Michelle Duncan

Michelle Duncan
Michelle Duncan in 2019 (Photo by Ruth Crafer)
Born	Michelle Duncan (1978-04-14) 14 April 1978 (age 46) Perth, Scotland, UK
Alma mater	Queen Margaret University St Andrews University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present

Michelle Duncan (born 14 April 1978) is a Scottish-Canadian actress, known for Driving Lessons (2006), Atonement (2007) and The Broken (2008). She portrayed Shelley Stern in the biographical drama film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).

Early life

The Perth-born Duncan studied and trained in acting at Queen Margaret University School of Drama before studying English and classics at St. Andrews University.

Career

Duncan's television roles include Sugar Rush, Doctor Who,^[1] Low Winter Sun, and Lost in Austen. She played Princess Diana in a TV film, Whatever Love Means, opposite Olivia Poulet as Camilla Parker Bowles and Laurence Fox as Prince Charles.^[2][3]

Her film work includes Atonement, The Broken, and as Rupert Grint's love interest^[4] in Driving Lessons with Julie Walters. Duncan's role in Atonement was particularly praised by The New Yorker theatre critic Anthony Lane:^[5] Duncan's stage work includes Time and the Conways (Bath Theatre Royal/ touring), A Midsummer Night's Dream ^[6] and The Burning at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Further television work includes New Tricks^[7][8] and Call the Midwife.^[9] Duncan lent her voice to an adaptation of The Little Mermaid^[10] by Hans Christian Andersen at Little Angel Puppet Theatre in 2006 alongside Dame Judi Dench, Sir Michael Gambon, Rory Kinnear, Claudie Blakley, Rosamund Pike, Claire Rushbrook and Peter Wight.

In 2003, Duncan spent a season with Theatre Alba, appearing in the company's productions of The Burning and The Enchauntit Gairden.^[11]

In 2007 she was cast as Portia ^[12] in The Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare's Globe, but was unable to continue after the previews and was replaced by Kirsty Besterman. In 2012 Duncan appeared alongside Amanda Hale in Scrubber,^[13] a film written and directed by Romola Garai. In 2013, Duncan appeared in the third series of the BBC TV drama Luther^[14] and Case Histories.^[15] In 2014, she appeared in the ITV drama Grantchester.

In 2015, she starred alongside Ruth Negga, Douglas Henshall and Tom Brooke in Scott Graham's^[16] film Iona.^[17] The closing gala film of the Edinburgh Film Festival.^[18] She took the role of Bea^[19] (originally performed by Helen Baxendale) in Deborah Bruce's play The Distance, directed by Charlotte Gwinner, for Sheffield and the Orange Tree Theatres.^[20][21]

In 2017, she starred opposite Jamie Robson in Oscar nominated director Charlotte Wells' short film Blue Christmas. Then in the following year she played Shelley Stern in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.

In 2022, Duncan was cast in Star Wars: Andor where she plays the role of Roboda Beehaz. In the same year, Duncan starred opposite Dougray Scott in the short film Slay and Prepare the Animal for Meat, directed by Oisin Kearney and written by Ciara Elizabeth Smyth. She also played the role of Caroline Dupayne opposite Bertie Carvel in Dalgliesh Series 2: The Murder Room.

In 2023, Viaplay announced that Duncan had been cast in the Rebus reboot series based on the crime novels of author Ian Rankin.^[22]

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Company	Theatre	Director	Notes
2003	The Burning	The Girl	Theatre Alba	Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh	Charles Nowosielski	play by Stewart Conn
2003	The Enchauntit Gairden	Princess Honeysuckle	Theatre Alba	Duddingston Kirk Gardens, Edinburgh	Charles Nowosielski	play by Charles Mackenzie

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Waterloo		Short film
2006	Driving Lessons	Bryony
	Sucking Is a Fine Quality in Women and Vacuum Cleaners	The Wife	Short film
	Chôshû Faibu	Emily
2007	Atonement	Fiona Maguire
2008	The Broken	Kate Coleman
2012	Scrubber	Neighbour	Short film
2015	Iona	Elizabeth
2017	Blue Christmas	Lily	Short film
2018	Bohemian Rhapsody	Shelley Stern

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Are You Afraid of the Dark?	Andrea	Episode: "The Tale of the Time Trap"
2005	Sea of Souls	Claire Morrison	2 episodes
	Sugar Rush	Miss Forbes	S1 Ep2
	Whatever Love Means	Princess Diana	TV movie
2006	Doctor Who	Lady Isobel	Episode: "Tooth and Claw"
	Low Winter Sun	Det Con Louise Cullen	TV movie
2008	Lost in Austen	Charlotte Lucas	2 episodes
2012	New Tricks	Georgia Wright	Episode: "The Girl Who Lived"
2013	Case Histories	Rachel Stewart	Episode: "Nobody's Darling"
	Luther	Kiera Mills	1 episode
	Call the Midwife	Jeanette Heckford	1 episode
2014	Grantchester	Annabel Morrison
2019-21	Hanna	False Marissa	2 episodes
2019	Elizabeth is Missing	Mrs Palmer	TV movie
2021	Baptiste	Sally
2022	Andor	Roboda Beehaz	Episode: "The Eye"
2023	Dalgliesh	Caroline Dupayne	Episode: "The Murder Room"

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated work	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2005	Sea of Souls	BAFTA Scotland	Best First-Time Performance	Nominated
2008	Atonement	Gold Derby Awards	Best Ensemble Cast	Nominated

References

1. "Dr Who".
2. "Exclisive: Charles' Love secrets on TV". Daily Mirror. 23 August 2005.
3. "Affairs to Remember". 19 November 2005.
4. "Rupert Grint Archives".
5. "Conflicting Stories". The New Yorker.
6. "A Midsummer Night's Dream review at Duddingston Kirk Manse".
7. "New Tricks".
8. BBC. "Call the Midwife series 3 episode 8". Retrieved 11 June 2014.
9. "Call the Midwife".
10. "The Little Mermaid review at Little Angel London".
11. The Burning / The Enchauntit Gairden, Theatre Alba production programme, August 2023
12. "Portia played by Michelle Duncan".
13. "Scrubber". Archived from the original on 12 December 2021.
14. "Luther".
15. "Case Histories".
16. "Scott Graham". IMDb.
17. "Iona".
18. "EIFF Announces the World Premiere of Iona as 2015 Closing Night Gala".
19. "Cast announced for The Distance". 17 September 2015.
20. "The Distance review at Sheffield's Crucible Lyceum Studio – 'intelligent and wickedly comic'".
21. "The Distance". 9 December 2015.
22. Scotland, Screen (2 May 2023). "Filming commences in Scotland for new TV drama Rebus". Screen Scotland. Retrieved 31 May 2023.

External links

• Michelle Duncan at IMDb