Phoebe Nicholls


Phoebe Sarah Nicholls is an English actress. She is most notable for her roles as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited, and as the mother of John Merrick in The Elephant Man. Other credits include Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, Women in Love, Van der Valk, Bless Me, Father, Persuasion, Kavanagh QC, Gulliver's Travels, Fairy Tale: A True Story, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Shackleton, Hawking, ', Spooks, ', Lewis, Prime Suspect, Midsomer Murders, Lewis, Foyle's War, Second Sight, Downton Abbey, Fortitude, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Doctor Thorne, Transformers: The Last Knight, Eric, and The Sandman.

Personal life

Nicholls is the daughter of actors Anthony Nicholls and Faith Kent. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Nicholls married director Charles Sturridge on 6 July 1985; they have two sons, including actor Tom Sturridge, and a daughter actor Matilda Sturridge. Her grandfather is photojournalist Horace Nicholls.

Career

As a child actress in several films she was billed as Sarah Nicholls. In her early 20s, she appeared in David Lynch's The Elephant Man, Richard Loncraine's The Missionary, and as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited.
Cast in Michael Lindsay-Hogg's original staging of Whose Life Is It Anyway? in 1978, she later performed in Robert Strura's revival of Three Sisters with Vanessa Redgrave. At the National Theatre she appeared in Stephen Daldry's acclaimed version of J.B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls and in David Hare's Pravda. At the Royal Court Theatre she appeared the Olivier Award-winning production of Terry Johnson's Hysteria. Her supporting performances in the 2008 West End revivals of Noël Coward's The Vortex, and Harley Granville Barker's Waste. For her role as Frances in Waste, she won the Clarence Derwent Award for Best female in a supporting role in 2009.
Nicholls appeared in the BBC film Persuasion, Kavanagh QC, Prime Suspect, Midsomer Murders, Lewis, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Foyle's War, Second Sight, starring Clive Owen, and a Christmas episode of Downton Abbey. She has also appeared in several works directed by her husband, Charles Sturridge, including his 1995 television adaptation of Gulliver's Travels, where she portrayed the Liliputian Empress, the film Fairy Tale: A True Story, and Shackleton.

Stage