Hannah Waddingham

Waddingham has been a stage actress on both London's West End and New York's Broadway.[4] She performed as Starbird in Space Family Robinson (Julian & Stephen Butler, 2002);[6] and Suzanne Valadon in Lautrec.[9]

Waddingham portrayed the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot both in the London production and then on Broadway. She received an Olivier Award nomination for the role.[4] She received outstanding reviews for her portrayal of Desirée Armfeldt in Trevor Nunn's revival of A Little Night Music, including being described by one critic as the "Joanna Lumley of musical theatre".[10] Waddingham subsequently received a further Olivier Award nomination in 2010 for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Night Music.[11]

In mid-2010, Waddingham played the Witch in the production of Into the Woods at London's Open Air Theatre.[12][13] She originated the role of The Wicked Witch of the West in the West End production of The Wizard of Oz, which opened on 1 March 2011 at the London Palladium[14] and was the first to perform the new Webber and Rice song "Red Shoes Blues".[4][15] She left the production on 4 September 2011.[16] Waddingham won the whatsonstage.com Theatergoers Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her performance.[17]

In 2012, Waddingham starred in Chichester Festival Theatre's revival of Kiss Me, Kate.[18] The show transferred to the Old Vic Theatre on London's South Bank in November 2012.[19]

Waddingham had a small role in the 2012 film Les Misérables.[4] In 2014, she starred on the ITV comedy Benidorm.[7]

Waddingham portrayed the "Shame Nun", Septa Unella, in season 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones. She started filming nine weeks after giving birth to her daughter, and did her own stunts for a scene in which she is waterboarded.[4][8][20] She was given the role's iconic "shame bell" as a parting gift.[4][21] She also has a recurring role on the Netflix series Sex Education as Jackson's overbearing mother, Sophia Marchetti.[4][22]

Since 2020, Waddingham has portrayed Rebecca Welton, the owner of AFC Richmond on the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso.[5] The show has been praised for its "refreshing" portrayal of supportive female friendship between Rebecca and Juno Temple's character Keeley.[5][23][24][25] Waddingham does her own singing in the season one episode "Make Rebecca Great Again" and the season two episodes "Carol of the Bells" and "No Weddings and a Funeral".[26] In 2021, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the role.[27]

Waddingham will portray Lady Bellaston in the ITV drama miniseries Tom Jones, based on Henry Fielding's 1749 novel.[28][22] She has also been cast in Disney's forthcoming sequel Hocus Pocus 2.[4]