Sally Phillips

Sally Elizabeth Phillips
Born (1970-05-10) 10 May 1970
Hong Kong, China
Residence London, UK
Education Wycombe Abbey
Alma mater New College, Oxford
Occupation Actress
Spouse(s)
Andrew Bermejo
(m. 2003; div. 2017)
Children 3

Sally Elizabeth Phillips (born 10 May 1970) is an English actress, television presenter and comedian. She co-created and was one of the writers of sketch comedy show Smack the Pony. She is also known for her main role in Miranda as Tilly, Parents as Jenny Pope and Set the Thames on Fire as Colette in 2015. Phillips also co-starred in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, as Mrs Bennet, and the role of Sharon in all three films of the Bridget Jones franchise.

Since 2004, Phillips has played the title role in the BBC Radio 4 comedy show Clare in the Community. Since 2018, she has been curator of "The Museum of Curiosity" on the BBC Radio 4 comedy programme of that name.

Early life

Phillips was born in Hong Kong; her father then was an executive with British Airways. Following her father's job, she grew up in the Far East, the Middle East, Italy and Australia. Aged 13 she was sent to board at Wycombe Abbey School, where she studied for both O Levels and A Levels.[1]

She then studied Italian and Linguistics at New College, Oxford. Whilst there, she joined the Oxford Revue, playing mostly male parts, alongside contemporaries including Stewart Lee and Richard Herring (who went on to have their own television show, Fist of Fun, in which Phillips appeared as "the girl who smells of Spam"). She then co-wrote and performed the one-woman show Benadetta, the Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy, based on a true story. Phillips appeared in the 1990 Oxford Revue THRASH which also starred Ed Smith.[1]

After graduating with a First, Phillips applied to write a PhD on the Spaghetti Western, but changed her mind and ended up studying drama with the Théâtre de Complicité.[1]

Career

Phillips performed at nine consecutive Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, appearing in shows including: Ra-Ra-Rasputin, Arthur Smith's version of Hamlet (as Ophelia) and Cluub Zarathustra with Simon Munnery, Stewart Lee, Richard Thomas, Julian Barratt and Lori Lixenburg. Her first television role was in Lee and Herring's Fist of Fun in 1994, shortly after followed by a cameo in Alas Smith and Jones with Mel Smith. In 1995, Phillips played the role of a reporter in the unbroadcast pilot of Chris Morris's spoof series Brass Eye which at that point was called Torque TV; however, she did not appear in the series itself. She had a role as a "Travel Tavern" receptionist in I'm Alan Partridge (1997).

Phillips had a starring role in the short-lived 1999 British comedy series Hippies (with Simon Pegg and Julian Rhind-Tutt), and also co-created and wrote Smack the Pony, a double Emmy Award-winning comedy show, for which she was nominated for best female newcomer at the 1999 British Comedy Awards. Phillips also featured in Eddie Izzard's sitcom Cows.

In 2001, she took the starring role in the David Nicholl's series Rescue Me for BBC 1. She also played cameo roles in Mean Machine, Birthday Girl and Born Romantic and wrote episodes for the animation Bob and Margaret.

In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. She appeared in Bridget Jones's Diary as "Shazza", previously auditioning for Bridget; the character was based upon the film's director, Sharon Maguire.

In 2004, she took the title role in the still-running BBC radio sitcom Clare in the Community. In August 2005, she returned to the stage after a long absence, in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest at the Oxford Playhouse. In 2006, she appeared in the Australian comedy feature BoyTown; on television, she appeared as Clare Winchester in the BBC2 science fiction comedy Hyperdrive.

In the second series of Green Wing Phillips played the character of Holly, whose appearance threatens the blossoming relationship between Mac (Julian Rhind-Tutt) and Caroline (Tamsin Greig).

Between 2006 and 2009, she had recurring roles in the BBC's comedies Jam & Jerusalem as a scatterbrained New Ager Natasha "Tash" Vine and in 2009 and 2012 she appeared in Miranda as Miranda Hart's character's irritating upper class friend, Tilly. She also had a guest star part in E4's Skins, series 3 playing Pandora's mother.

In 2009, Phillips won a British Film Council screenwriting competition for her film Fag Mountain. Her first feature film script, The Decoy Bride, started production in spring 2010. Phillips appeared in a supporting role in the film, playing Emma, a Hollywood assistant. The film was released in February 2012, premièring first on cable television and as a digital download, and then had a limited theatrical release.

In December 2010, she appeared in the BBC1 drama Accidental Farmer.

In 2012, she played the lead role in the Sky 1 comedy Parents and also appeared in the CBeebies television series Justin's House. The same year she also appeared with Justin Fletcher in the role of Mr Tumble in Something Special, in one episode (Series 5) with her son in which they take a trip to the beach at Brighton.[2][3]

She made two episodes of series 3 of the Dave maths and comedy series, Dara O Briain: School of Hard Sums in 2014 in which she was set various maths-based physical challenges. In America, Phillips has made four appearances in the HBO comedy series Veep as Minna Häkkinen, a fictional Finnish prime minister.

In 2014, she narrated the first series of The Supervet on Channel 4.

During 2015 Phillips appeared in several TV shows, notably House of Fools and Death in Paradise. Phillips has also appeared in the comedy Burn Burn Burn as Ingrid a main character and also the TV movie Distinguished Ladies in which she plays the lead role of Bianca.

Phillips appeared in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) as Mrs Bennet, and as Shazza in Bridget Jones's Baby.

In 2016, she presented the one-off BBC documentary A World Without Down's Syndrome?, which examined the potential impact of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT).

In 2017, she competed in series 5 of Taskmaster against Bob Mortimer, Aisling Bea, Nish Kumar and Mark Watson. She appeared in All Star Musicals and Tim Vine Travels in Time in December 2017.

In 2018, she plays the scatty new night manager Lou in Trollied.

Personal life

Phillips is the daughter of Tim Phillips, the former chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.[4] She is Christian[5] and has three sons, one with Down syndrome,[6] with her now ex-husband Andrew Bermejo.[7][8]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1999 Notting Hill Caroline Uncredited
2001 Birthday Girl Karen
Mean Machine Tracey
Bridget Jones's Diary Sharon "Shazza"
2004 Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason Sharon "Shazza"
Gladiatress Worthaboutapig
2011 The Decoy Bride Emma Also writer
2015 Set the Thames on Fire Colette
2016 Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Mrs. Bennet
Bridget Jones's Baby Sharon "Shazza"
The Rizen The Suited Woman
2017 Ferdinand Greta (voice)
2018 The More You Ignore Me Marie Henty [9]
2019 The Rizen: Possessio The Suited Woman Post-production[10]
2019 Surviving Christmas Miriam Filming
2019 Blinded by the Light Filming

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1995 Smith & Jones Episode #8.1, #8.3
1995–1996 Fist of Fun Various 7 episodes
1997 I'm Alan Partridge Sophie 6 episodes
1998 Holding the Baby Laura
1998 In the Red Jemma White 3 episodes
1999 Hippies Jill Sprint 6 episodes
1999–2003 Smack the Pony Various characters Also writer
2000 The Junkies Sal Short
2002 Rescue Me Katie Nash
2005-2006 Green Wing Holly Hawkes Series 2
2006 The Amazing Mrs Pritchard Meg Bayliss 5 episodes
2006–2009 Jam and Jerusalem Natasha "Tash" Vine All three series (18 episodes)
2009–2015 Miranda Matilda "Tilly" Main character (14 episodes)
2009 Skins Angela Moon Episode: "Pandora"
2009 Svengali Michelle TV Movie
2012 Parents Jenny Pope Main character (6 episodes)
2012— The Undateables Narrator
2013 Chickens Miss Trimble Episode: "Leper"
2013 Something Special Special Guest 1 episode Series 5
2013–2014, 2016, 2017 Veep Minna Häkkinen 4 episodes
2014 The Supervet Narrator Series 1
2015 Death in Paradise Cheryl Moore Episode 29: "Swimming In Murder"
2016 Galavant Ivanna Episode: "Bewitched, Bothered, Belittled"
Midsomer Murders Lucy Keswick Episode 19.1 "The Village that Rose from the Dead"
A World Without Down's Syndrome? Presenter BBC Documentary[11]
2016–2017 Zapped Slasher Morgan 4 episodes: "Pear Fair" (2017), "The Party" (2017), "Mr Wuffles" (2016), "Mr Weaver" (2016)
2017 Lip Sync Battle UK Herself 1 episode
Comic Relief Co-presenter 2017 telethon
Henry IX Queen Katerina [12]
Hospital People Helena Steel MP, Health Minister Episode: "he New Ward"
Taskmaster Herself Series 5
The One Show Guest presenter Two episodes
Travel Man Guest One episode
All Star Musicals Herself, participant
Tim Vine Travels in Time Catherine of Aragon Christmas special
2018 Trollied Lou Chettle 6 episodes
The One Show Guest presenter 2 episodes
Tourist Trap Elaine Gibbons Main character (6 episodes)[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Farndale, Nigel (8 April 2001). "Funny, bright, lovely". Telegraph.co.uk.
  2. ↑ "Anyone see 'something special' today?". Pregnancyforum.org.uk. 7 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Strange to see Sally Phillips". Twitter.com. 29 May 2012.
  4. ↑ Kelso, Paul (5 July 2007). "More screens to entertain drenched punters". The Guardian. London.
  5. ↑ "Sally Phillips on High School Shooting - The Last Leg". YouTube. 19 February 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  6. ↑ Gilbert, Gerard (19 January 2013). "Always the best friend: Sally Phillips on Christianity, comedians and the class system". The Independent. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  7. ↑ The Last Leg (2018-02-19), Sally Phillips on High School Shooting - The Last Legs, retrieved 2018-05-03
  8. ↑ Potton, Ed (2017-12-14). "Sally Phillips: Whenever Weinstein saw my face in the edit suite he said, 'Cut it!'". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  9. ↑ Tartaglione, Nancy (11 April 2018). "Gurinder Chadha's 'Blinded By The Light' Blessed By Bruce Springsteen; Cast Set". Deadline.com. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  10. ↑ "The Rizen: Possession - Goldfinch Studios". Goldfinchstudios.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  11. ↑ "A World Without Down's Syndrome? - BBC Two". BBC. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  12. ↑ Guide, British Comedy. "Henry IX cast and crew credits - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
  13. ↑ BBC One Wales website: A new comedy series following the tourist team of Wow Wales, who are tasked with selling Wales to the world. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bmfpy5
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