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Who is Nicola Walker?
British actress Nicola Jane Walker was born in London, England, on 15 May 1970, making Taurus her zodiac sign. She has 55 acting credits, and is perhaps known best for portraying Ruth Evershed in 57 episodes of the crime action series “MI-5”, which starred Hugh Simon and Peter Firth, and was created by David Wolstencroft. It follows the work of the UK’s counter intelligence organization MI-5, the series aired from 2002 through 2011, and won nine of its 47 award nominations.
Nicola’s currently shooting for the upcoming short film “Under the Blue”, as well as for the upcoming series’ “Mary & George” and “Annika”.
Education and early life
Nicola was raised in London alongside her older brother Brandon, by their parents about whom not many details have been disclosed, because Nicola respects their privacy; it’s believed that her father was a theatre actor and her mother a nurse, but this hasn’t been confirmed by Nicola.
She studied at Saint Nicholas School prior to switching to Forrest School, Walthamstow and was 12 when she began taking acting lessons, because she wanted to speak to boys. Nicola appeared in a number of school plays during her teenage years, and upon matriculating in 1988 enrolled at New Hall, Cambridge (today called Murray Edwards College) from which she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in acting in 1992; she was the first member of her family to attend college.
Nicola was invited to continue her education at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but instead chose to directly pursue her acting career.
Roles in movies
Nicola’s debut film role was portraying a supporting character in the critically acclaimed 1994 romantic comedy “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, which starred Andie MacDowell and Hugh Grant, and was directed by Mike Newell. It follows a committed bachelor who’s finding it hard to believe that he’s found love, and the film won 24 of its 51 award nominations, including two Oscar nominations for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen and Best Picture.
The remainder of the ‘90s saw Nicola appear in the 1994 drama “Milner”, the 1997 comedy “Cows”, and the 2000 crime thriller “Shiner”.
In 2005, she portrayed Rachel in the historical war drama “Shooting Dogs”, which starred Hugh Dancy and John Hurt, and was directed by Michael Caton-Jones. It follows an English language teacher and a Catholic priest who’ve became stranded at a school during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and the film won one of its four award nominations. A couple of Nicola’s following roles were in the 2009 mystery horror “The Turn of the Screw”, the 2012 drama “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” and the 2013 short musical “Fire Horse”.
She’s since appeared in only a single movie, playing Very Bad Singer in the 2020 short comedy “One Red Nose and a Wedding”, which starred Rowan Atkinson and David Bower, and was directed by Mike Newell. It follows the cast of the movie “Four Weddings and a Funeral” as they’ve reunited; the film won three awards.
Roles in TV series
Nicola’s debut TV series role was playing Sallie Grace in two episodes of the 1994 drama mini-series “Faith”, and the year 1997 saw her star as Suzy Travis in all 12 episodes of the comedy “Chalk”, which also starred Amanda Boxer and David Bamber, and follows the lives of teachers and students at Galfast High School. The remainder of the decade saw Nicola appear in the crime comedy “Jonathan Creek”, the science fiction mini-series “The Last Train” and the crime mystery “Touching Evil”.
She spent the 2000s focused on shooting for “MI-5”, and thus appeared in only an episode or two of a couple of series, including the 2005 comedy mini-series “Broken News”, the 2007 thriller mini-series “Torn” and the 2007 historical mini-series “Oliver Twist”.
From 2012 through 2020, Nicola starred as Gillian in 20 episodes of the romantic comedy “Last Tango in Halifax”, which also starred Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, and was created by Sally Wainwright. It follows Alan and Celia who’ve reunited after 50 years apart, and have now decided to marry; the series won four of its 21 award nominations.
Some of Nicola’s most recent TV series roles have been in four episodes of the 2022 drama “Marriage”, 10 episodes of the 2023 drama “Who is Aldrich Kemp?” and seven episodes of the 2023 crime mystery “Annika”.
FIRST LOOK at Nicola & Sean Bean in new BBC One drama ‘Marriage’ air date to be announced in due course.. pic.twitter.com/JrbJ34QiO2
— Nicola Walker (@NicolaWalkerHQ) March 1, 2022
Other credits
Nicola sang the song “Sunny” in a 2015 episode of the series “Unforgotten” and the song “Dreaming” in a 2018 episode of the series “The Split”.
Some of her recent talk-show appearances have been in “Central Tonight”, “Lorraine” and “The One Show”.
Awards and nominations
Nicola’s been nominated for seven awards, including her two BAFTA nominations for Best Supporting Actress in 2014 and 2017, both for her performance in “Last Tango in Halifax”, and for the same role a 2015 Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series. Further nominations have been for a 2021 TV Times Award for Favorite Actress, for “Unforgotten”, and a 2022 TV Choice Award for Best Actress, for “The Split”.
Love life and husband
Although Nicola prefers to keep the details of her love life to herself, it’s known that she and British actor Barnaby Kay have been married for more than two decades now, but the exact date of their wedding hasn’t been disclosed.
Barnaby has 49 acting credits and is perhaps still known best for playing Nol in the critically acclaimed 1998 historical comedy movie “Shakespeare in Love”, which starred Joseph Fieness and Gwyneth Paltrow, and won 65 of its 152 award nominations, including seven Oscar wins.
Nicola gave birth to their son Harry in 2006, named after the character Harry Pearce from the series “Spooks”.
There are no other men whom Nicola’s perhaps been with, that we know about; she’s married to Barnaby Kay as of August 2023, and they have a son together.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Nicola voiced de Tansarville in the 2011 video game “The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings”, and Teresa di Vicenzo in the 2012 video game “007 Legends”.
She left the series “MI-5” for a while to give birth to her son, but returned when she felt ready.
Close to 50,000 people are following Nicola on Instagram today, and she’s posted 77 pictures onto the network; most feature her spending time with her fellow actors and actresses, while others show her with her husband and son.
She’s been a philanthropist since the launch of her career and has worked with a number of charity organizations, while Nicola mostly enjoys working with underprivileged children.
She’s passionate about travelling and has been to more than 50 countries around the world.
One of Nicola’s favorite actresses is Helena Bonham Carter, and some of her favorite movies include “Alice in Wonderland”, “Enola Holmes” and “A Room with a View”.
Appearance and net worth
Nicola’s age is 53. She has brown hair and blue eyes, is 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall and weighs around 130lbs (59kgs).
Nicola’s net worth’s been estimated at over $1.2 million, as of August 2023.
