Claire Foy: British Actress
Claire Foy has received several laudatory recognition for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II on Netflix’s series The Crown over its first two seasons. Since then, she has twice been nominated for an Emmy award as a lead actress.
Claire Foy’s Biography
Claire Foy is a British actress best known for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II on Netflix’s historical drama series The Crown, winning multiple awards for this role. Additionally, Claire is well-regarded for her stage work such as DNA and The Miracle as well as film roles like Season of the Witch starring Nicolas Cage in 2014.
Foy started her acting career at the Royal National Theatre, making her professional stage debut with DNA. Following that she gained leading roles in several television shows such as The Hour and Crossbones before landing the title role in BBC One miniseries Little Dorrit in 2008. Additionally, she was cast as Anne Boleyn in 2015’s Wolf Hall miniseries to critical acclaim.
Foy first rose to fame as Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan’s The Crown, earning several awards and playing her role for two seasons before it was canceled. Since then, Foy has continued acting, starring in films such as Breathe and playing Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll in A Very British Scandal.
Foy made her mark as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown; since then, she has ventured further into dramas and thrillers. Most notably in 2018, Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller Unsane saw her star as Sawyer Valentini; this character signs up for 24-hour commitment at Highland Creek Behavioral Center when they fear stalking by an ex-lover; Damien Chazelle’s biopic First Man cast her as Janet Armstrong who would go on to win numerous nominations and awards from audiences everywhere.
Foy and Smith first were seen together at a movie premiere event in February 2019.
Claire Foy’s Career
Claire Foy was born on 16 April 1984 in Stockport, England to parents who worked for Rank Xerox salesman father and Irish mother respectively. Claire attended Aylesbury High School before earning a BA at Liverpool John Moores University and studying acting with Oxford School of Drama for one year course before moving to Peckham in London to embark on her acting career.
Foy made her professional stage debut at the Royal National Theatre with DNA and The Miracle plays. Later she appeared in the television series Little Dorrit, Wreckers, Season of the Witch as Little Dorrit; Wolf Hall; Netflix series The Crown for which she earned double Emmy nominations; she earned widespread praise for portraying Anne Boleyn – earning both nominations.
She has won several awards for her work in the industry and boasts an estimated net worth of $7 Million. Additionally, she is well known to moviegoers after appearing in multiple movies such as Countdown, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, and Women Talking.
Foy is known for portraying characters who live life to its fullest and on their terms, such as Diana Cavendish from Breathe who refuses to succumb to simplistic sentimentality and instead proves herself “a formidable opponent.”
Foy was featured in Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller Unsane and Damien Chazelle’s biopic First Man as Janet Shearon – wife of astronaut Neil Armstrong, which earned her BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. Additionally, Foy will next be seen playing Margaret Campbell – Duchess of Argyll on the Amazon Prime series A Very British Scandal 2021; additionally, Foy has worked extensively in theatre performing plays like Lungs and Macbeth.
Claire Foy’s Personal Life
Claire Foy, born in Stockport and of Irish descent through her mother, studied at Liverpool John Moores University and Oxford School of Drama before making her screen debut as Amy Dorrit in BBC’s Little Dorrit miniseries which earned an RTS award nomination. Since then she has also appeared in Going Postal as well as the medieval adventure film Season of the Witch alongside Nicolas Cage; plus the BBC revival of Upstairs Downstairs where she portrayed Lady Persephone.
She earned widespread acclaim for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II on Netflix’s series The Crown, garnering two Golden Globes and one Screen Actors Guild Award. Additionally, she garnered praise for her roles as Anne Boleyn in Wolf Hall and Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll in A Very British Scandal television shows.
Foy has amassed an estimated net worth of $4 Million. She is also an outspoken animal rights activist; serving as patron for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and speaking out against animal testing, she has collaborated on multiple PETA projects as a partner.
Foy made her mark in 2017 when she appeared as Diana Cavendish in Andy Serkis’ Breathe as wife to Robin Cavendish (Andrew Garfield), receiving praise for a performance described as both stunning and emotionally charged. Inspired by conversations with Diana herself, Foy was able to develop an intricate yet multidimensional character for this role.
Foy is currently unmarried but was previously married to actor Stephen Campbell Moore whom she met while filming 2011’s Season of the Witch and had three years together before they separated in 2016. Foy is known for being an avid reader; in an interview, she stated that she has read Pride and Prejudice 4,000 times! Additionally, Leonardo DiCaprio is one of her greatest inspirations.
Claire Foy’s Awards
Foy has performed in numerous stage, TV, and film productions since her breakthrough performance as the lead in BBC One’s supernatural drama Being Human in 2008. But her breakthrough role on Netflix’s The Crown catapulted her to worldwide recognition. Over two seasons as Queen Elizabeth II on The Crown, Foy completely reigned as monarch while garnering multiple award nominations and wins including Golden Globe, BAFTA Award, and an Emmy (television’s premier award).
Netflix was the clear winner this year with the most overall awards won, including Best Drama Series for The Crown and Outstanding Comedienne for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season One as well as Most Outstanding Cast in a Comedy Series in Season Two; additionally its creators received Best writing in comedy Series and lead actress Claire Foy was honored as Most Outstanding Lead Actress in Drama Series respectively.
Foy’s win signals that The Crown should do very well at next week’s Primetime Emmy Awards when main categories like Best Drama, Comedy, and leading and supporting acting will be announced. A show with widespread popularity often takes home multiple minor awards unknowingly despite not expecting to compete directly against rival shows.
Foy is no stranger to winning Emmys; she won one for The Crown’s second season last year and took home another this time around for her performance as Olivia Tudor in The Handmaid’s Tale; beating out Alexis Bledel and McKenna Grace from The Handmaid’s Tale; Phyllicia Rashad from This Is Us and Sophie Okonedo as Ratched respectively. At this year’s awards, she stood out by wearing an extravagant sparkly dress featuring cape wings, double rows of diamonds down her bust, accented with delicate pearls, and strappy heels for an eye-catching red carpet entry!
Foy was joined onstage by The Crown co-star John Lithgow and Fleabag star Andrew Scott, both winners in guest actor in a drama series categories. All were wearing dresses by designer Jenny Packham who presented the award. Other winners include the documentary The Hunt as best short-form nonfiction or reality series and executive producer of an episode of Black Man Nation by Emmanuel Acho that won most outstanding short-form comedy or variety series.