| About: | |
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Nicola started her professional career at Liverpool Everyman Theatre, after being cast from the Youth Theatre by director Ken Campbell for a part in Neil Oram's play THE WARP. A compelling, truthful and passionate actor, she turns a role inside out to get to the heart and soul of a character and has delivered some fine work, mainly in leading theatre roles such as 'Therese' in Therese Desqueyroux, Antic Hay...sell out run at London's Bridewell Theatre & Critics choice, Time Out, who said 'at its centre is a complex and frightening performance by Niki Hollinshead who gives Therese grace, power and integrity'. Mrs Allen in 'Dark of the Moon', " a sensitive & well judged performance, an actress of real promise' Pieter Rogers, producer. " The splendid Niki Hollinshead' Beneath The Waves, Eastern Angles. ' A strong performance as an appealing tough little trouper, Gerda' The Snow Queen, Theatre Centre. Carol, the comic lead in the highly successful 'Girls Night' with Goodnights Entertainment in 2 sell -out UK National tours and most recently playing SHIRLEY in Willy Russell's one-woman show SHIRLEY VALENTINE in a very successful extended run with The New Theatre Dublin, and then subsequent tour, June - Oct 2007. The press said ..."you will rarely see a better solo performance than Nicola Hollinshead gives..." Michael Moffatt, Irish Mail on Sunday July 29 2007, ..."gives the performance of any actor's life..." Gerry Colgan, Irish Times, Aug 6 2007. See below for more details. For more reviews see www.actors-on-tap.com/nicolahollinshead. Recent work playing VIRGINIA WOOLF in new comedy 2 hander by Paola Trimarco. The show had a successful preview performance at The Babylon Gallery, Ely, Cambridgeshire (March 2008) and will be playing at The Kings Head, Islington later this year. |
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| Categories: | Actress, Singer |
| eMail: | http://www.ukscreen.com/contact/nikih64 |
| WWW: | http://www.ukscreen.com/cast/nikih64 |
| Address: |
Greater London United Kingdom |
| Agent: | KSA (Keddie Scott Associates)|Studio 1, 17 Shorts Gardens, WC2H 9AT|020 7836 6802|mob: 07786 070543|www.ks-ass.co.uk |
| Playing Ages: | 32 to 42 |
| Weight: | 9.0 Stone (57 Kg) |
| Height: | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) |
| Eyes: | Blue |
| Hair: | Dark Brown |
| Affiliation: | EQUITY |
| Nationality: | United Kingdom |
| Languages: | English and basic French |
| Accents: | RP, Gen American, Yorkshire, Liverpool, E. Anglian, Dublin, Belfast. |
| Vocal Range: | Mezzo-Soprano |
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| Formal Training: |
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| Other Skills: |
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Ongoing workshops at TAC (The Actors Centre) 2008 Recent workshops/classes: Classial surgery - 2 day Shakespeare workshop with Jennie Buckman (x Head of Acting, Rada), Less is More - Masks/physical theatre with Steven Whinnery, TV workshop with Vivienne Cozens, Michael Chekov Technique with Christopher Heinmann Regular rehearsed readings with Player Playwrights City Lit 2008 - Refresher Accents for Actors course with Eileen Benskin, Courage for Big Emotions Workshop with Juliet Prague Drama facilitation skills. Recently extended skills by training with Tony Cealy on his 'Breaking Barriers' (Boal, Forum, Improvising, Devising ) course and works as a drama facilitator. Acting skills tutor and theatre director with Seconds Out Theatre Workshop on Merseyside for 2 years. First production with the group of Jim Cartwright's play ROAD, got a transfer to Liverpool Playhouse Studio. Assistant director with Bob Tomson on a Bill Kenwright production at Liverpool Playhouse. PG Diploma in Film making at London Metropolitan 2001/2. Shorts/docs. Edits on Avid/FCP/Proficient in use of Hi8/dv/16mm cameras. |
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Recent success playing SHIRLEY in the one-woman show SHIRLEY VALENTINE by Willy Russell, with The New Theatre, Dublin, www.thenewtheatre.com. The show had a successful extended run of 8 weeks at TNT and then a short tour of Ireland (Oct 2007). It received excellent reviews, packed houses and standing ovations along the way. The Irish Times (Gerry Colgan) said " Nicola Hollinshead, directed by Ronan Wilmot, gives the performance of any actor's life, seducing the audience from the start with a highly individual blend of character, comic observation and self-analysis. She starts out as an angular denizen of a working-class estate, whose main mode of escapism is literally, talking to the wall. After her Grecian apotheosis, she has morphed into a serene, beautiful woman of independent character. The process is called acting, and it is a delight to experience it here". (Aug 6 2007). The Irish Mail on Sunday gave the show 5 stars and said " You will rarely see a better solo performance than Nicola Hollinshead gives in this very funny, beautifully observed and occasionally moving one-woman play by Willy Russell' (Michael Moffatt, July 29 2007)..."Hollinshead loses nothing in comparison with the original screen Shirley Pauline Collins. She can illuminate a story with the simplest gesture as she physically becomes Shirley Valentine'....*****Michael Moffatt, The Irish Mail on Sunday, July 29 2007 'Think SHIRLEY VALENTINE and you'll be hard pushed not to find Pauline Collins springing to mind, but 30 minutes into this latest production of Willy Russell's play, the accomplished performance of Nicola Hollinshead as Shirley Bradshaw will have your memory of Collins fading as quickly as the memory of last year's sundrenched holiday'...On a barely set stage, Hollinshead takes on this epic struggle for freedom with gusto, offering us a less pointed, more uncertain Shirley than Collins, and it's not long before she has the (pre-dominantly female) audience emotionally entangled in a story that becomes the quest for selfhoood. Hollinshead's portrayal, coupled with the intimacy of The New Theatre, ensures we feel the full gamut of Shirley's emotional life: the painful ennui of urban existence; the raw humour derived from the urgency to 'get through'; the joy and simplicity of finding a happy life'...****Stephen Mulkearn, Irish Metro, Aug 1 2007 'Ronan Wilmot establishes a confessional mood - fitting given the anecdotal style of the narrative - and Hollinshead is compelling, despite the familiarity of the material. She has a sure grip on Shirley's feisty, self-deprecating persona, and convincingly segues between coarse humour and touching pathos, giving voice to Russell's poetry of the venacular...Declan Burke, Irish Sunday Times, July 29 2007 |
| Type | Production Name | Company | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercials | Ladbrokes Poker Millions (Ident) | Tomboy Films | Featured runner | 2008 |
| Corporate | Accenture Promotional Pilot | Casual Films | Business woman | 2008 |
| Corporate | Environment Agency | The Big Yellow Feet Prod Co | Janet (working mum - Sth London) | 2008 |
| Editorial | National Trust | Stuart Cox | Model | 2008 |
| Theatre | Hide The Front Page | Player Playwrighs (reh.rdg) | Miranda (Journalist - RP) | 2008 |
| Theatre | Lady Nicotine | Player Playwrights (reh. reading) | Kate | 2008 |
| Theatre | Lone Flyers (Amy Johnson project) | Millfield Theatre (reh. reading) | Amelia Earhart | 2008 |
| Theatre | Losing It | Player Playwrights (reh. reading) | Jo | 2008 |
| Theatre | Two Hands Higher Than a Duck | Player Playwrights (reh. reading) | Nelly (one woman 45 min radio play - Sth Irish) | 2008 |
| Theatre | Virginia Woolf Gets a Makeover | Kings Head Theatre/Turning Point | Virginia Woolf (Two hander) | 2008 |
| Web site | Cancer Research UK Breast Awareness Campaign | Ferocious Films | Woman (Lead) | 2008 |
| Short Film | Postponing The Inevitable | Wellcome Trust Film Commission | The Woman | 2007 |
| TV | Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story | BBC2/Wall To Wall | Russian Doll Mother | 2007 |
| Theatre | Shirley Valentine | The New Theatre, Dublin | Shirley (one woman show) | 2007 |
| Theatre | Talking To Strangers | Scouse Productions | The Mother | 2007 |
| Corporate | Santas Xmas Show | JH Promotions | Mary Pippins | 2006 |
| Short Film | Yesterdays Future Now | Slade/Economist | Graphic Designer | 2006 |
| Theatre | Charlton Street Festival | Wicked Wind | Lady Bountiful | 2006 |
| Theatre | The Man With No Ties | Players & Playwrights | Amanda | 2006 |
| Theatre | Landscape | Finborough Theatre | Beth | 2005 |
| Theatre | Recycling Roadshow | Eco Logic | Cpt Jeeps/D Razz | 2005 |
| Theatre | Girls Night | Goodnights Entertainment | Carol | 2004 |
| Theatre | Lucifer: A Love Story | Script Tank | Baby Devious/Eve | 2004 |
| Theatre | She | Oval House | Tracie/Lea/Betty | 2004 |
| TV | Holy Cross | BBC TV | Matt's wife | 2003 |
| Theatre | Girls Night | Goodnights Entertainment | Carol | 2003 |
| Theatre | Taming of The Shrew | Black Box | Kate | 2003 |
| Feature Film | White Light | UIPL | Paula McCullen | 1999 |
| Theatre | Tobias & The Angel | Almeida Theatre | Rachel/Chorus | 1999 |
| Corporate | WAR! | RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) | Lead woman from RICS | 1997 |
| Feature Film | Table 5 | Raindance Films | Waitress | 1997 |
| TV | Agony | C5/Live TV | Suzy Robson | 1997 |
| TV | Homoeconomics | C4/Fulcrum Prods | Mint Girl | 1994 |
| Theatre | Magdala (one woman show) | NSS Productions | Mary Magdalene | 1994 |
| Theatre | The Snow Queen | Theatre Centre | Gerda | 1994 |
| Theatre | Therese Desqueyroux | Antic Hay | Therese | 1994 |
| Short Film | Crime on Goats Island | Panico Films | Pia | 1993 |
| Short Film | The Masks | Maya Films | The Mask Seller | 1993 |
| Theatre | Beneath The Waves | Eastern Angles | Betty | 1992 |
| Theatre | Raving Beauties | Liverpool Playhouse | Sue (u/study) | 1992 |
| Theatre | Road | Liverpool Playhouse Studio | Valerie | 1992 |
| Theatre | Top Girls | Seconds Out Theatre Workshop | Marlene | 1992 |
| TV | Brookside | C4/Mersey TV | Mary | 1991 |
| Theatre | The Rover | NXT | Florinda | 1991 |
| Theatre | Translations | NXT | Bridget | 1991 |
| Theatre | Trouble In Tahiti | NXT | Lead Soprano | 1991 |
| Theatre | Sweet Charity | NSTC/Edinburgh Festival | Helene | 1989 |
| Theatre | Backside | St Helen's Theatre Royal/Vauxy TC | Sheila Grunt | 1988 |
| Theatre | Between The Lines | Bristol Express TC | Liz Todd | 1988 |
| Theatre | James & The Giant Peach | Snap TC | James | 1988 |
| Theatre | Top Girls | NXT/Berliner Ensemble | Dull Gret/Nell/Janine | 1985 |
| TV | Boys From The Blackstuff | BBC2 | Janet Dean | 1982 |
| Theatre | City Echoes | Liverpoool Playhouse | Gloria | 1982 |
| Theatre | The Warp | Liverpool Everyman | Donabella | 1980 |