Phoebe Nicholls

Phoebe Sarah Nicholls (born 7 April 1957) is an English actress. She is most notable for her roles as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited, and as the mother of John Merrick in The Elephant Man (1980). Other credits include Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), Women in Love (1969), Van der Valk (1977), Bless Me, Father (1979), Persuasion (1995), Kavanagh QC (1995), Gulliver's Travels (1995), Fairy Tale: A True Story (1997), The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1997), Shackleton (2002), Hawking (2004), (2004), Spooks (2006), (2007), Lewis (2007), Prime Suspect (2003), Midsomer Murders (2003), Lewis, Foyle's War (2003), Second Sight, Downton Abbey (2012), Fortitude (2015), Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015), Doctor Thorne (2016), Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), Eric (2024), and The Sandman (2025).

Personal life Nicholls is the daughter of actors Anthony Nicholls and Faith Kent. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Nicholls married director Charles Sturridge on 6 July 1985; they have two children, including actor Tom Sturridge, and actress Matilda Sturridge. Her grandfather is photojournalist Horace Nicholls.

Career As a child actress in several films she was billed as Sarah Nicholls. In her early 20s, she appeared in David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980),

Cast in Michael Lindsay-Hogg's original staging of Whose Life Is It Anyway? in 1978, she later performed in Robert Strura's revival of Three Sisters with Vanessa Redgrave. Her supporting performances in the 2008 West End revivals of Noël Coward's The Vortex (2007-2008), For her role as Frances in Waste, she won the Clarence Derwent Award for Best female in a supporting role in 2009.

Nicholls appeared in the BBC film Persuasion (1995), 2025 The Sandman Taramis 2 episodes 2025 The Chelsea Detective Miriam Rushland 2 episodes: "For The Greater Good" 2025 Talamasca: The Secret Order Twin sisters Abigail and Rose Series 1 episode 4

Stage

1978: Whose Life Is It Anyway? 1981: The Cherry Orchard 1983: The Beautiful Part of Myself 1984: Pravda 1985: The Seagull 1991: Three Sisters 1993: An Inspector Calls 1993: Hysteria 1994: Rutherford & Son 1997: Dona Rosita the Spinster 2005: Three Women and a Piano Tuner 2007: The Vortex 2008: Waste 2009: When the Rain Stops Falling 2012: Scenes from an Execution 2022: The Southbury Child