MyAnna Buring

MyAnna Buring
Buring at the British Independent Film Awards 2014
Born	My Anna Margaretha Buring Rantapää (1979-09-22) 22 September 1979 (age 45) Sundsvall, Västernorrland, Sweden
Nationality	Swedish British
Alma mater	University of Bristol LAMDA
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2004–present
Children	1

My Anna Margaretha Buring Rantapää (born 22 September 1979), known professionally as MyAnna Buring (Swedish: [mʏˈânːa ˈbʉ̂ːrɪŋ]), is a Swedish-born British actress.^[1] Her films include The Descent (2005), Kill List (2011), and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011) and Part 2 (2012). On television, she is known for her roles in the BBC series Ripper Street (2012–2016) and the Netflix series The Witcher (2019–2023).

Early life

Buring was born My Anna Margaretha Buring Rantapää on 22 September 1979^[2] in Sundsvall, Sweden and later moved to the Middle East.^[3] Her father Klas was an orthopaedic consultant and surgeon,^[4] while her mother sold fur coats and Christmas trees in Kuwait.^[5] Buring attended secondary school at the American British Academy in Muscat, Oman with her childhood friend Stegath Dorr.

As a teenager, Buring temporarily quit school and worked as a glass collector in a Stockholm bar. She then moved to England, where she completed the International Baccalaureate at a boarding school in Oxford.^[6] She studied Drama and Spanish (though she eventually dropped Spanish) at the University of Bristol and went on to graduate from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in 2004. She was the associate director of the MahWaff Theatre Company.^[7]

Career

Television

In 2006, Buring appeared in "The Impossible Planet", the first episode of a two-episode Doctor Who story. Her character, Scooti, perished in the vacuum of space. Also in 2006, Buring played Olivia in a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night by Exeter's Northcott Theatre Company, and appeared in a new play, Seduced, at London's Finborough Theatre. In 2008, Buring starred as Alice in the independent film Credo, also known as The Devil's Curse. Buring also starred as Debbie in Much Ado About Nothing (BBC One), Midsomer Murders (ITV), Casualty (BBC One) and Murder Prevention (Channel 5). For MahWaff Theatre Company, she starred in Guardians, Monologue for an Ensemble and An Inspector Calls.

Buring played the role of the CND peace activist and student Adriana Doyle in series three, episode two, of Inspector George Gently, which was screened in the UK on BBC One in October 2010. In 2012, Buring had significant supporting roles in the BBC drama serials Blackout and Ripper Street. She also joined the cast of Downton Abbey, playing the role of the maid Edna Braithwaite in the 2012 Christmas special episode and the fourth season.^[8] In December 2012, Buring played protagonist Karen Clarke, a woman who is haunted by her past which eventually catches up with her, in a two-part drama called The Poison Tree that was broadcast on ITV1. In 2013, Buring appeared in an episode of NBC's Crossing Lines, playing villainess Anika Hauten. In July 2017, she played the lead role of Manchester police Detective Inspector Helen Weeks in BBC 4-part drama In the Dark.^[9] Since 2019, she has played the role of Tissaia de Vries in the Netflix fantasy series The Witcher.

She played the role of Dawn Sturgess in the 2020 television series The Salisbury Poisonings.^[10] In 2022 she played the role of Kate Carson in the BBC TV drama The Responder.^[11]

Film

In her first film role, Buring starred in a leading role in the 2005 horror film The Descent, as one of the main characters among the women who ventured down into an uncharted cave system. Buring also appeared in the film's sequel, The Descent Part 2, in the form of flashbacks.^[12] Other film roles include:

• Doomsday in 2008.
• The female lead in the film Lesbian Vampire Killers, released to UK cinemas on 20 March 2009.
• In May 2010, she appeared as Jozefa in Witchville for the SyFy channel.
• Tanya of the Denali Coven in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Part 2.
• Horror film Kill List, 2011, in which she acted the part of the protagonist's wife.

Theatre

Buring played the lead as Vera in Mathilde Dratwa's Milk and Gall in South London's Theatre503. The show ran from 2 to 27 November 2021.^[13]

Personal life

Buring lives in North London. In May 2017, she gave birth to a son.^[14] In 2022, she opened up about her experience with perinatal depression,^[4] but generally prefers to keep the details of her personal life private.^[15]

Activism

A 2013 interview with The Herald noted Buring's knowledge of and "interest in the world around her".^[5] She is a Women for Women ambassador and became involved with SolarAid in 2014. She is vocal on a number of social issues, such as climate change^[16] and the rights of refugees.^[17] In light of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Buring was one of over two thousand to sign an Artists for Palestine letter calling for a ceasefire and accusing western governments of "not only tolerating war crimes but aiding and abetting them."^[18]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	The Descent	Sam
2006	The Omen	Tabloid Reporter #2
2007	Grindhouse	Featured Woman	Segment "Don't"
	English Language (with English Subtitles)	Esther	Short film
2008	Doomsday	Cally
	Freakdog	Shelby
	Credo	Alice
2009	The Road to Vengeance		Short film
	Lesbian Vampire Killers	Lotte
	City Rats	Sammy
	The Descent Part 2	Sam
2010	Devil's Playground	Angela
	Half Hearted	Lauren	Short film
2011	Au Revoir Monkeys	Anna
	Way of the Morris	Will-O'-Wisps	Documentary, voice role
	Kill List	Shel
	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1	Tanya Denali
2012	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2
2014	Hyena	Lisa
	Lost in Karastan	Chulpan
2015	Hot Property	Melody Munro
2016	The Comedian's Guide to Survival	Nell
2019	Official Secrets	Jasmine
	Killers Anonymous	Joanna
2023	97 Minutes	Kim

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Murder Prevention	Michelle Wynne	Episode "Last Man Out: Part 1"
	Casualty	Kirsty Morrison	Episode "Past Imperfect"
2006	Doctor Who	Scooti Manista	Episode "The Impossible Planet"
2007	The Bill	Kim Heyes	Episode "Stealth Attack"
2008	Midsomer Murders	Mandy	Episode "Midsomer Life"
	The Wrong Door	Various	5 episodes
2010	Comedy Lab	Inga	Episode "Filth"
	Witchville	Jozefa	Television film
	Inspector George Gently	Adriana Doyle	Episode "Peace & Love"
	Any Human Heart	Ingeborg	1 episode
2011	Super Eruption	Claire	Television film
2012	White Heat	Lilly	6 episodes
	Blackout	Sylvie	Three-part drama
2012–2013	Downton Abbey	Edna Braithwaite	Christmas special (series 4)
2012	The Poison Tree	Karen Clarke	Two-part drama
2012–2016	Ripper Street	Susan "Long Susan" Hart / Caitlin Swift	Series regular
2013	Agatha Christie's Marple	Lucky Dyson	Episode "A Caribbean Mystery"
	Crossing Lines	Anika	Episodes "The Animals" and "Desperation & Desperados"
2014	The Great War: The People's Story	Dorothy Lawrence	Episode: "Reg, Alan, James and Dorothy"
2015	Prey	Jules Hope	Series 2 (3 episodes)
	Dag	Anne	Series 4 regular
	Banished	Elizabeth Quinn	7 episodes
2017	In the Dark	DI Helen Weeks	4 episodes
2018	One Night	Elizabeth	NRK series
2019–2023	The Witcher	Tissaia de Vries	Main role (seasons 1–3)
2020	The Salisbury Poisonings	Dawn Sturgess	3 episodes
2022	The Responder	Kate Carson	5 episodes
	Primal	Rikka	Voice role, episode "The Red Mist"
	Count Magnus	Froken de la Gardie	Television film
2024	The Fall: Skydive Murder Plot	Victoria Cilliers	Documentary

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine	Anna Henrietta
2023	Mia and the Dragon Princess	Benicia

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Twelfth Night	Olivia	Northcott Theatre, Exeter
	Seduced		Finborough Theatre, London
2021	Milk and Gall	Vera	Theatre503, London
2023	Anthropology	Merril	Hampstead Theatre, London[19]

References

1. Gilbert, Gerard (20 September 2013). "MyAnna Buring: I had no idea I'd be returning to Downton Abbey". The Independent. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
2. Ek, Torbjörn (1 January 2013). "Svenska "Downton Abbey"-stjärnan MyAnna Buring om sin stora hemlighet: "Säger man det får man inga jobb"". Aftonbladet. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
3. Sweeting, Adam (2 March 2015). "Q&A: Actress MyAnna Buring". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
4. Pryer, Emma (19 January 2022). "The Responder star reveals secret pregnancy battle - and what saved her life". Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
5. "MyAnna Buring on Downton and Ripper Street". The Herald. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
6. Watson, Keith (13 December 2012). "MyAnna Buring: Nobody's ever quite sure where I'm from – which is great for my career". Metro. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
7. "The Waffs". Mahwaff Theatre Company. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
8. Marsh, Jenni (23 July 2012). "Twilight film star MyAnna Buring to vamp up Downton Abbey". Daily Express. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
9. Harrison, Ellie. "In the Dark review: MyAnna Buring's rainy crime drama needs to delve deeper". Radio Times. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
10. McIntosh, Steven (14 June 2020). "TV drama revisits Salisbury poison attack 'horror'". BBC News. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
11. "The Responder: Meet the full cast of Martin Freeman's BBC drama". 24 January 2022.
12. Rob Carnevale. "Lesbian Vampire Killers – MyAnna Buring interview". IndieLondon.
13. "Theatre503 announces cast for Milk and Gall world premiere". WhatsOnStage. October 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
14. "Downton Abbey's MyAnna Buring confirms the birth of her baby boy". goodtoknow.co.uk. TI Media. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
15. Marrs, John (17 January 2016). "Downton Abbey actress MyAnna Buring: Fame doesn't matter to me". Daily Express. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
16. "MyAnna's message to the World – The solar revolution is here and now". SolarAid. 12 June 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
17. Brazier, Tori (20 August 2021). "Star-studded slew of celebrities including Olivia Colman and Lena Headey join Cameo to raise money for Afghan refugees". Metro. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
18. "Tilda Swinton among 2000+ artists calling for Gaza ceasefire". Artists for Palestine. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
19. Galton, Bridget (17 August 2023). "MyAnna Buring stars in Anthropology at Hampstead Theatre". Ham & High. Retrieved 19 October 2023.

External links

• MyAnna Buring at IMDb