Michelle Terry

Michelle Terry (born 1979) is an English actress and writer, known for her extensive work for Shakespeare's Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, as well as her television work, notably writing and starring in the Sky One television series The Café. Terry took up the role of artistic director at Shakespeare's Globe in April 2018.

In 2010, Terry won the Olivier Award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Sylvia in Tribes at the Royal Court Theatre.

Early life Terry was born in Nuneaton, moving while still a child to grow up in Weston-super-Mare. She was raised in Kewstoke, and attended Priory Community School and Broadoak Sixth Form Centre.

Terry aspired to be an actress from an early age. She attended an amateur dramatic society and took LAMDA exams at school in poetry, prose and spoken verse. At the age of fourteen she joined the National Youth Theatre. She read English literature at Cardiff University before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2004. She also appeared in broadcast versions of London Assurance and All's Well That Ends Well as part of National Theatre Live. For the Royal Shakespeare Company, Terry has appeared in productions of Days of Significance, Pericles, The Winter's Tale, The Crucible and Love's Labour's Lost, playing Rosaline.

Terry won critical acclaim for her work at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, for her performance of Rosalind in As You Like It. London's Financial Times wrote "I'm not sure it's possible to see Michelle Terry on a stage without falling a little in love with her. She has the intelligence, inventiveness and vivacity to play the character and the show simultaneously, not setting herself above the material but relishing her immersion in the role and inviting us to share it with her." She also appeared in productions of Love's Labour's Lost and A Midsummer Night's Dream at that venue, both of which were released on DVD. On 24 July 2017 she was announced as its fourth artistic director, to succeed Emma Rice in April 2018.

The Guardian called the play "a perfectly decent production and a welcome relief from the work of the previous Globe regime, which seemed to assume that the plays were a bit boring unless jazzed up."

The Stage said: "It's a production that places clarity of verse and emotion over directorial fireworks. One of the most striking elements is Terry's costume. When she assumes her antic disposition, she also dons a white clown suit with a jagged lipstick grin. By making Hamlet a jester, it licenses her to behave in different ways. It shifts her status in the family. It grants her power and marks her apart. Laughter can be a weapon after all. It's an interesting idea that is under-explored."

Macbeth, 2018 Terry starred in the lead role of Lady Macbeth opposite her husband Paul Ready in Macbeth at the Globe's candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

Twelfth Night, 2021 In The Globe's 2021 production of Twelfth Night, directed by Sean Holmes, Terry starred as Viola.

Richard III, 2024 In The Globe's 2024 production of Richard III, Terry was cast in the lead, which generated backlash and controversy over a non-disabled actor being cast as a disabled character and historical figure, a practice commonly referred to as cripping-up. The script was also edited in an attempt to make Richard non-disabled which subsequently led to 281 disabled actors and allied art professionals, and 35 organisations including several theatre companies, under the name of this Disabled Artists Alliance speaking out against this casting and "the erasure and rewriting of Richard's core disabled identity".

Television Her television credits include episodes of Extras, Law & Order: UK and the Mike Bullen pilot Reunited, playing "Sara". She was co-writer, with Ralf Little, of the comedy drama TV series, The Café, which aired on Sky1 from 2011 to 2013, in which she played "Sarah Porter". The series was set and filmed in her own hometown, Weston-super-Mare.

Writing Besides co-writing The Café, Terry has co-written two plays. The first was Sudden Loss of Dignity for the Bush Theatre in 2009, which she co-wrote with Zawe Ashton, James Graham, Joel Horwood, and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm. In 2015, it was announced she would write for My Mark, a ten-year project from the Donmar Warehouse charting the political growth of the next voting generation. In 2017, she co-wrote and starred in Becoming with Rosalie Craig.

As You Like It Celia New Vic Theatre The Burial at Thebes Ismene/Chorus Nottingham Playhouse

Beautiful Thing Leah Sound Theatre The Crucible Mary Warren Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Pericles Philemon

The Winter's Tale Perdita

Days of Significance Clare The Promise Lika New Wimbledon Theatre Love's Labour's Lost Princess of France Shakespeare's Globe

The War on Terror Woman

Two Cigarettes Girl The Man Who Had All the Luck Hester Falk Donmar Warehouse 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover at Christmas Various Bush Theatre All's Well That Ends Well Helena Love's Labour's Lost Princess of France Shakespeare's Globe

London Assurance Grace Harkaway National Theatre Light Shining in Buckinghamshire Henry Ireton Arcola Theatre Tribes Sylvia Royal Court Theatre 2011/12 The Comedy of Errors Luciana National Theatre 2012/13 In the Republic of Happiness Madeleine Royal Court Theatre

Before the Party Kathleen Skinner Almeida Theatre A Midsummer Night's Dream Hippolyta/Titania Shakespeare's Globe

Love's Labour's Lost Rosaline

Much Ado About Nothing (Love's Labour's Won) Beatrice Privacy Director

My Mark Writer

Cleansed Grace National Theatre Henry V King Henry V Regent's Park Open Air Theatre Prom 48 Titania/Hippolyta Royal Albert Hall 2017 Becoming Self/Co-writer Donmar Warehouse

As You Like It Adam/William/Jacques de Bouys

Hamlet Hamlet 2018/19 Macbeth Lady Macbeth Sam Wanamaker Playhouse 2019 Henry IV, Part 1 Hotspur Shakespeare's Globe

The Taming of the Shrew Biondello

Macbeth: A Conjuring Lady Macbeth Deep Night, Dark Night Writer 2021 Twelfth Night Viola

King Lear Cordelia/Fool The Fir Tree Director

A Midsummer Night's Dream Puck Twelfth Night: For One Night Only Olivia 2024 Richard III King Richard III

Three Sisters Olga Sam Wanamaker Playhouse An Oak Tree Guest performer Young Vic A Midsummer Night's Dream: For One Night Only Hippolyta/Titania

2026 Mother Courage and her Children Mother Courage Filmography

Film

Television

Radio

Awards Terry won Best Actress in a Visiting Production at the 2008 Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards, for the Donmar Warehouse production of The Man Who Had All the Luck.

She won Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards, for her portrayal of Sylvia in the Royal Court Theatre production of Tribes.