• Marsha Thomason is a British actress born in Moston, Manchester, England
• She is best known for her role as Diana Berrigan in the crime comedy series “White Collar”
• She has appeared in more than 50 movies and TV series, and has won multiple awards
• She is married to American lighting technician Craig Sykes and has a daughter
• She enjoys dancing, tennis, and drinking cocktails at the beach
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Who is Marsha Thomason?
British actress Marsha Lisa Thomason Sykes was born in Moston, Manchester, England, on 19 January 1976, so her zodiac sign’s Capricorn. She’s appeared in more than 50 movies and TV series, but is perhaps known best for playing Diana Berrigan in the crime comedy series “White Collar”, created by Jeff Eastin, and which starred Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay and Willie Garson. It follows a white-collar criminal as he’s helping the FBI catch other criminals, the series aired from 2009 to 2014, and was nominated for 11 awards.
Education and early life
Marsha and her sister Kristy Luxford were raised in Moston by their Jamaican mother Phyllis (nee McCrae) who was employed at an electronics company, and British father Peter Thomason who was a politician.
She studied at Holy Trinity Primary School prior to progressing to North Manchester High School for Girls; Marsha appeared in a number of plays performed at the school, and was 17 when she made her debut TV series appearance, playing Wendy in the 1993 episode “Safe” of the drama “Screenplay”.
She matriculated in 1994 and then enrolled at Manchester Metropolitan University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature in 1998.
Roles in movies
Marsha’s debut film role was playing nurse in the popular 1994 romantic drama “Priest”, directed by Antonia Bird, and which starred Linus Roache, Tom Wilkinson and Robert Carlyle. It follows a homosexual Catholic priest who’s discovered that a man is sexually abusing his own young daughter – the movie won four of its eight award nominations.
Marsha appeared in only two other movies in the ‘90s: the 1996 romantic crime mystery “Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement”, and the 1996 comedy “Brazen Hussies”.
WHITE COLLAR @WhiteCollarUSA (2009-2014) – Agent Diana (played by Marsha Thomason) pic.twitter.com/WvjTOUfn23
— Manuel Betancourt (@bmanuel) June 26, 2015
The year 2002 saw her play Vicki in the drama “Pure”, directed by Gillies MacKinnon, and which starred Harry Eden, Vinnie Hunter and Molly Parker. It tells the story of a teenager whose mother’s addicted to heroin, and the film won four awards. Marsha could then have been seen appearing in the 2005 drama “The Nickel Children”, the 2007 comedy “LA Blues”, and the 2009 action adventure thriller “Into the Blue 2: The Reef”.
In 2016, she played the lead character Dr. Kara Martins in the drama “Zoobiquity”, directed by Kevin Bray, and based on the eponymous book by Kathryn Bowers. The film also starred Peter Facinelli and Kim Raver, and follows the discovery of a connection between human and animal health. This remains Marsha’s most recent film role, while she’s currently shooting for the upcoming movie “The Extraordinary Farewell”.
Roles in TV series
In 1996, Marsha played Janice Lafferty in two episodes of the crime mystery “Prime Suspect”, and the year 1997 saw her portray Sally in eight episodes of the crime comedy “Pie in the Sky”. In 1998 and 1999, she played Jacqui Richards in the drama “Where the Heart Is”, created by Vicky Featherstone and Ashley Pharoah, and which starred Lesley Dunlop, Christian Cooke and Philip Middlemiss. It follows the lives of several people from Skelthwate, the series aired from 1997 to 2006 and was nominated for seven awards.
From 2003 through 2005, Marsha starred as Nessa Holt in the critically acclaimed crime drama “Las Vegas”, which Gary Scott Thompson created, and which also starred James Caan and Josh Duhamel. It follows Ed Deline who’s working as a surveillance expert at the Las Vegas’ Montecito Resort and Casino, the series aired from 2003 through 2008, and won five of its 16 award nominations. The remainder of the 2000s saw Marsha make a guest appearance in an episode of the drama “Cane”, the crime mystery “Life”, and the drama “Messiah: The Rapture”.
In 2017 and 2018, she played Dr. Isabel Barnes in the drama “The Good Doctor”, which David Shore created, and which today stars Richard Schiff, Hill Harper and Freddie Highmore. The series tells the story of autistic young surgeon Shaun Murphy who’s suffering from Savant syndrome, and it’s won six of its 30 award nominations.
Marsha’s three most recent TV series roles have been in four episodes of the 2021 action crime adventure “Magnum P. I.”, seven episodes of the crime mystery “The Bay” since 2022, and 12 episodes of the thriller “Cobra” since 2020.
Other credits
Marsha sang the songs “Happy Birthday to You” and “Hokey Cokey” in three episodes of the 2000 series “Playing the Field”.
Some of her talk-show appearances have been in “Film ‘72”, “Richard & Judy”, and “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn”.
Love life and husband
Marsha rarely speaks of her love life in public, but it’s still known that she’s today a married woman. She and American lighting technician Craig Sykes exchanged vows in Malibu, California on 5 April 2009, in front of their closest friends and family members; Craig’s worked in the camera and electrical department of five movies and TV series, with the most popular amongst these having been the 1989 horror thriller movie “Dead Calm”.
On 12 June 2013, Marsha gave birth to their daughter Tallulah Anais Sykes.
She hasn’t spoken of anyone whom she’d dated before meeting Craig, and as of January 2023 Marsha’s married to Craig Sykes, and they have a daughter together.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Marsha believes in the existence of ghosts, but has stated that she hasn’t seen any.
She’s passionate about dancing, and has been taking lessons since her teenage years; she stated during an interview that she’d love to star alongside Channing Tatum in the movie “Step Up 2”.
Marsha’s a dog-lover, and has featured her pet Shih-tzu dog Drexl in some of her Instagram pictures; she’s followed by close to 40,000 people on the network, and has posted over 1,000 pictures and videos.
She’s an avid tennis player.
Marsha loves drinking cocktails at the beach during summertime.
Her favorite actresses are Anne Hathaway and Emma Watson, and some of her favorite movies are “The Last Thing He Wanted”, “The Hustle” and “Colossal”.
Height, eyes and wealth
Marsha’s age is 46. She has brown eyes and black hair, is 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall and weighs about 140lbs (64kgs).
Marsha’s net worth’s been estimated at over $2 million, as of January 2023.
