Sophie Rundle’s (Ada Peaky Blinders) Rise To Fame
Although she’s ultimately recognised for portraying Ada Shelby in television series Peaky Blinders, Sophie Rundle has starred in a bunch of other popular shows too, including BBC’s Bodyguard, period drama Gentleman Jack and series The Bletchley Circle.
Sophie has a pretty impressive CV, so we’re taking a look at how she became so successful in the acting world…
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Where Did It All Start?
Sophie was born in 1988 in England to Michael and Fiona Rundle. She has two brothers, James and Henry. After attending Bournemouth School for Girls, Sophie joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts where she (unsurprisingly) completed a Degree in Acting.
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The Beginning Of Her Career
Rundle made her film debut in the British horror comedy Small Town Folk in 2007 opposite actor Warwick Davis. After multiple smaller acting roles, in 2012 she landed a part in ITV’s TV miniseries Titanic, based on the sinking of the RMS ship. Later that year she starred alongside Matt Le Blanc and Stephan Mangan in TV sitcom Episodes.
Also in the same year (2012), Rundle appeared in Great Expectations, an adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel directed by Mike Newell.
In 2013, she moved from TV to theatre and played Bunty Mainwaring in Stephen Unvin’s The Vortex at Rose Theatre in Kingston upon Thames.
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She Quickly Became A Household Name…
Although she’d had a successful start to her career in film and TV, it wasn’t until 2014, where she landed the role as Ada in Peaky Blinders, that Sophie’s career truly skyrocketed.
Appearing as Ada in the historic crime drama series, who has many brothers, sisters and relatives making up the fiercest gang in Birmingham, Rundle managed to master the Brummie accent during her audition.
After Peaky Blinders, Rundle’s role have been flooding in; she immediately went on to play Fiona Griffiths in Talking to the Dead, based on a novel by Harry Bingham. Griffiths, who has Cotard’s Syndrome, was a tough character to portray and Rundle admits she is a little ‘loopy’:
“Well, yes. Part of the mystery of the show is trying to work out what is going on with her. You know that there is a history of trauma there and you are trying to figure that out. It is being fed to you in little bits. She has a history of mental health issues too, which gives her an affinity with the dead.”
She also guest-starred as Pamela Saint in Call the Midwife, airing in 2014.
After Call the Midwife came a BBC adaptation of J.B. Priestley‘s An Inspector Calls, followed by Brief Encounters, a series about four women who sell lingerie and sex toys. Then there was Bodyguard, a six-part thriller telling the story of a war veteran who works as a Specialist Protection Officer for the home secretary.
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Most recently, Sophie Rundle portrayed heiress Ann Walker, in Gentleman Jack. It was a series about a real-life lesbian couple living in England in the 1800s.
Sophie’s Love Life…
Sophie’s character Ada (Peaky Blinders) is married to known Communist Freddie Thorne. But has the real life actress found anyone similar to Freddie?
Details of Sophie’s love life has managed to escape most of the online and media attention, but she’s helped us all out by posting adorable photos of her bae on her Instagram feed – and he looks super cute!
Her now-fiance, Matt Stokoe, is also into the acting industry and is best known for his role as Alex in Misfits and Luke in Bodyguard.
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