• Hannah Waddingham is a British actress born in 1974 in Wandsworth, London.
• She starred in the 2008 movie “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People” and has had roles in numerous TV series and movies.
• She has been in a relationship with the non-celebrity Italian Gianluca Cugnetto for around a decade and they have a daughter.
• She has won multiple Olivier Awards for her theatre acting skills and a 2018 International Film Festival of Wales Audience Award for Best Feature.
• Her net worth is estimated to be over $1 million.
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Who is Hannah Waddingham?
Hannah Waddingham was born in Wandsworth, London, England, on 16 November 1974 – her zodiac sign is Scorpio and she holds British nationality. She’s an actress who’s probably still known best for her portrayal of Elizabeth Maddox in the 2008 biographical comedy movie “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People”, directed by Robert B. Weide and based on the book by Toby Young. The film starred Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst and Megan Fox, and follows the life of a British writer living in New York City while he’s working for a popular magazine.
Early life and education
Hannah’s quite secretive when it comes to her family, and is believed to be an only child as she hasn’t spoken about having any siblings.
Her mother Melodie Kelly was a famous opera singer who motivated her to pursue an acting career, and Hannah’s both maternal grandparents were opera singers as well. She hasn’t spoken about her father, and it’s widely believed that he abandoned the family when Hannah was still very young.
She attended a local high school, at which she was mostly focused on appearing in school plays, and in many performed at a community theatre. Upon matriculating in 1992, she enrolled at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in south London, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama in 1996.
Roles in TV series
Hannah initially focused on appearing in theatre plays, and steadily became one of the most popular theatre actresses in London.
It was in 2002 that she made her debut TV series appearance, with her portrayal of Jenny Turbot in the episode “Split” of the romantic comedy “Coupling”, which was nominated for four awards, winning two.
The following years saw her appear in an episode or two of various series, until in 2005 when Hannah was cast to play the supporting character Mrs. Robertson in the comedy drama “Hollyoaks: Let Loose”, which aired 14 episodes before being cancelled for low ratings. A couple of her following roles were in two episodes of the romantic fantasy comedy “My Hero”, the episode “The Glove” of the action crime comedy “M. I. High”, and three episodes of the comedy “My Family”.
Hannah gained recognition in 2014 when invited to portray Tonya Dyke, one of the supporting characters in the comedy “Benidorm”, created by Derren Litten and which starred Jake Canuso, Tony Maudsley and Janine Duvitski. The series aired from 2007 to 2018, and follows two people working at Benidorm’s Solana Resort; it won three of the 13 awards for which it was nominated.
Between 2008 and 2015, Hannah portrayed four characters in four episodes of the long-running drama “Doctors”, which has been airing since 2000 and numbers over 4,000 episodes. In 2015, she starred as Blonde Assassin in the mystery crime mini-series “Partners in Crime”, which follows two characters created by the famous author Agatha Christie as they’re solving mysteries in the UK in the 1950s.
Hannah’s also today recognized for the character Septa Unella, which she portrayed in eight episodes of the critically acclaimed action adventure drama “Game of Thrones”, rated to be one of the best series of all time. It aired from 2011 to 2019, and won 377 awards including a Golden Globe, while it was nominated for 610 other awards.
Hannah went on to play supporting characters in several popular series, such as the mystery adventure drama “12 Monkeys”, the action adventure drama “Krypton”, and the comedy drama “Sex Education”. Her most recent role in a TV series has been her portrayal of Rebecca Welton, one of the main characters in 12 episodes of the 2020 sports comedy “Ted Lasso”. It also starred Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt, and follows a soccer coach from the US who moves to England to coach a soccer team from London; the series won eight awards including a Golden Globe.
Roles in movies
Hannah made her debut film appearance in the 2006 romantic comedy “The Only Boy for Me” which failed to attract any attention and in 2011, she was cast to portray The Witch in the musical comedy “Into the Woods”.
Perhaps the most popular movie in which Hannah has appeared is the 2012 historical musical drama “Les Miserables” written by seven people, directed by Tom Hooper and which starred the famous actors and actresses Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway. It’s based on the eponymous book written by Victor Hugo and the movie won 85 awards including three Oscars while it was nominated for 176 other awards.
Some of Hannah’s following roles were in the 2015 comedy “Meet Pursuit Delange: The Movie”, the 2016 adventure fantasy “The Gatehouse” and the 2016 musical comedy “The Entire Universe”.
Two of her most recent roles in movies have been in the 2018 mystery crime drama “Winter Ridge”, and the 2019 crime comedy “The Hustle” which starred Anne Hathaway and won three of the six awards it was nominated for.
Other credits
Hannah’s a huge fan of theatre, and has appeared in numerous plays with a couple of her most notable performances having been in the 2005 Broadway play “Monty Python’s Spamalot”, the 2010 “Into the Woods”, and the 2011 “The Wizard of Oz”. For her theatre acting skills, Hannah has won three Olivier Awards.
Hannah has been credited with singing the song “At the End of the Day” in the movie “Les Miserables”, and the song “Let It Go” in the series “Ted Lasso”.
She appeared in the 2006 documentary series “The South Bank Show”, the 2014 TV special “Our Gay Wedding: The Musical”, and the 2021 TV special “The 26th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards”.
Hannah has been invited to make a guest appearance in various talk-shows, such as “Sidewalks Entertainment”, “Hollywood First Look Features” and “Comedy Game Night”.
Awards and nominations (TV)
She has been nominated for three awards winning two: a 2018 International Film Festival of Wales Audience Award for Best Feature for her performance in the movie “Winter Ridge”, and a 2021 Broadcast Film Critics Association Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in the series “Ted Lasso”.
Most recently in 2021, Hannah and her colleagues were nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for their performance in “Ted Lasso”.
Love life and husband
Hannah’s prefers to keep the details of her love life to herself ,but has still allowed her fans to have a glimpse into her private life.
She has been in a relationship with the non-celebrity Italian Gianluca Cugnetto for around a decade now – in 2014, Hannah gave birth to their daughter. She was very excited about her child because the doctors previously told Hannah that her chances of conceiving were very small.
Hannah went on to state in an interview: ‘I don’t mind saying it, I know plenty of women go through it, but they kept telling me that my fertility was so low and that it might not happen. I just feel massively privileged and blessed. It just feels more important than any other job I’ve ever had.’
She hasn’t spoken about any other men she has perhaps been with, so as of March 2021, Hannah’s partner is Gianluca Cugnetto, she hasn’t married, and has a daughter.
Hobbies and other interests
She’s keen on travelling, and has been all around Europe to shoot for her movies and TV series – when her baby was only two months old, Hannah travelled to Croatia to shoot her scenes for the series “Game of Thrones”.
The pleasure was all mine Lovely man! X https://t.co/dTjyRoP45m
— Hannah Waddingham. (@hanwaddingham) March 25, 2021
Hannah’s a fighter for equality, and has shown support to the black community after George Floyd was killed by an American police officer who knelt on his neck for over eight minutes. She’s also a supporter of the movement Black Lives Matter.
Hannah has her own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are Brad Pitt, Mahershala Ali and Cate Blanchett, and some of her favorite movies are “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Green Book” and “Meet Joe Black”.
Age, height and net worth
Hannah’s age is 46. She has long blonde hair and blue eyes, her height is 5ft 11ins (1.8m) and she weighs around 163lbs (74kgs). As of March 2021, her net worth has been estimated at over $1 million.
