Joanne Froggatt
Froggatt in 2022
Born	(1980-08-23)23 August 1980 (age 44)[1] Littlebeck,North Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1996–present
Notable work	Downton Abbey
Spouse	James Cannon ​ ​ (m. 2012; sep. 2020)​
Children	1

Joanne Froggatt (/ˈfrɒɡət/; born 23 August 1980) is a British actress. From 2010 to 2015, she portrayed Anna Bates in theITV period drama seriesDownton Abbey, for which she received threeEmmy nominations and won the 2014Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. From 2017 to 2020, she starred as Laura Nielson in the ITV/Sundance drama seriesLiar.

Froggatt rose to prominence with her portrayal ofZoe Tattersall on the soap operaCoronation Street (1997–1998). She played Ruth Tyler, Sam Tyler's mother in original UK version of the fantasy police dramaLife on Mars (British TV series) (2006). She went on to star in the television filmsDanielle Cable: Eyewitness (2003),See No Evil: The Moors Murders (2006), andMurder in the Outback (2007), before winning theBritish Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her leading role inIn Our Name (2010). Other film credits includeFilth (2013),A Street Cat Named Bob (2016),Mary Shelley (2017), andDownton Abbey (2019).

Froggatt was born and brought up in the village ofLittlebeck^[2][3] inNorth Yorkshire. Her parents, Ann and Keith Froggatt, having run a corner shop, next started a rare-breed sheep farm on asmallholding nearWhitby.^[4] Froggatt has likened her childhood setting to the backdrop ofEmily Brontë's classic novelWuthering Heights.^[5] Froggatt initially joined a drama group inScarborough,^[6] and then left her family home at the age of 13 to attend theRedroofs Theatre School inMaidenhead, Berkshire.

In 1996, Froggatt made her TV debut in the long-runningITV dramaThe Bill, and shortly afterwards landed the role of teenage motherZoe Tattersall inCoronation Street. She left the programme in 1998, when her character was written out.^[6] In 1999, she appeared in the first four episodes of the first series of prison dramaBad Girls, portraying teenage motherRachel Hicks.

In 2003, Froggatt played the leading role in the controversial one-off dramaDanielle Cable: Eyewitness, based on the true story of a teenage girl who witnessed the murder of her boyfriend in a reputedroad rage attack. While researching the role, she met Cable, who later contacted her to commend her on her portrayal.^[7] The film earned aBAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Single Drama.^[8]

Froggatt played the role of Angelique Mahy in the ITV mini-seriesIsland at War, which tells the story of theGerman occupation of the Channel Islands. It aired on 11 July 2004. In the same year, she played Myra in theBBC Radio 4 dramaMy Turn to Make the Tea byMonica Dickens.^[9]

Froggatt starred as a main character in the dramaMissing, made bySMG Productions in 2006, alongsideGregor Fisher. The two-part thriller was not broadcast onSTV until November 2008, because ITV had changed its format to 60-minute time slots andMissing was two 90-minute time slots.^[10][11]

Also in 2006, Froggatt played the sister ofMyra Hindley in the ITV dramaSee No Evil: The Moors Murders. She later appeared in another controversial role as the title character inJoanne Lees: Murder in the Outback, which first aired onChannel Ten in Australia on 18 March 2007, and was screened in Britain on ITV on 8 April 2007.^[3] The role involved the depiction of a real-life kidnap, in which Froggatt had to perform scenes tied up withtape around her mouth as a gag. She appeared on the London stage in the adaptation ofAll About My Mother in the part of Sister Rosa, which ran from July to November 2007 at theOld Vic Theatre.^[12]

Froggatt portrayed Kate, a peasant, in the third season of the BBC TV seriesRobin Hood.^[4] She played Hannah inSpooks: Code 9, and features in the BBC Radio adaptation ofSolaris as Rheya. In May 2009, she played Kelly in theBBC dramaMoving On.^[13]

On 25 September 2009, Froggatt played the title role in the BBC Radio Four playI Am Emma Humphreys. On 3 October of that year, Froggatt played Princess Yvonne in the BBC Radio Four Saturday playThe Von Trapps and Me.^[14]

On 15 April 2010, Froggatt appeared oppositeLee Ingleby in the BBC Radio Four playThe Disappearance by Peter Walley. In her film début,In Our Name, Froggatt played Suzy, a soldier suffering frompost-traumatic stress disorder. She garnered critical acclaim for her performance, and won Best Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards.^[15][16]

Starting in 2010, Froggatt appeared inDownton Abbey as Anna, lady's maid to Lady Mary Crawley, for which she received anEmmy nomination in both 2012 and 2014. On 11 January 2015, she was awarded theGolden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie for the role.^[17]

On 25 December 2010, Froggatt appeared in theRoyle Family Christmas special, "Joe's Crackers", as Saskia, the girlfriend of Antony Royle. Despite having been mentioned by name in earlier episodes, this was the first time that Saskia had appeared in person.^[18] Froggatt starred in John Donnelly's playThe Knowledge at theBush Theatre, West London, from 12 January to 19 February 2011.^[19]

Along withDownton Abbey in 2013, Froggatt had roles in the comedy drama based onIrvine Welsh's novelFilth, in the thrilleruwantme2killhim?, and an indie directed byUberto Pasolini,Still Life.^[18][20]

In 2015, she played Wendy in the newBob the Builder series, voicing her in both the UK and US versions.^[21] In 2016, she starred in a two-part ITV mini-series titledDark Angel, based on the true story of Victorian poisonerMary Ann Cotton. Also in 2016, she co-starred in a dramatisation of a real-life story, "Starfish", as Nic, wife of Tom Ray.

In 2017, Froggatt appeared in the lead role of schoolteacher Laura Neilson in the six-part thriller mini-seriesLiar onITV. Her character awakens, convinced that she was raped by respected surgeon Andrew Earlham (Ioan Gruffudd), who is also the father of one of her students, even though she cannot remember the incident, nor does forensic evidence bear out her version of events. The series aired in the US onSundanceTV.

Froggatt began performances on 25 February 2019 as Frances Thorpe in the thrillerAlys, Always, at theBridge Theatre in London. The play was directed byNicholas Hytner and written byLucinda Coxon, and based on the book byHarriet Lane.

In 2022, she starred inLast Light, an apocalyptic thriller TV series onPeacock.^[22]

Froggatt married long-time boyfriend James Cannon in a private ceremony in October 2012.^[23] In February 2020, she confirmed they had separated.^[24]

In 2013, Froggatt became an ambassador for global children's charity Plan UK's "Because I Am a Girl" campaign.^[25]

At the 2024 Into Film Awards in London, Froggatt revealed her pregnancy.^[26] She has one child, a girl, born in September 2024.^[27]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toJoanne Froggatt.

• Joanne Froggatt atIMDb

• 1980 births
• Living people
• English soap opera actresses
• English television actresses
• English voice actresses
• Actors from the Borough of Scarborough
• Actors educated at Redroofs Theatre School
• English film actresses
• Actresses from North Yorkshire
• English stage actresses
• 20th-century English actresses
• 21st-century English actresses
• Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (television) winners
• British child actresses
• English radio actresses

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