Total Hair Magazine Aug/Sept 1999
Few actresses have crossed as many dramatic borders as Anna Friel. This girl chops and changes her acting roles as often as the tabloids claim she changes her boyfriends! Never satisfied with just one acting genre, 23-year-old Anna has moved from early theatre and television series work, to soap operas, costume dramas and now big budget movies like Land Girls (with Katherine McCormack and Rachel Weiss), Rogue Trader (with Ewan McGregor) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (with Michelle Pfieffer and Kevin Kline). Most recently of all, of course, Anna is hitting the big time on Broadway in the theatre production Closer, and taking more than a fair sized bite out of the Big Apple.
Clubbing it in New York with her pal Kate Moss is a far cry from Rochdale in Lancashire and the Oldham Theatre Workshop where Anna's acting career began at age 13. But recent reports of her success over the Atlantic seem to prove there are no bounds to the lengths she can stretch her initial success as the controversial Beth Jordache in Brookside. That soap opera's memorable lesbian kiss catapulted Anna into the nation's memory and coupled with the gripping patio burial, apparently doubled viewing figures for the show. It's not surprising when you consider Anna's appeal.
Auburn-haired, saucer-eyed and girlishly petite, Anna has always wowed the boys and befriended the girls. Although you always wanted to look like her, she also seems like she could have been the girl next-door. At 18 in Brookside, Anna was always the pretty older sister whom most of the Close wanted to date - including Margaret. Since her ill-fated soap opera days, Anna's roles have caused quite a change in her appearance.
The Tribe in 1995, saw Anna as a saucily seductive and beautiful brunette, but serious period drama with the BBC in Our Mutual Friend changed that look completely. Her huge success in this series was a serious acting breakthrough for Anna, and her time in corsets and bustles paved the way for a break into movies. In 1998 in Land Girls, Anna played the cheeky war-time farm hand to perfection. Her impish grin and tousled hair became the trademark of her part, and she stole most of the scenes she shared with her co-actors. 1999 is definitely the year of Anna Friel. She has been the front cover model for numerous UK magazines despite the fact that so far she has spent a paltry two weeks at her home in London. She has shaken off the tabloid fascination over her romance with compulsive proposer Darren Day. His dramatic dumping of Anna made way for his immediate relationship with Tracy Shaw from Coronation Street, not a very fair soap swap from Anna's point of view. The papers screamed 'poor Anna', but she has picked herself up and dusted herself off from Day by showing that she was always destined for huge success. No doubt she has the pick of any number of New York males over on Broadway! Anna's subsequent partying, and her dates out with Robbie Williams and friend Kate Moss have put her back in the spotlight. She will never be seen as the all-innocent Brookside girl again, but why would she want to when she can hob-nob with sexy stars like Obi-wan Kenobi himself, Ewan McGregor? Anna plays Ewan's wife in the new film Rogue Trader, about the real-life sensational story of city banker, Nick Leeson, and his single-handed gambling-fuelled destruction of London's oldest merchant bank, Barings. Such a serious topic required a serious style change for Anna as Nick's wife Lisa. Her lovely long, dark hair disappeared to be replaced by a rather unflattering mid-length, layered cut. Not only that, but it was blondeSince then, Anna's hair has seen the chop a number of times. It is a short and bushy mess in Mad Cows, an adaptation of the best-selling book by Kathy Lette. This film, starring Anna, apparently had its prospects for success raised after the cutting-out of the minor bit-part played by 'It' girl (and British Royal Family friend) Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, who has recently been drying out in a US clinic from alleged drug and alcohol abuse.
Anna's dishevelled appearance in Mad Cows is released at UK cinemas on October 8, but as you can see Anna is currently looking stylishly chic as herself. Copper tones suit Anna's colouring and she has the kind of heart-shaped face that shows off her latest boyishly short hair to her advantage.
Not one to stand still for long, the chop and change of her look seems to be reflected in the diverse roles she chooses. Fans of Anna will be able to see her as an Australian mother in Mad Cows, an American in Sunset Strip and as Shakespeare's Hermia before the year is out - not bad for the babe from Brookie.