Rachel Pickup

Who is Rachel Pickup?

Rachel Pickup is a British theatre, television and film actress. She was born in London on 15 July.

She won a place at the National Youth Theatre under the artistic directorship of Edward Wilson and subsequently was offered a place at RADA.

Before she graduated she got a leading role in the BBC series No Bananas, her first professional engagement. This was followed by a role opposite the late Alan Bates in Mike Poulton's Fortune's Fool. Other major theatre roles followed, including Irina in Mike Poulton's translation of Three Sisters for Bill Bryden, Olivia in Twelfth Night for Terry Hands, Helena in All's Well That Ends Well for Irina Brook, Portia in Julius Caesar for David Farr at the RSC, Sylvia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream also for the RSC.

In 2003 she appeared at The Old Vic in King Lear playing Cordelia. This was followed by Ophelia in Calixto Bieito's Hamlet, for which she won a Herald Angel award, and Helen of Troy in Troilus and Cressida for Peter Stein.

She also won a MEN Best Supporting Actress Award for her performance in Time and the Conways at the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester. She had small roles in the films Basil and AKA.