Merlin reciting his poems, as illustrated in the French book from the 13th century "Merlin", by Robert de Boron.

Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures. Geoffrey combined existing stories of Myrddin Wyllt (Merlinus Caledonensis), a North Brythonic prophet and madman with no connection to King Arthur, with tales of the Romano-British war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus to form the composite figure he called Merlin Ambrosius (Welsh: Myrddin Emrys).

Geoffrey's rendering of the character was immediately popular, especially in Wales.^[1] Later writers expanded the account to produce a fuller image of the wizard. Merlin's traditional biography casts him as a cambion: born of a mortal woman, sired by an incubus, the non-human wellspring from whom he inherits his supernatural powers and abilities.^[2] The name of Merlin's mother is not usually stated, but is given as Adhan in the oldest version of the Prose Brut.^[3] Merlin matures to an ascendant sagehood and engineers the birth of Arthur through magic and intrigue.^[4] Later authors have Merlin serve as the king's advisor until he is bewitched and imprisoned by the Lady of the Lake.^[4]

Name and etymology[link]

Merlin advising King Arthur in Gustave Doré's illustration.

The Enchanter Merlin, by Howard Pyle from The Story of King Arthur and His Knights. (1903)

The name "Merlin" derives from the Welsh Myrddin, the name of the bard Myrddin Wyllt, one of the chief sources for the later legendary figure. Geoffrey of Monmouth Latinised the name to Merlinus in his works. The medievalist Gaston Paris suggests that Geoffrey chose the form Merlinus rather than the regular Merdinus to avoid a resemblance to the Anglo-Norman word merde (from Latin merda), for faeces.^[5]

The Celticist A. O. H. Jarman suggests the Welsh name Myrddin (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈmərðɪn]) was derived from the toponym Caerfyrddin, the Welsh name for the town known in English as Carmarthen.^[6] This contrasts with the popular but false folk etymology that the town was named for the bard. The name Carmarthen derives from the town's previous Roman name, Moridunum.^[5][6]

Geoffrey's sources[link]

Geoffrey's composite Merlin is based primarily on Myrddin Wyllt, also called Merlinus Caledonensis, and Aurelius Ambrosius, a mostly fictionalised version of the historical war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus.^[7] The former had nothing to do with Arthur and lived long before the Arthurian period. According to lore, he was a bard driven mad after witnessing the horrors of war, who fled civilization to become a wild man of the wood in the 6th century.^[8] Geoffrey had this individual in mind when he wrote his earliest surviving work, the Prophetiae Merlini (Prophecies of Merlin), which he claimed were the actual words of the legendary madman.

Geoffrey's Prophetiae do not reveal much about Merlin's background. When he included the prophet in his next work, Historia Regum Britanniae, he supplemented the characterisation by attributing to him stories about Aurelius Ambrosius, taken from Nennius' Historia Brittonum. According to Nennius, Ambrosius was discovered when the British king Vortigern was trying to erect a tower. The tower always collapsed before completion, and his wise men told him the only solution was to sprinkle the foundation with the blood of a child born without a father. Ambrosius was rumoured to be such a child, but when brought before the king, he revealed the real reason for the tower's collapse: below the foundation was a lake containing two dragons who destroyed the tower by fighting. Geoffrey retells this story in Historia Regum Britanniæ with some embellishments, and gives the fatherless child the name of the prophetic bard, Merlin. He keeps this new figure separate from Aurelius Ambrosius, and to disguise his changing of Nennius, he simply states that Ambrosius was another name for Merlin. He goes on to add new episodes that tie Merlin into the story of King Arthur and his predecessors.

Geoffrey dealt with Merlin again in his third work, Vita Merlini. He based the Vita on stories of the original 6th-century Myrddin. Though set long after his time frame for the life of "Merlin Ambrosius", he tries to assert the characters are the same with references to King Arthur and his death as told in the Historia Regum Britanniae.

Merlin Ambrosius, or Myrddin Emrys[link]

A giant helps Merlin build Stonehenge. From a manuscript of the Roman de Brut by Wace (British Library, Egerton 3208).

Geoffrey's account of Merlin Ambrosius' early life in the Historia Regum Britanniae is based on the story of Ambrosius in the Historia Brittonum. He adds his own embellishments to the tale, which he sets in Carmarthen, Wales (Welsh: Caerfyrddin). While Nennius' Ambrosius eventually reveals himself to be the son of a Roman consul, Geoffrey's Merlin is begotten on a king's daughter by an incubus. The story of Vortigern's tower is essentially the same; the underground dragons, one white and one red, represent the Saxons and the British, and their final battle is a portent of things to come.

At this point Geoffrey inserts a long section of Merlin's prophecies, taken from his earlier Prophetiae Merlini. He tells only two further tales of the character. In the first, Merlin creates Stonehenge as a burial place for Aurelius Ambrosius. In the second, Merlin's magic enables Uther Pendragon to enter into Tintagel in disguise and father his son Arthur with his enemy's wife, Igraine. These episodes appear in many later adaptations of Geoffrey's account. As Lewis Thorpe notes, Merlin disappears from the narrative after this; he does not tutor and advise Arthur as in later versions.^[4]

Later adaptations of the legend[link]

Merlin, from the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493).

Several decades later, the poet Robert de Boron retold this material in his poem Merlin. Only a few lines of the poem have survived, but a prose retelling became popular and was later incorporated into two other romances. In Robert's account, as in Geoffrey's Historia, Merlin is begotten by a demon on a virgin as an intended Antichrist. This plot is thwarted when the expectant mother informs her confessor Blaise of her predicament; they immediately baptize the boy at birth, thus freeing him from the power of Satan. The demonic legacy invests Merlin with a preternatural knowledge of the past and present, which is supplemented by God, who gives the boy a prophetic knowledge of the future.

Robert de Boron lays great emphasis on Merlin's power to shapeshift, on his joking personality, and on his connection to the Holy Grail. This text introduces Merlin's master Blaise, who is pictured as writing down Merlin's deeds, explaining how they came to be known and preserved. Robert was inspired by Wace's Roman de Brut, an Anglo-Norman adaptation of Geoffrey's Historia. Robert's poem was rewritten in prose in the 12th century as the Estoire de Merlin, also called the Vulgate or Prose Merlin. It was originally attached to a cycle of prose versions of Robert's poems, which tells the story of the Holy Grail: brought from the Middle East to Britain by followers of Joseph of Arimathea, the Grail is eventually recovered by Arthur's knight Percival.

The Prose Merlin contains many instances of Merlin's shapeshifting. He appears as a woodcutter with an axe about his neck, big shoes, a torn coat, bristly hair, and a large beard. He is later found in the forest of Northumberland by a follower of Uther's disguised as an ugly man and tending a great herd of beasts. He then appears first as a handsome man and then as a beautiful boy. Years later, he approaches Arthur disguised as a peasant wearing leather boots, a wool coat, a hood, and a belt of knotted sheepskin. He is described as tall, black and bristly, and as seeming cruel and fierce. Finally, he appears as an old man with a long beard, short and hunchbacked, in an old torn woolen coat, who carries a club and drives a multitude of beasts before him (Loomis, 1927).

The Prose Merlin later came to serve as a sort of prequel to the vast Lancelot-Grail, also known as the Vulgate Cycle. The authors of that work expanded it with the Vulgate Suite du Merlin (Vulgate Merlin Continuation), which describes King Arthur's early adventures. The Prose Merlin was also used as a prequel to the later Post-Vulgate Cycle, the authors of which added their own continuation, the Huth Merlin or Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin.

In the Livre d'Artus, Merlin enters Rome in the form of a huge stag with a white fore-foot. He bursts into the presence of Julius Caesar and tells the emperor that only the wild man of the woods can interpret the dream that has been troubling him. Later, he returns in the form of a black, shaggy man, barefoot, with a torn coat. In another episode, he decides to do something that will be spoken of forever. Going into the forest of Brocéliande, he transforms himself into a herdsman carrying a club and wearing a wolf-skin and leggings. He is large, bent, black, lean, hairy and old, and his ears hang down to his waist. His head is as big as a buffalo's, his hair is down to his waist, he has a hump on his back, his feet and hands are backwards, he's hideous, and is over 18 feet tall. By his arts, he calls a herd of deer to come and graze around him (Loomis, 1927).

These works were adapted and translated into several other languages. The Post-Vulgate Suite was the inspiration for the early parts of Sir Thomas Malory's English language Le Morte d'Arthur. Many later medieval works also deal with the Merlin legend. The Italian The Prophecies of Merlin contains long prophecies of Merlin (mostly concerned with 13th-century Italian politics), some by his ghost after his death. The prophecies are interspersed with episodes relating Merlin's deeds and with various Arthurian adventures in which Merlin does not appear at all. The earliest English verse romance concerning Merlin is Arthour and Merlin, which drew from the chronicles and the French Lancelot-Grail.

As the Arthurian myths were retold and embellished, Merlin's prophetic aspects were sometimes de-emphasised in favour of portraying him as a wizard and elder advisor to Arthur. On the other hand, in the Lancelot-Grail it is said that Merlin was never baptized and never did any good in his life, only evil. Medieval Arthurian tales abound in inconsistencies.

A manuscript found in Bath from the 1420s simply records a "Merlyn" as having helped Uther Pendragon with his "sotelness" or subtleness, presumably but not necessarily magic. His role could be embellished and added to that of Aurelianus Ambrosius, or he could be made into one of old Uther's favourite advisors and naught more.

Nimue, The Lady of the Lake, shown holding the infatuated Merlin trapped and reading from a book of spells, in "The Beguiling of Merlin" by Edward Burne-Jones.

In the Lancelot-Grail and later accounts, Merlin's eventual downfall came from his lusting after a huntress named Niviane (or Nymue, Nimue, Niniane, Nyneue, or Viviane in some versions of the legend), who was the daughter of the king of Northumberland. In the Suite du Merlin,^[9] for example, Niviane is about to depart from Arthur's court, but, with some encouragement from Merlin, Arthur asks her to stay in his castle with the queen. During her stay, Merlin falls in love with her and desires her. Niviane, frightened that Merlin might take advantage of her with his spells, swears that she will never love him unless he swears to teach her all of his magic. Merlin consents, unaware that throughout the course of her lessons, Niviane will use Merlin's own powers against him, forcing him to do her bidding.^[9]

When Niviane finally goes back to her country, Merlin escorts her. However, along the way, Merlin receives a vision that Arthur is in need of assistance against the schemes of Morgan le Fay. Niviane and Merlin rush back to Arthur's castle, but have to stop for the night in a stone chamber, once inhabited by two lovers. Merlin relates that when the lovers died, they were placed in a magic tomb within a room in the chamber. That night, while Merlin is asleep, Niviane, still disgusted with Merlin's desire for her, as well as his demonic heritage, casts a spell over him and places him in the magic tomb so that he can never escape, thus causing his death.^[9]

Merlin's death is recounted differently in other versions of the narrative; the enchanted prison is variously described as a cave (in the Lancelot-Grail), a large rock (in Le Morte d'Arthur), an invisible tower, or a tree.^{[citation needed]} In his book "The Meaning of Trees: botany, history, healing, lore" Fred Hageneder writes on page 149, "According to Breton legend, the legendary wise man Merlin climbed the Pine of Barenton (from bel nemeton, "Sacred Grove of Bel"), just as shamans climb the World Tree. Here, he had a profound revelation and he never returned to the mortal world. In later versions,Merlins glas tann was mistranslated as a "glass house". It is actually a living tree (from the Cornish glas "(ever)green", and tann, "sacred tree"), and from these words the name of Glastonbury, in Somerset, England is sometimes derived.^{[citation needed]} Hence, according to legend, it is a sacred tree in which the soul of Merlin awaits his return." In the Prophetiae Merlini, Niviane confines him in the forest of Brocéliande with walls of air, visible as mist to others but as a beautiful tower to him (Loomis, 1927). This is unfortunate for Arthur, who has lost his greatest counselor. Another version has it that Merlin angers Arthur to the point where he beheads, cuts in half, burns, and curses Merlin.^{[citation needed]}

Fiction featuring Merlin[link]

Many parts of Arthurian fiction include Merlin as a character. Mark Twain made Merlin the villain in his 1889 novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. C. S. Lewis used the figure of Merlin Ambrosius in his 1946 novel That Hideous Strength, the third book in the Space Trilogy. Merlin is also portrayed in the T. A. Barron series The Lost Years of Merlin and The Great Tree of Avalon.

Merlin is a major character in T. H. White's collection The Once and Future King and the related The Book of Merlyn. Mary Stewart produced an influential quintet of Arthurian novels, with Merlin as the protagonist in the first three: The Crystal Cave (1970), The Hollow Hills (1973) and The Last Enchantment (1979). Merlin plays a modern-day villain in Roger Zelazny's short story "The Last Defender of Camelot" (1979), which won the 1980 Balrog Award for short fiction and was adapted into an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone in 1986. Kristine Jones explores Merlin's childhood in Merlin of Carmarthen. Merlin is referenced in the Harry Potter series as a great sorcerer from the past. In Rowling's Pottermore, Merlin is revealed to have received his magic training as a member of the House of Slytherin. Merlin's Mirror, by Andre Norton, tells the story of the half-human, half-alien Merlin.

Merlin is an important figure in films and television programs, where he functions often as a teacher or mentor figure, a role that he shares with other wizard and wizard-like figures in popular texts, such as Gandalf the White.^[10] One of the best known of the film Merlins is the Merlin of the 1963 animated Disney film The Sword in the Stone, based on T. H. White's novel of the same name. In the 1967 episode Merlin, the Magician from the TV show The Time Tunnel, Merlin is portrayed by Christopher Cary. The character, played by Nicol Williamson, has a large role in the 1981 film Excalibur. Laurence Naismith appears as Merlyn in the film version of the musical play Camelot (based on T. H. White's The Once and Future King). In the 1998 miniseries Merlin, the protagonist Merlin (played by actor Sam Neill) battled the pagan goddess Queen Mab.^[11]

In 1981, the television series Mr. Merlin featured Merlin living undercover in modern-day San Francisco. In 2006 and 2007, the television series Stargate SG-1 used Merlin and Arthurian legend as major plot points. In 2005, Merlin appeared as leader of the Woads of Britton and father to Guinevere in King Arthur. Also in 2007, the film The Last Legion portrayed Merlin (initially called Ambrosinus) as a druid and tutor of both the last Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus Caesar, as well as of his son Arthur.

In 2008, the BBC created a television series, also called Merlin, where Merlin is portrayed by Colin Morgan. Merlin was the protagonist of the 2008 fantasy film Merlin and the War of the Dragons. The Doctor Who episode Battlefield suggests that Arthurian legend in our world is influenced by actual events in a parallel world, and that the Doctor is himself Merlin. In the 2011 TV series Camelot, Merlin was played by Joseph Fiennes. Ashley Cowie, Scottish author, historian, and archaeologist, and his team search the U.K. for treasures said to have been hidden away by Merlin in the 5th episode of season 1's "Legend Quest".^[12]

A main belt asteroid is named Merlin in honour of the legendary wizard. Merlin is a character in the MMO role-playing games Wizard101 and RuneScape. In the role-playing game Magic and Mayhem, Merlin is the game's final antagonist. The Disney version of Merlin appears in the ARPGs Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Oxford English Dictionary. 2008. http://dictionary.oed.com.dax.lib.unf.edu. Retrieved June 7, 2010. 
• Arbrois De Jubainville, H., Merlin est-il un personage historique?, Revue des questions historiques 5, 1868.
• Breton-Guay, Neomie, Merlin l'Enchanteur dans les images de la renaissance arthurienne, 2006.
• Cadieux-Larochelle, Josee, Pour forger un mythe: les avatars de Merlin, 1996.
• Castleden, Rodney, King Arthur: The Truth behind the legend, London, New-York, G. Routhledge, 2000.
• Donnard, Ana, Merlin, L'intermediaire des mondes. Minas Gerais federal University.
• Dumezil, Georges, Mythes et Dieux des Indo-europeens Flammarion, 1992.
• Gaster, M, The Legend of Merlin: A Postscript, Folklore, 1905
• Gaster, M, "The Legend of Merlin" Folk-Lore, 1905.
• Gill, N.S., Who was Merlin and was Merlin Real? Ancient/Classical History, http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/people/a/merlin_2.htm. 2007.
• Heather, P.J., Divination, Folklore, 1954.
• Hersart, Theodore, Myrdhin ou l'enchanteur Merlin: son histoire, ses oeuvres, son influence, Paris, Terre de Brume, 1989.
• Holdstock, Robert, Le graal de fer, Paris, Pocket, 2006.
• Joe, Jimmy, Timeless Myths: The Many Faces of Merlin, http://www.timelessmyths.com/arthurian/merlin.html. 2007.
• Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-85109-440-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Celtic+Culture#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved November 23, 2009. 
• La Croix, Arnaud de, Arthur, Merlin et le Graal, un mythe revisite, Monaco, Editions du Rocher, 2001.
• Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1991). The New Arthurian Encyclopedia. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.
• Loomis, Roger Sherman (1927). Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance. Columbia University Press.
• Monmouth, Geoffrey. The History of the Kings of Britain. The Romance of Arthur. Ed. James J. Wilhelm. New York: Garland Publishing, 1994. 63–93.
• Rider, Jeff, The fictional margin: The Merlin of the Brut, Modern Philology, 1989, University of Chicago Press.
• Torregrossa, Michael A. “Merlin Goes to the Movies: The Changing Role of Merlin in Cinema Arthuriana.” Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies 29.3–4 (1999): 54–65.
• Torregrossa, Michael A. “The Way of the Wizard: Reflections of Merlin on Film." In The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy. Eds. Martha W. Driver and Sid Ray. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004. pp. 167–91.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Merlin

• BBC audio file, Radio 4 In Our Time, 45 minutes.
• Merlin: or the early History of King Arthur: a prose romance (Early English Text Society [Series]. Original series: 10, 112), edited by Henry Wheatly. (1450s) (The complete prose Middle English translation of the Vulgate Merlin. Chapter I to VI cover Robert de Boron's Merlin.)
• Prose Merlin, Introduction and Text (TEAMS Middle English text series) edited by John Conlea, 1998. (1450s) (A selection of many passages of the prose Middle English translation of the Vulgate Merlin with connecting summary. The sections from The Birth of Merlin to Arthur and the Sword in the Stone cover Robert de Boron's Merlin).
• Of Arthour and Merlin: Auchinleck Manuscript (National Library of Scotland) (1330s). (A Middle-English verse adaptation of the Vulgate Merlin combined with material closer to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia. Lines 1–3059 cover approximately Robert de Boron's Merlin).
• XIIIth century Merlin manuscript BNF fr. 95 Bibliothèque Nationale de France, selection of illuminated folios, Modern French Translation, Commentaries.
• The Beguiling of Merlin. Edward Burne-Jones, Liverpool Museums
• Merlin: Texts, Images, Basic Information, Camelot Project at the University of Rochester. (Numerous further texts and art concerning Merlin.)
• Merlin : Opera by Ezequiel Viñao with a Libretto by Caleb Carr, (Words and Music. Excerpts from the opera)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2011)

Bradley James (born 11 October 1983^[1]) is an English actor from Exeter, Devon. He made his television debut in the ITV series Lewis in 2008 and is best known for portraying King Arthur (and previously Prince Arthur) in the television programme Merlin.

Personal Life[link]

Bradley has two sisters, Natalie and Stephanie. Bradley spent some of his childhood in Jacksonville, Florida. Bradley stands at 5'10½' (182.5 cm) in height.

Bradley is a fan of football and participates in charity football events. When he was younger, he either wanted to be a footballer or an actor. ^[2]

Bradley started training to be an actor from an early age. He attended the Drama Centre London to pursue his acting career. His co-star Santiago Cabrera also attended the school. He is believed to be close friends with his co-star Colin Morgan, and with those actors playing the Knights of the Round Table on Merlin, particularly Rupert Young (Sir Leon), Tom Hopper (Sir Percival) and Eoin Macken (Sir Gwaine), the latter two with which James has participated in several football events for charity.

Television career[link]

James first appeared in an episode of Lewis in 2008 and also played the part of Ben in the BBC Three drama Dis/Connected.

He trained at the Drama Centre London. His breakthrough came when he was chosen to play Prince Arthur, who later becomes the legendary King Arthur, in the BBC One fantasy TV series Merlin. In an interview, he stated that he had enjoyed being involved with the stunts; however, he had "picked up more than his fair share of injuries". He has now starred in Series 1 through 4. In series 4, episode 3 "The Wicked Day", he became King Arthur, previously starring as Prince. It has been announced that there will be a fifth series.^[3] Merlin has been a consistent hit series in the U.S. as well, its first series on the broadcast network NBC (National Broadcasting Company) and its second through fourth series on NBC's affiliate basic cable network Syfy.

James and co-star Colin Morgan, who portrays the title character on Merlin, went on an exploration of Arthurian legends for BBC Wales, The Real Merlin & Arthur, in 2009.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bradley James at the Internet Movie Database

This article about a British television actor born in the 1980s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Colin Morgan
Colin Morgan, February 2011
Born	(1986-01-01) 1 January 1986 (age 26) Armagh, Northern Ireland
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2007–present

Colin Morgan (born 1 January 1986) is an Irish actor from Armagh, Northern Ireland, best known for playing the title character in the BBC TV series Merlin. Morgan went to Integrated College Dungannon and, during his third year, won the 'Denis Rooney Associates' Cup awarded to the best overall student of that academic year. After gaining a National Diploma in Performing Arts (Acting) and studying at Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education in 2004, he went on to study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama), situated in Glasgow, from where he graduated in 2007.^[1] In November 2010 The Belfast Metropolitan College honoured Morgan with an Award of Distinction for his contribution to the Arts.^[2]

Career[link]

On stage in 2007, Morgan debuted as Vernon Little in the title role of the Young Vic's adaptation of DBC Pierre's Vernon God Little^[3] and as Esteban in the Old Vic stage adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar's Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother). In 2008, he appeared as Jimmy Rosario in the Young Vic production of Thomas Babe's A Prayer For My Daughter. In 2011, he played Carlos in the Royal Court Theatre production of Colombian dramaturg Pedro Miguel Rozo's play Our Private Life.^[4]

In film, Morgan appears as Calum in Island,^[5][6] a film adaptation of Jane Rogers' novel Island, and as Cathal^[7] in the award winning Irish film Parked.^[8][9]

Morgan featured in two minor TV roles: John Leary in sketches on The Catherine Tate Show (2007) and Jethro Cane in the Doctor Who episode "Midnight" (2008). He plays the title role in BBC TV series Merlin, in production since 2008. He, and co-star Bradley James, travelled on an exploration of Arthurian legends for BBC Wales, The Real Merlin & Arthur, in 2009. On 14th April 2012 Morgan performed readings from survivor's accounts and testimonials during Titanic: A Commemoration in Music and Film broadcast live on BBC2 from Belfast's Waterfront Hall.

Morgan has taken part in one BBC Radio play, Cry Babies by Kim Newman, on BBC Radio 4 (March 2009).^[10]

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Colin Morgan

• Colin Morgan at the Internet Movie Database
• Colin Morgan at United Agents

Angel Coulby
Angel Coulby at Japan Expo 2010
Born	(1980-08-30) 30 August 1980 (age 31) London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001-present

Angel Coulby (born 30 August 1980) is an English actress. She made her television debut in the BBC comedy 'Orrible. She is best known for portraying the character of Queen Guinevere "Gwen" Pendragon in the BBC fantasy series Merlin.

Career[link]

Coulby trained at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh where she studied for a degree in acting.^{[citation needed]} She is seen in an episode of Scariest Places on Earth (#2.10 - Exorcism: Greyfriars Cemetery 1) as a student (Awassa Tact) who had an encounter with a ghost. Her breakthrough came in 2001 with her role in the Johnny Vaughan vehicle 'Orrible. She was later chosen to play Gwen, a young woman who would later become Queen Guinevere the legendary wife of King Arthur and Queen of Camelot, in the BBC One fantasy TV series Merlin. Coulby stars alongside fellow young actors Colin Morgan, Bradley James and Katie McGrath as well as seasoned veterans Anthony Head and Richard Wilson.

She has been announced as starring in the upcoming BBC Two Stephen Poliakoff drama Dancing on the Edge along with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Head and Jane Asher.

In an interview,^{[citation needed]}she stated that she enjoys being able to play Gwen from an early stage, where she's humble and lowly maid servant, all the way to her becoming Queen of Camelot, in that capacity she has now starred in Series 1, 2, 3 and so far 4. She has stated in past interviews that she enjoys music festivals and has recently taken up sewing and is learning to make clothes (She would not, however, consider a career change as she has wanted to be an actress ever since she knew what it was.)^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Angel Coulby

• Angel Coulby at the Internet Movie Database

This article about an English television actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)

Miranda Richardson
Richardson at the Metropolitan Opera's 2010 opening night of Das Rheingold
Born	Miranda Jane Richardson (1958-03-03) 3 March 1958 (age 54) Southport, Lancashire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1981 – present

Miranda Jane Richardson (born 3 March 1958) is an English stage, film and television actor. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and has won two Golden Globes (with seven nominations) and a BAFTA (with seven nominations) during her career.

Early life[link]

Richardson was born in Southport, Lancashire, to Marian Georgina (née Townsend), a housewife, and William Alan Richardson, a marketing executive.^[1] The second daughter of a middle class family, she revealed a talent for acting as a girl.

Career[link]

Theatre[link]

Richardson enrolled at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School,^[2] where she studied alongside Daniel Day-Lewis, having started out with juvenile performances in Cinderella and Lord Arthur Savile's Crime at the Southport Dramatic Club. Richardson enjoyed a successful and extensive theatre career, making her stage debut in Moving at the Queen's Theatre in 1981. Soon afterwards, she appeared in repertory theatre, until she found recognition in the West End for a series of stage performances, ultimately receiving an Olivier Award nomination for her performance in A Lie of the Mind,^[3] and in 1996, she is cited as "the greatest actress of our time in any medium" by one critic after she appeared in Orlando at the Edinburgh Festival. She returned to the London stage in May 2009 to play the lead role in Wallace Shawn's new play, Grasses of a Thousand Colours at the Royal Court Theatre.^[4]

Film and television[link]

In 1985, Richardson made her film debut as Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom, in Mike Newell's biographical drama, Dance With a Stranger. Within a year, she had been cast by Steven Spielberg to appear in his World War II drama, Empire of the Sun (1987).

Richardson is known for her role as a comedic Queen Elizabeth I, aka Queenie, in the British television comedy Blackadder II. She returned in guest roles in one episode each in Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth. She returned to play Queenie in the Christmas special Blackadder's Christmas Carol and a special edition for the millennium Blackadder: Back and Forth. She appeared in TV series The Storyteller in episode "The Three Ravens" playing a witch.

Her portrayal of a troubled theatre-goer in Secret Friends (BBC 2, 1990) was described as "a miniature tour de force... Miranda Richardson's finest hour, all in ten minutes" (The Sunday Times). Other television roles include Pamela Flitton in A Dance to the Music of Time (1997), Miss Gilchrist in St. Ives (1998), Bettina the obsessive-compulsive interior decorator in Absolutely Fabulous, the sadistic Queen Elspeth in Hallmark's Snow White: The Fairest Of Them All (2001), and the emotionally repressed Queen Mary in The Lost Prince (2003).

Richardson has appeared in a number of high-profile supporting roles in the cinema, including Vanessa Bell in The Hours, Lady Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow and Patsy Carpenter in The Evening Star. She also won acclaim for her performances in The Crying Game and Enchanted April, for which she won a Golden Globe. She received Academy Award nominations for her performances in Damage and Tom & Viv.

Her film credits also include Robert Altman's Kansas City (1996), Robert Duvall's The Apostle (1997) and Richard E. Grant's Wah-Wah (2005). In 2002, she performed a triple-role alongside Ralph Fiennes in David Cronenberg's acclaimed thriller Spider, a film that won her several international critics' awards.^[5]

Richardson also appeared as Queen Rosalind of Denmark in the Julia Stiles vehicle The Prince and Me and as the ballet mistress Madame Giry in the film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom Of The Opera (2004). In 2005, she appeared in the role of Rita Skeeter, the toxic Daily Prophet journalist in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In 2006 she appeared alongside Bill Nighy in Stephen Poliakoff's multi-Golden Globe winning BBC drama, Gideon's Daughter. She played Mrs. Claus in the film Fred Claus (2007), co-starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti.

Richardson teamed up alongside Absolutely Fabulous star Jennifer Saunders in the BBC sitcom, The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle. She appeared as a guest on Nigel Slater's A Taste of My Life.

In 2008 Richardson was cast in a leading role in original AMC pilot, Rubicon. She plays Katherine Rhumor, a New York socialite who finds herself drawn into the central intrigue of a think tank, after the death of her husband.^[6]

Additionally, she played Labour politician Barbara Castle in the British film Made in Dagenham.^[7]

Theatre roles[link]

• Savage Amusement (Hazel) - Derby Playhouse, Lancaster
• Stags and Hens (Linda) - Derby Playhouse, Lancaster
• All My Sons (Ann) - Derby Playhouse, Lancaster
• Sisterly Feelings (Brenda) - Derby Playhouse, Lancaster
• Ten Times Table (Phillipa) - Library Theatre, Manchester
• Whose Life Is It Anyway? (Kay Sadler) - Library Theatre, Manchester
• Play It Again, Sam (Linda Christie) - Library Theatre, Manchester
• Tom Jones (Sophie Western) - Library Theatre, Manchester
• Educating Rita (Rita) - Haymarket Theatre, Leicester
• Moving (Jane Gladwin) - Queen's Theatre (1980/1)
• The Table of the Two Horseman (Katie Wyld) - Bristol Theatre Royal (9 March 1983/2 April 1983)
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Honey) - Bristol Theatre Royal (6 April 1983/30 April 1983)
• The Maids (Madame) - Bristol New Vic (27 September 1983/22 October 1983)
• Insignificance (The Actress) - Bristol New Vic (25 October 1983/19 December 1983)
• Life of Einstein - Dukes Playhouse, Lancaster (1984)
• Edmond (Glenna) - Newcastle (1985)
• A Lie of the Mind (Beth) - Royal Court Theatre, West End (1987)
• The Changeling (Beatrice-Joanna) - (Lyttelton) National Theatre, West End (1988)
• Mountain Language (Young Woman) - (Lyttelton) National Theatre, West End (1988)
• Etta Jenks (Etta Jenks) - Royal Court Theatre, West End (1990)
• The Designated Mourner (Judy) - Royal National Theatre, West End (1996)
• Orlando (Orlando) - 50th Edinburgh International Festival (11/21 August 1996)
• Aunt Dan and Lemon (Aunt Dan) - Almeida Theatre, Islington, London (5 May/5 June 1999)
• The Play What I Wrote (Herself) - Wyndham's Theatre, West End (30 January 2002, 5 May 2002, 2 January 2003)
• Comic Aid 2005 - (Herself - Asia Tsunami Aid) - Carling Apollo, West End (22 February 2005)
• One Knight Only - (Herself - Asia Tsunami Aid) - Theatre Royal, Haymarket, West End (20 March 2005)
• Grasses of a thousand colours (Cerise) - Royal Court Theatre (May 2009)

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Academy Award[link]

• Nominated (1993): Best Supporting Actress, Damage
• Nominated (1995): Best Actress, Tom & Viv

BAFTA Award[link]

• Nominated (1988): Best Actress, After Pilkington (TV)
• Nominated (1993): Best Supporting Actress, The Crying Game
• Won (1993): Best Supporting Actress, Damage
• Nominated (1994): Best Actress, Tom & Viv
• Nominated (1998): Best Actress, A Dance to the Music of Time (TV)
• Nominated (2004): Best Actress, The Lost Prince (TV)
• Nominated (2011): Best Supporting Actress, Made in Dagenham

Golden Globe Award[link]

• Won (1993): Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy, Enchanted April
• Nominated (1993): Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture, Damage
• Nominated (1995): Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama, Tom & Viv
• Won (1995): Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Fatherland
• Nominated (1999): Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Merlin
• Nominated (2000): Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, The Big Brass Ring
• Nominated (2005): Best Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, The Lost Prince

Laurence Olivier Award[link]

• Nominated (1988): Best Actress, A Lie of the Mind

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Miranda Richardson

• Miranda Richardson at the Internet Movie Database
• Miranda Richardson at AllRovi
• Miranda Richardson at the TCM Movie Database