Emily Beecham

Emily Beecham
Beecham at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017
Born	1984 (age 32–33) Manchester, Greater Manchester, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2006–present

Emily Beecham (born May 1984) is a British-American actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the television series The Street and The Village. In 2011, she received Best Actress award at the London Independent Film Festival.

Beecham was born in Manchester, Greater Manchester. Her father is British and her mother is American from Arizona. In 2003, she enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), graduating with BA Hons in 2006.

In her final year at LAMDA, Beecham started accepting professional acting opportunities, with her first appearance occurring in thriller Bon Voyage and in the supernatural TV series Afterlife. The following month saw the premiere of her first feature film, Bon Voyage, receiving positive notices following its October debut on ITV. It won the Golden Nymph award at the June 2007 Monte Carlo Television Festival.

In mid-2007, she was chosen by director Jan Dunn for the leading role in her independent film The Calling which she won Best Actress Award for at London Independent Film Festival. She was a recipient of the Edinburgh International Film Festival Trailblazer Award. The film received mixed reviews, one of which commented that "newcomer Emily Beecham plays a young woman determined to take the veil and holds her own well against such stalwarts as Brenda Blethyn and Susannah York". In highlighting the impression made by Beecham, film columnist Hannah McGill, who served as the Edinburgh Festival's artistic director from 2006 to 2010, decided that she should be one of the recipients of the coveted Skillset Trailblazer Award. That same year, Beecham gave her first professional stage performance in Ian McHugh's debut play, How to Curse, at the Bush Theatre in Shepherd's Bush, London, directed by the theatre's artistic director Josie Rourke.