Sophie Winkleman

Sophie Lara Winkleman Her father, Barry Winkleman, created The Times Atlas of World History whilst publishing director of The Times, and her mother is the children's author Cindy Black. The television presenter Claudia Winkleman is her half-sister from her father's first marriage to Eve Pollard. Sophie Winkleman was educated at the City of London School for Girls and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she studied English literature. She joined the Cambridge Footlights and wrote and performed in the comic revue Far Too Happy, which toured Britain for three months and gained the troupe's first Perrier Comedy Award nomination in 20 years. She joined the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain in 1997. She is a soprano, reprising her singing in the First Love series for Sky Arts.

Career Television Winkleman's credits include recurring roles in series including Big Suze in Peep Show, numerous roles in Harry & Paul, Joely in White Teeth, Fiona in The Trial of Tony Blair, Abby in Plus One, Katerina in Red Dwarf: Back to Earth, Donna in Lead Balloon, Prudence in Keen Eddie, Elle Kensington in Chasing Alice, Regan Peverill in the pilot episode of Lewis, Angela Warren in Agatha Christie's Poirot (in the episode "Five Little Pigs"), Princess Eleanor in The Palace, Ghislaine in Robin Hood, Alice Shadwell in Dalziel and Pascoe, Ann Hamilton in Death in Paradise, Jill in TV Land's Hot in Cleveland, Sharon Kirby in CSI: Miami and Dorothy Gibson in Titanic.

Winkleman was nominated for Best Newcomer by the BBC for her performance as Clara Gold in Waking the Dead. Winkleman made her debut on American television as the star of the NBC sitcom 100 Questions as main character Charlotte Payne. She guest starred as Joy's younger sister on one episode of Hot in Cleveland and was a recurring guest on the hit series Two and a Half Men as Zoey, the British girlfriend of Walden Schmidt.

Stage Winkleman's roles while at Trinity Hall, Cambridge included the Bride in García Lorca's Blood Wedding, which toured amphitheatres in Greece, Elizabeth in Six Degrees of Separation, Dockdaisy in Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, a new play by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Violet in George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman,

Film Winkleman's film credits include the lead roles in the films Shattered and Love Live Long, written and directed by Mike Figgis. Winkleman played the comic role of Debbie Levine in Pathe's romantic comedy Suzie Gold and the older Susan Pevensie in the Disney film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). She played Polly Pot in P. G. Wodehouse's Uncle Fred in the Springtime with Alfred Molina and Rufus Sewell, Gloria in Bernard Shaw's You Never Can Tell, and Zoe in Alan Ayckbourn's Henceforward, alongside Jared Harris, all for Radio 4. On 15 August 2013, the couple had a daughter, who was born at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, and is the first grandchild of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Their second daughter was born in 2016 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

In November 2017, Winkleman was seriously injured in a head-on car crash, suffering a broken back and foot. She was a back-seat passenger in a car when another vehicle struck her car after swerving to avoid a deer. It was reported that she would not suffer long-term problems, but faced weeks of recuperation.

In June 2020, she became royal patron of the Children's Surgery Foundation. The following month, she became first female patron of School-Home Support, and in June 2022, she presented the Radio 4 Appeal on its behalf.

In February 2025, she spoke at a conference for the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, alongside figures including Jordan Peterson, Nigel Farage and Peter Thiel. She warned of the adverse effects of excessive technology use, particularly in the education systems.

Filmography Film

Television

Audio Year Title Role Notes 2009 Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures Kelly Westwood 2 episodes 2017 Torchwood One Rachel Allan 3 episodes 2018 Doctor Who: The Monthly Adventures Sofia Episode: "Serpent in the Silver Mask"

Theatre YearTitleRoleVenueNotesRef. 2001 Far Too Happy Ensemble New Pavilion Theatre, Rhyl & others with Footlights 2003 Beauty and the Beast Veronique / Vanity Table Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon 2004 Don Juan Charlotte Theatre Royal, Bath Man and Superman Violet Robinson Theatre Royal, Bath Galileo's Daughter Arcangela Theatre Royal, Bath