Jenny Victoria Funnell (born 20 May 1963) is a British actress. Her roles include Sandy in the British sitcom As Time Goes By from 1992 to 2005.

Jenny Funnell
Born (1963-05-20) 20 May 1963 (age 61)
Nairobi, Kenya
OccupationActress
Years active1985–present
SpouseSam Dale
Children1[1]

Early life

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Funnell was born in Kenya.[citation needed] She moved to the UK when she was four years old, and attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. She initially started voice acting in radio drama while still a student at drama school, winning the Carleton Hobbs BBC Radio Drama Award in 1984.[citation needed]

Career

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Her earliest television work was also in the British soap opera Brookside (1985), the police series Bergerac (BBC 1988), and the episode "Peril at End House" in Series 2 of Agatha Christie's Poirot (ITV 1990).[citation needed]

Funnell started taking on comedy parts with an appearance in the comedy/drama Boon (ITV 1989), and a role in the television movie Norbert Smith: A Life. Other comedy roles for TV have included a guest appearance in the Channel 4 newsroom sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey (1994) and the romantic comedy Love Soup (2005).[citation needed]

Between 1992 and 2005, Funnell appeared in 58 episodes of the BBC sitcom As Time Goes By, in the role of 'Sandy' alongside Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer. The show lasted for nine series and was aired on BBC One.[citation needed]

She later made guest appearances in the ITV hospital drama The Royal (2003), played two separate parts in the BBC's medical drama Doctors (2002 and 2004), and appeared in the ITV police series The Bill (2006).[citation needed]

Since 2009, she has voiced nine different characters in the FromSoftware series Dark Souls and Bloodborne.[citation needed]

Her stage roles have included Sense and Sensibility at the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, West Berkshire[2] in April 2014, What the Butler Saw at The Haymarket Theatre in Basingstoke during September 2015,[3] and A Murder Is Announced, which toured around the United Kingdom throughout 2019. Funnell was part of the original West-End cast of Michael Grandage's Hamlet, which starred Jude Law in the titular role. The production opened at the Donmar Warehouse in 2009. It then went to Denmark, performing in the gothic setting of Kronborg Castle, Shakespeare's inspiration for his fictionalised Elsinore, before finally transferring to the Broadhurst Theatre, on Broadway, in August 2009.[4]

Personal life

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Funnell has a daughter, who is also an actress.[5]

Filmography

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Year TV Series/Film Name Role Role Notes
1985 Brookside
1985 Bergerac
1989 Norbert Smith: A Life
1990 Agatha Christie's Poirot Nurse Series 2 Episode 1 "Peril at End House"
1992–2005 As Time Goes By Sandy One of the main roles. Film credit.
1994 Drop the Dead Donkey Guest Appearance
1999 Monster TV Linda Dodds Main character, 26 episodes
2002, 2004, 2011 Doctors 3 separate episodes.
2003 The Royal Anna Freeman
2005 Love Soup Philippa Guest Appearance
2006 The Bill Stephanie Taylor
2008 Coming of Age Chloe Wheeler's mother
2009 Demon's Souls Yuria the Witch
2011 Dark Souls Quelana of Izalith, Darkmoon Knightess
2014 Hollyoaks Receptionist
2015 Bloodborne Vileblood Queen Annalise, Doctor Iosefka
2016 Dark Souls III Karla
2020 House Hack Paulie Film, supporting character
2021 Everything I Know About Love Lesley 1 episode

References

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  1. ^ "Jenny Funnell on PBS". Atgbcentral.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  2. ^ "REVIEW: Sense and Sensibility, The Watermill Theatre, Bagnor". Basingstoke Gazette. 9 April 2014.
  3. ^ "Actress Jenny Funnell talks about starring in "riotous farce" 'What the Butler Saw', which is coming to Basingstoke" Basingstoke Gazette, 4 September 2015
  4. ^ "Jude Law Opens in Hamlet". Broadway.com. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Ella Funnell-Dale". IMDb. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
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