Sophie Ward


Sophie Anna Ward is a British stage and screen actress, and a writer of non-fiction and fiction from London. As an actress, she played Jocelyn Sheffield in The Nanny; she also played Elizabeth Hardy, the female lead in Barry Levinson's Young Sherlock Holmes, and in other feature film roles including in Cary Joji Fukunaga's period drama Jane Eyre, and Jane Sanger's horror feature Swiperight. In 1982 she had a role in the Academy Award-winning short film A Shocking Accident. On television she played Dr Helen Trent in the ITV police period drama series Heartbeat from 2004 to 2006, Sophia Byrne in the series Holby City from 2008 to 2010, Lady Ellen Hoxley in the series Land Girls from 2009 to 2011, and Lady Verinder in the mini-series The Moonstone. She has had a variety of other roles on stage and in short and feature films.
Ward returned to higher education, earning a PhD degree from Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2019, in English and Comparative Literature, focusing on the intersection between literature and philosophy, including the use of narrative and thought experiments in philosophy, the philosophy of mind in particular. She has written for The Guardian, The Times and The Spectator, won the 2018 Royal Academy Pin Drop Award for her short story "Sunbed", and had her first novel, Love and Other Thought Experiments, longlisted for both the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Booker Prize in its publication year. She and her wife, Korean-American poet and writer Rena Brannan, divide their time between the United Kingdom and the United States.
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Early life and education

Sophie Anna Ward was born in Hammersmith, London, in 1964, the eldest of the three daughters of Alexandra and actor Simon Ward, one of whom, Kitty, went on to marry comedian Michael McIntyre. In childhood, Sophia Ward trained at the Anna Scher Theatre. She earned a BA honours degree in English with Philosophy from the Open University.
She returned to higher education, earning a PhD in English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2019, where, according to Ward, her research focused on "thought experiments in philosophy of mind and the use of narrative in philosophy, looking at issues of consciousness and AI, and the meeting between literature and philosophy."

Acting career

Ward started work as an actress when she was aged 10, and has worked in film, television and theatre. She trained as a dancer under ballerina Merle Park. She co-starred in 1975 alongside Gwyneth Strong in an episode of the children's supernatural anthology series Shadows and had an early film role in Full Circle. In 1983, she had a brief, non-speaking role at the very end of the Tony Scott vampire movie The Hunger; in the credits, her character is listed as "Girl In London House". Another early film role was in the film Young Sherlock Holmes, directed by Barry Levinson. Other films included Return to Oz playing Princess Mombi II, Little Dorrit and A Summer Story, and she also portrayed a dancer in Roxy Music's 1982 music video "Avalon".
She has appeared in several Glasgow Citizens' Theatre productions including Private Lives, Don Carlos and in Hamlet.
Her later films include Out of Bounds, in which she co-starred with Sophia Myles and Celia Imrie, and Book of Blood, co-starring Jonas Armstrong and Reg Fuller. She also appeared in Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre. She has worked with Susan Sarandon in The Hunger directed by Tony Scott, Liv Ullmann in , directed by Mauro Bolognini, and Elizabeth Taylor in Young Toscanini, directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
Her television work includes the mini-series A Dark-Adapted Eye with Helena Bonham Carter, and the fantasy Dinotopia. From 2004 until 2006, Ward had the recurring role of Dr Helen Trent in long-running ITV drama Heartbeat. In 2008, Ward joined the cast of Holby City in a recurring role as Sophia Byrne. She appeared in the BBC series Land Girls from 2009 to 2011.
Ward was considered a "Face of the 1980s" as a Vogue model.

Acting awards and recognition

Ward acted in the 1982 Academy Award-winning short film A Shocking Accident. Her role in the first series of Land Girls earned her a regional RTS Television Award for best acting performance in that year.

Writing

Especially since beginning her advanced academic work, Ward has been writing professionally, including for newspapers The Guardian, The Times and The Spectator, and the online journalism network The Conversation. While undertaking her post-graduate study, Ward wrote a short work, "Sunbed", which won the 2018 Royal Academy Pin Drop Award for new writers, in the short story category.
Ward's debut novel, Love and Other Thought Experiments, was published in 2020 by Corsair, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group. It was longlisted for both the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Booker Prize in its publication year.
Ward's second novel, The Schoolhouse, was published in 2022.

Activism

Ward has become known as an LGBT activist, and her 2014 long-form essay, a strong statement regarding equality of marriage rights, was published by Guardian Shorts, The Guardian's e-book publishing house. It later appeared in serialised form in issues of the newspaper. Ward has hosted several of the annual European Diversity Awards, including in 2016, 2019, and 2021.

Personal life

Ward married veterinary surgeon Paul Hobson in 1988, and the couple have two sons, born in 1989 and 1993. After Ward became involved with Korean-American poet and writer Rena Brannan and came out as a lesbian in 1996, Hobson and Ward divorced. Ward and Brannan had a civil partnership ceremony in 2005, followed by marriage after it was legalised in 2014.
Ward and Brannan divide their time between Britain and the United States.
Ward's brother-in-law is comedian Michael McIntyre.

Written works

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Filmography

Film

Television

Shadows anthology series, Series 1, "The Other Window" Too Old to Fight – 1981 – 1987

Guest appearances

The Nanny– 1999

Short films

Child performances

The Chester Mysteries – 1974