Pippa Guard

Who is Pippa Guard?

Philippa Ann Guard is a British actress.

Guard was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and belongs to a well-known theatrical family, whose members include her uncle Philip Guard, cousins Christopher Guard and Dominic Guard, and younger brother Alex Guard. Her father was an engineer who moved the family to Kent and then to Canada. Guard briefly attended the University of Montreal, first studying English and drama and then nursing, before returning to Britain to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She left RADA in 1975 as winner of the Ronson, Kendall and Pole prizes and was named as "Britain's Most Promising Actress".

She joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1976, and first attracted attention when she took over the role of Juliet from a sick Francesca Annis. She played Hermia in John Barton's 1977 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Luciana in Trevor Nunn's musical Comedy of Errors and Evie in Factory Birds. As The Stratfordians notes, Guard appeared destined for a classical stage career but she has become best known as a television actress.

In 1978 Guard left the RSC and won the role of Maggie Tulliver in a BBC serialisation of The Mill on the Floss, followed by Barbara Mallen in The Mallens, Maria in Maria Marten, Prue in To the Lighthouse and three roles for the BBC Television Shakespeare: Miranda in The Tempest, Diana in All's Well that Ends Well and, once again, Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream.. However, her stated desire for more contemporary and diverse roles was evident in her portrayal of a 22nd-century woman in the Play for Today The Flipside of Dominick Hide and its sequel Another Flip for Dominick. She also portrayed P. D. James' sleuth Cordelia Gray in an adaptation of An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, her only film role.