Rachel Pickup is a British theatre, television and film actress. She was born in London on 15 July 1973.

She got a place at the National Youth Theatre

National Youth Theatre

The National Youth Theatre is a registered charity in London, Great Britain, committed to creative, personal and social development of young people through the medium of creative arts....

 under the artistic directorship of Edward Wilson

Edward Wilson (actor)

Edward "Ed" Wilson was an English television actor, best known as the enthusiastic and charismatic Artistic Director of the British National Youth Theatre from 1987–2003; he later moved to Los Angeles...

 and subsequently won a place at RADA

Rada

Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....

.

Before she graduated she got a leading role in the BBC series No Bananas, her first professional engagement. This was followed by a role opposite the late Alan Bates

Alan Bates

Sir Alan Arthur Bates CBE was an English actor, who came to prominence in the 1960s, a time of high creativity in British cinema, when he demonstrated his versatility in films ranging from the popular children’s story Whistle Down the Wind to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving...

 in Mike Poulton's Fortune's Fool

Fortune's Fool

Fortune's Fool is a play by Ivan Turgenev.-Plot:The setting is a vast Russian country estate where the resident aristocrats and their many servants are jolted out of their tranquility by the arrival of someone from the city, down-on-his-luck Vassily Semyonitch Kuzovkin, whose own property has been...

. Other major theatre roles followed, including Irina in Mike Poulton

Mike Poulton

Mike Poulton is an English translator and adapter of classic plays for contemporary audiences.Poulton began his career in 1995 with Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Ivan Turgenev's Fortune's Fool, which were staged at the Chichester Festival Theatre, the former with Derek Jacobi, the latter with...

's translation of Anton Chekov's Three Sisters

Three Sisters (play)

Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...

for Bill Bryden

Bill Bryden

William Campbell Rough Bryden CBE is a British stage- and film director and screenwriter.-Biography:...

, Olivia in Twelfth Night for Terry Hands

Terry Hands

Terence David Hands is an English theatre director. He ran the Royal Shakespeare Company for 20 years during one of its most successful periods.-Early years:...

, Helena in All's Well That Ends Well

All's Well That Ends Well

All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1604 and 1605, and was originally published in the First Folio in 1623....

for Irina Brook

Irina Brook

Irina Brook is a British stage actress, director and producer. The daughter of film and theatre director Peter Brook and actress Natasha Parry, she was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2002 by the French Ministry of Culture...

, Portia in Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar (play)

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...

for David Farr

David Farr

David Nelson Farr is the Chairman & CEO of Emerson Electric Company, a Fortune 500 company. Mr. Farr has worked at the company since 1981. He is married with two children and is a resident of Ladue, Missouri....

 at the RSC

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

, Sylvia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1590 or 1591. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as his first tentative steps in laying out some of the themes and tropes with which he would later deal in more...

and Helena

Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Helena is one of the iconic four young lovers in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and is a very desperate woman. She is generally interpreted as being tall, slim and blonde - her best friend Hermia calls her a "painted maypole" during an argument. Although she does not see herself...

 in A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...

also for the RSC,

In 2003 she appeared at the Old Vic

Old Vic

The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...

 in King Lear

King Lear

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...

playing Cordelia. and this was followed by Ophelia

Ophelia

Ophelia is a fictional character in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and potential wife of Prince Hamlet.-Plot:...

 in Calixto Bieito

Calixto Bieito

Calixto Bieito is a Spanish theater director known for his "radical" interpretations of classic operas.-Biography:...

's Hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

, for which she won a Bank of Scotland

Bank of Scotland

The Bank of Scotland plc is a commercial and clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland. With a history dating to the 17th century, it is the second oldest surviving bank in what is now the United Kingdom, and is the only commercial institution created by the Parliament of Scotland to...

 Herald Angel award and Helen of Troy for Peter Stein

Peter Stein

Peter Stein is a critically acclaimed German theatre and opera director who established himself at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, a company that he brought to the forefront of German theatre....

.

She also won a MEN

Manchester Evening News

The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...

 Best Supporting Actress Award for her performance in Time and the Conways

Time and the Conways

Time and the Conways is a British play written by J. B. Priestley in 1937 illustrating J. W. Dunne's Theory Of Time through the experience of a moneyed Yorkshire family, the Conways, over a period of nineteen years from 1919 to 1937...

at the Royal Exchage Theatre in Manchester. She appeared in the film Basil

Basil (film)

Basil is a 1998 British historical drama film directed by Radha Bharadwaj and starring Jared Leto, Derek Jacobi, Claire Forlani, and Christian Slater. It was based on the 1852 novel of the same name by Wilkie Collins. The adaptation was by Bharadwaj.-Plot:...

with Jared Leto

Jared Leto

Jared Joseph Leto is an American actor, director, producer, occasional model and musician. Leto has appeared in both big budget Hollywood films and smaller projects from independent producers and art houses. He rose to prominence for playing Jordan Catalano in the teenage drama My So-Called Life...

 and Derek Jacobi

Derek Jacobi

Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...

 and she portrayed Lady Henrietta Standish in Victoria and Albert

Victoria & Albert (TV serial)

Victoria & Albert is a 2001 British-US historical television serial. It focused on the early life and marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The series starred Victoria Hamilton as Victoria, Jonathan Firth as Prince Albert and Peter Ustinov as King William IV. It was directed by John Ermant....

. and most recently she played the Princess of France for Sir Peter Hall.

She is the daughter of the actor Ronald Pickup

Ronald Pickup

-Life and career:Pickup was born in Chester, England, the son of Daisy and Eric Pickup, who was a lecturer. Pickup was educated at The King's School, Chester, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and became an Associate Member of RADA.His television work began with an episode...

 with whom she acted for the first time in 2008 in an episode of Midsomer Murders

Midsomer Murders

Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...

and daughter of playwright Lans Traverse whose play Driftwood is about to be staged at the Main Street Theater

Main Street Theater

Main Street Theater is a theatre company in the city of Houston, Texas. It consistently produces a lively repertoire of classic and contemporary plays, and its seasons generally run throughout the entire year.-History:...

 in Houston, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. Rachel is about to join up with Sir Peter Hall again for Alan Ayckbourn

Alan Ayckbourn

Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...

's Bedroom Farce

Bedroom farce

A bedroom farce or sex farce is a type of light comedy, centered on the sexual pairings and recombinations of characters as they move through improbable plots and slamming doors...

and Strindberg

August Strindberg

Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...

's Miss Julie

Miss Julie

Miss Julie is a naturalistic play written in 1888 by August Strindberg dealing with class, love, lust, the battle of the sexes, and the interaction among them...

with Stephen Unwin

Stephen Unwin (director)

Stephen Unwin is an English theatre director. He completed his studies at the University of Cambridge in 1981, and has since directed over 50 professional productions and 12 operas. He was initially Assistant Director at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh until 1988...

 at the Rose Theatre, Kingston

Rose Theatre, Kingston

The Rose Theatre, Kingston is a theatre on Kingston High Street in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The theatre seats 899 around a wide, lozenge shaped stage....

.