Vanessa Kirby shine in Labyrinth!
Born 1989, the daughter of a magazine editor and a surgeon Kirby was turned down by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and took a gap year travelling before studying English at Exeter University. She then turned down her place at LAMDA in London after she was signed up to an agency and met the theatre director David Thacker who gave her three starring roles over 2009 at the Octagon Theatre Bolton in All My Sons by Arthur Miller, Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. For All My Sons she won the BIZA Rising Star Award at the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards, worth £5000. She then went on to star at the National Theatre as Isabella in Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton directed by Marianne Elliott alongside Harriet Walter and Harry Potter’s Harry Melling. She then starred as Rosalind in As You Like It by William Shakespeare at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, where Alfred Hickling from The Guardian named her a “significant new talent”. In 2011 she was in premiere of The Acid Test by Anya Reiss at the Royal Court Theatre directed by Simon Godwin earning praise for her performance with Paul Taylor of The Independent calling her “a star if ever I saw one”.
She has been nominated for the Ian Charleson Award for two consecutive years for five out of the six plays, 2010 and in 2011, where she won Third Prize, Ben Whishaw and Benedict Cumberbatch being previous winners. Her TV debut in the BBC’s The Hour co-starring with Ben Whishaw, Dominic West and Romola Garai aired in 2011. She played Estella in the BBC’s adaption of Great Expectations alongside Ray Winstone, Gillian Anderson and Douglas Booth. In 2011, she was named as one of Screen International ‘Stars of Tomorrow’. Previous names include Gemma Arterton, James MacAvoy and Carey Mulligan. In November, she was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Awards as Outstanding Newcomer for her performance in The Acid Test. Named as one of Nylon’s Young Hollywood list 2012. She is set to star as the lead role of Alice in Ridley Scott’s forthcoming mini-series adaptation of Kate Mosse’s novel Labyrinth. Filmed Wasteland alongside Luke Treadaway and Timothy Spall in early 2012, and The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman with Shia Leboeuf and Mads Mikkelson. She is filming Richard Curtis’ next film About Time with Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy, and played Masha in the acclaimed Three Sisters at the Young Vic in September.
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The daughter of a magazine editor and a surgeon Kirby was turned down by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and took a gap year travelling before studying English at Exeter University. She then turned down her place at LAMDA in London after she was signed up to an agency and met the theatre director David Thacker who gave her three starring roles over 2009 at the Octagon Theatre Bolton in All My Sons by Arthur Miller, Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. For All My Sons she won the BIZA Rising Star Award at the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards, worth £5000.She then went on to star at the National Theatre as Isabella in Women Beware Women by Thomas Middleton directed by Marianne Elliott alongside Harriet Walter and Harry Potter’s Harry Melling. She then starred as Rosalind in As You Like It by William Shakespeare at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, where Alfred Hickling from The Guardian named her a “significant new talent”. In 2011 she was in premiere of The Acid Test by Anya Reiss at the Royal Court Theatre directed by Simon Godwin earning praise for her performance with Paul Taylor of The Independent calling her “a star if ever I saw one”.She has been nominated for the Ian Charleson Award for two consecutive years for five out of the six plays, 2010 and in 2011, where she won Third Prize, Ben Whishaw and Benedict Cumberbatch being previous winners. Her TV debut in the BBC’s The Hour co-starring with Ben Whishaw, Dominic West and Romola Garai aired in 2011. She played Estella in the BBC’s adaption of Great Expectations. alongside Ray Winstone, Gillian Anderson and Douglas Booth.In 2011, she was named as one of Screen International ‘Stars of Tomorrow’. Previous names include Gemma Arterton, James McAvoy and Carey Mulligan. In November, she was nominated for the Evening Standard Theatre Awards as Outstanding Newcomer for her performance in The Acid Test. Named as one of Nylon’s Young Hollywood list 2012.She is set to star as the lead role of Alice in Ridley Scott’s forthcoming mini-series adaptation of Kate Mosse’s novel Labyrinth.In late 2012, she filmedThe Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman with Shia Leboeuf and Mads Mikkelson.She is filming Richard Curtis’ next film About Time with Rachel McAdams,[9] and played Masha in Three Sisters at the Young Vic in September.Filmed Wasteland September 2012 alongside Matthew Lewis and Timothy Spall in early 2012, which premiered at the Toronto and London Film Festivals to very positive reviews. Momentum are distributing nationwide in 2013.
Wasteland will screen at the Newport Beach Film Festival in Newport Beach, CA, on Sunday, April 28, 2013 and Monday, April 29, 2013.In 2013 Kirby is set to star in Vertigo’s Kill Command opposite Thure Lindhardt (Keep the Lights On), the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending with Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum, and Queen and Country, John Boorman’s sequel to his 1987 Hope and Glory. Kirby returns to the National Theatre to play Queen Isabella in Edward II opposite John Heffernan The Sunday Times announced Kirby’s third nomination for the Ian Charleson Awards on 5th May 2013, giving her a nomination for every classical play she has done.
