Amanda Drew

Amanda Drew (born 21 December 1969) Drew's mother was a nurse and her father was a vicar. When her parents moved to Leicestershire for work, Drew was educated at Beauchamp College in Oadby, where she joined a youth theatre, playing Charity in Sweet Charity. She later attended King's School, Ottery St. Mary, when her family moved to Devon.

After graduating from RADA in 1992, Drew made her name on stage at the Royal Court Theatre and various other West End productions in both drama and comedy roles. In 2001, she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In March 2009 she starred in the UK premiere of Parlour Song at the Almeida Theatre. In July 2009 she took the role of Claudia Roe, a fictional amalgamation of female executives of the failed Enron Corporation, in ENRON at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, transferring to Royal Court Theatre in October 2009 and the West End in January 2010. She made her Broadway debut in Florian Zeller's play The Height of the Storm in 2019.

Her television credits include A Very British Scandal, The Girl Before, Broadchurch, The Last Post, Chernobyl, Wednesday, and the Black Mirror episode "Smithereens". In 2025, Drew starred in The Bombing of Pan Am 103 (also known as Lockerbie) as a victim's mother. In real life, the incident took place on Drew's 19th birthday.

EastEnders Drew played the part of Dr. May Wright in the BBC One soap opera, EastEnders, between September 2006 and June 2007, and again in June 2008. Drew was involved in one of largest storylines of the year, a love triangle between May, her husband Rob Minter (Stuart Laing), and Dawn Swann (Kara Tointon).

The personality of the character has earned her the nickname "Mad May" and "Psycho Doctor" from the media. Drew has described the role as "a gift of a role for any actor because of her complexity." Of her return to EastEnders, she has stated: "I'm so excited to be playing her again. It'd be a shame to give too much away, but she has changed in many ways." The move attracted some criticism as to how it relates directly to the disappearance of the toddler; the BBC said that "In the current circumstances it was felt any storyline that included a child abduction would be inappropriate and could cause distress to our viewers."

Awards Drew won the "Outstanding Newcomer" at the 2003 London Evening Standard Theatre Awards for her performance in Eastward Ho! at the Gielgud Theatre.

Filmography Film

Television

Video games

Selected stage appearances

The Memory of Water The Man of Mode (1994) The Way of the World (1995) John Gabriel Borkman (1996) Taking Sides (1997) The School of Night (1999) The House of Bernarda Alba (1999) Top Girls (2000) Jubilee (2001) Eastward Ho! (2002) The Island Princess (2002) Blithe Spirit (2004) Otherwise Engaged (2005) Parlour Song (2009) ENRON (2009–2010) House of Games (2010) Butley (2011) Twelfth Night (2011) A Streetcar Named Desire (2012) Three Days in the Country (2015)