Heida Reed
Heiða Rún Sigurðardóttir, known professionally as Heida Reed, is an Icelandic actress and model. She is known for playing parts in One Day, Jo, Silent Witness, the BBC drama Poldark and the CBS drama FBI: International.
Early and personal life
Reed was born in Iceland, the middle of three children of a music teacher father and a dental hygienist mother. She grew up in Breiðholt, Reykjavík, and attended Ölduselsskóli. Aged 18, she was recruited by an Icelandic modeling agency, and moved to Mumbai to work as a model in India for two years. When she was 19/20, she settled in London, where she studied drama at Drama Centre London, graduating in 2010.As of July 2017, Reed announced through social media that she is engaged to her boyfriend, America-based producer Sam Ritzenberg.
Acting career
Reed's first performance was in 2009 in an Edinburgh Fringe production of Camus's Cross Purpose. A reviewer for the Edinburgh Guide considered it "expertly acted and finely paced." In April 2015, Reed co-starred in the world premiere of a new play, Scarlet, by Sam H Freeman at Southwark Playhouse exploring slut-shaming and cyberbullying and their emotional repercussions.The same year, Reed was cast in a major role in the British historical TV drama Poldark, which was based on the novels of the same title, playing the part of Elizabeth. She appeared in all five seasons of the series.
In 2018, she appeared on the West End in Foxfinder with Iwan Rheon.
In 2021, Reed began portraying FBI Special Agent Jamie Kellett in CBS crime drama series FBI: International. In December 2023, it was announced that she would be leaving the series with her character being written off in the first episode of the third season that aired in February 2024.
She played the part of Professor Jocelyn Peabody in the B7 Media Audio adaptations of some of the Dan Dare stories, which have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra a number of times, most recently in 2022.