role remains her most notable. In her early twenties, during 1987–89, she played EastEnders' scheming Donna Ludlow who contended with prostitution, an attempted gang rape, a heroin addiction and finally suicide (dying of a heroin overdose). The final death scenes of Ziegler's character, who had choked to death on her own vomit, have been hailed as one of the most powerful anti-drug images ever screened on the programme.[3]
After leaving EastEnders, Ziegler went on to star in the ITV sitcom Mr. Bean, where she played various characters, notably a four-episode stint as Irma Gobb, the title character's long-suffering girlfriend.
Other television credits include Harbour Lights (1999), acting alongside Nick Berry, who also played her love interest, Simon Wicks, in EastEnders; Where the Heart Is (2000); Holby City (2003); Casualty; An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1998) and the ITV police drama, The Bill (2003), among others.
Ziegler is more recently known for playing another long-suffering character, Ruth, married to car-salesman Toni, in the BBC sitcom Swiss Toni (2003–04). She also appeared in the BAFTA Television Award-winning drama, Sex Traffic (2004). In 2005 she played Christine Marshall in the fourth series of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and in 2007 guest-starred in the BBC Birmingham/BBC One medical drama Doctors. She played the part of Pearl Pratt in the BBC adaptations of Lark Rise to Candleford in 2008-11. She also appeared in one episode of Outnumbered.
Stage and radio career
Matilda Ziegler has appeared in many stage productions, including Twelfth Night for the Royal Shakespeare Company (2001); the theatrical version of Mr. Bean; Women Laughing at the Royal Court Theatre; Volpone, Inadmissible Evidence and Machinal, all at the National Theatre; Featuring Loretta and The Memory Of Water—both at the Hampstead Theatre. She also starred as Sheila Birling in Stephen Daldry's award-winning production of An Inspector Calls at the Aldwych Theatre and for the production's Australian tour,[4] along with Lady Sneerwell in Deborah Warner's 2011 The School for Scandal at the Barbican Centre.
Her radio work has included playing Dr Ruth Anderson in the second and third series of the BBC Radio 4 comedy show, Rigor Mortis (2004–06). She took over from Tracy-Ann Oberman, who played the role in the show's first series. She also featured in Giles Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off in 2010.
She also performed in a BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of P. G. Wodehouse's Meet Mr Mulliner in 2002.
Personal life
Matilda Ziegler is married to the Coventry-born actor Louis Hilyer. They have two daughters, Evie and Faye, and one son, Herbie.[5] The couple first met while appearing in the London production of a Stephen Daldry production, The Great Pretenders. Since then they have worked together on a number of projects, including the Daldry-directed Inspector Calls, and TV's Harbour Lights.
References
- ^ Researcha
- ^ Births England and Wales 1837-2006, Findmypast.com.
- ^ Brake, Colin (1995). EastEnders: The First 10 Years: A Celebration. BBC Books. ISBN 0-563-37057-2.
- ^ "Matilda Ziegler's CV". PFD. Archived from the original on 2007-11-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20071116200524/http://www.pfd.co.uk/clients/zieglerm/a-act.html. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
- ^ "Bean, the Bard and babies". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 19 April 2001. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-73433304.html. Retrieved 2007-06-20.
External links
Categories:- 1964 births
- English people of German descent
- English soap opera actors
- English stage actors
- English television actors
- Living people
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