Natalie Press

Natalie Press
Natalie Press (2014)
Born	(1980-08-15) 15 August 1980 (age 36) London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001 – present

Natalie Press (born 15 August 1980) is an English actress nominated for a Best Actress BAFTA for her role in the 2010 ensemble three-hour BBC piece Five Daughters, directed by Phillipa Lowthorpe. She is known for her award-winning performance in the 2004 film My Summer of Love and a number of short and feature length independent films, including Wasp, which won the 2005 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.

Press is from North London. She was brought up in the Jewish religion (her father was born Jewish and her mother converted to Judaism from Catholicism). After studying Fine Art at university, she worked as an office temp and as a video store clerk on Fulham Road until the success of My Summer of Love.

Press' first credited screen role was in a 2001 episode of the BBC television series Holby City. Her film debut and first lead role was in the short film Wasp (2003), which went on to win the Academy Award for best short film in 2005. She was recognised by the London Film Critics Circle and the Evening Standard British Film Awards for her work in My Summer of Love (2004) and nominated for a European Film Award in the category of Best European actress the same year. She made her professional stage debut in The Weather, a new play Clare Pollard, performed as part of the Royal Court Theatre's 2004 Young Playwrights Season. In 2005, Press appeared as Caddy Turveydrop (née Jellyby) in the acclaimed BBC serialisation of Dickens' Bleak House. Also in 2005 she appeared in the BBC television drama Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle.