This is an unofficial biography of Nicola Walker which has been put together using mostly information available from interviews (print and DVD commentaries) which Nicola has done through the years.
Name : Nicola Walker
Born : April 1970, in Stepney, East London, England
Height : 5’3″ to 5’4″
Colour of eyes : Blue grey
Colour of hair : Brown
Siblings : One older brother
Schools attended :
The Forest School (years attended unknown but Nicola is listed as an alumni on the school’s website)
New College (now known as Murray Edwards College), Cambridge University, where she read English.
Marital status: Married, to actor Barnaby Kay and together, they have one son named Harry. For more information on Barnaby Kay (his bio, current and past work etc.), visit his IMDb page.
As for how Nicola met her husband, check out this Fun Fact. And yes, Nicola’s son is named after the Spooks character, Harry Pearce. Nicola talks about this in the 2010 Ian Wylie interview. On this Page is a scan of an article in which Barnaby talks about how he and Nicola manage their schedules as busy actors.
For more pics of Nicola with Barnaby on the red carpet at the 2013 Olivier Awards, go to this Page.
The Story so far
Drama School :
Nicola : I only started acting classes at the age of 12 in order to meet boys. Before that I was convinced I was going to be a prima ballerina, but I was untalented, had no grace and kept talking. At least in drama you can talk with some reason. I started acting at my local youth theatre and did not go to Drama School. Whilst my parents had always been 100 per cent behind me in my choice of a future career, they sensibly insisted that I went to university first before I took up acting.
It was whilst Nicola attended Cambridge that she joined the University’s famous comedy club, Footlights. Many of those involved with Footlights over the years have gone on to famous careers in the entertainment industry. These include Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, to name just a few. At university, Sue Perkins was her college “mother” and is now one of her best friends. “Not only did she abandon me on my first day but she borrowed my bike and it got nicked. But then that’s the way the relationship has been ever since,” she says. Sue offered to buy Nicola a drink in the Footlights club room to say sorry. “I don’t think I ever tried out; I just hung around until someone took pity and gave me a line.”
Nicola held the office of “Falconer” in the Footlights in the 1990-1991 academic year. (Sue held the same post in the 1989-1990 academic year. In the following year, Sue became president of the Footlights.) Its an office which was made up because the club was based in Falcon Yard on the university campus.
[The Falconer’s] the person who picks up all the empty cans and overflowing ashtrays at the end of a smoker session where people have got up and done really interesting sketches that they’re working on. I wasn’t a writer/performer and never have been.
Radio Times, 29 September 2015
After University, Nicola shared a flat in London with Sue Perkins, Sarah Phelps and Emma Kennedy. All of these ladies are now highly respected presenters and comedy writers in Britain. Another one of Nicola’s contemporaries at Cambridge was David Wolstencroft, one of the creators of Spooks.
In fact, Nicola did have a place in RADA (the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, one of the most prestigious drama schools in the UK and not at all easy to get into) where she might have gone after she finished university. However, by then, she had acquired an agent who advised her to go to RADA only if she could not get work for six months. She did find employment, such as a small role in Four Weddings and a Funeral and a Howard Barker play, and decided against going to drama school.
Entry into the acting profession :
Nicola : After I left university, I did a lot of stuff on the London Fringe and at the Edinburgh Festival. An agent spotted me at a small theatre in London’s Camden and offered to represent me. We’d been doing this show in a tiny 60-seater theatre and there were about 12 people watching the show that night, then a woman approached me who said she’d like to take me on. It was nothing short of a miracle – I hate the idea of selling myself because I find it all a bit embarrassing. I prefer to hide behind a character.
First screen acting job :
In 1992, Nicola was employed for two weeks in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Nicola : [That job] gave me a completely deluded sense of what the acting profession was going to be like. [I was] sharing caravans with Kristen Scott Thomas and hanging out with Andie McDowell and Hugh Grant. And I thought, well this acting lark is easy, I don’t know what people are talking about. And of course after that job, I probably spent a year out of work, and desperately trying to get a theatre job.
Nicola Walker is without doubt Britain’s best actress. Just watched The Split 2 and Marriage. Totally brilliant in both
I have run through the complete series of the Split for the umpteenth time. I love it and the characters and would love to have been in the Defoe family. Nicola was/is the right choice for big sister Hannah,calm, self assured and poised( well dressed too). Loved all the kissing especially between Nicola and Barry!!! TheMarriage left me cold as a drama but was watchable forNicola’s one liners. Thanks to her for all. performances from a mum old enough to be her mum. Love this site.CC
Found out about Nicola after listening to the (amazing) ‘Lovecraft Investigations’ podcast on the BBC, in which she plays a minor part of ‘Dr. Elenor Peck’. Her real-life Husband, Barnaby Kay also stars and headlines the podcast as an investigative journalist, investingating unsolved mysteries.
While Barnaby, and the rest of the cast who appear in the show, are good (The show reached the top 10 podcast list for 2019, or so i’ve read), Nicola stands out as being the ONLY member of the cast (Sorry Barnaby) as sounding completely natural and believable from start to finish. Especially in the history lesson segments she delivers to the shows two main protagonists.
It would therefore seem that she benefitted somewhat by NOT going to drama school, as her performances are unforced, natural and totally believable (not to mention excellent!)
I fell in love with Nicola in River. Her laughter, her wacky ways and now in Unforgotten. I saw her in another series but have forgotten its name. My only problem with her character in Unforgotten, riveting as the series have been, is how emotionally involved and upset she gets with each case. Clearly this is part of her human appeal, but I suspect a real detective working for 30 years on cold cases would have to become slightly more inured to the evil murderers & predictable effects on the victims’ loved ones.
Just watched Nicola in Last Tango In Halifax….one word…WOW !
Nicola has the ability to be able to star in any role she simply makes her own.
Nicola is a breath of fresh air on our tv screens….I’ve now watched Unforgotten and The Split..
If you reading this Nicola…you are amazing and I’d just like to wish you all the best in yr next venture…and if you have 2 mins…please send me a signed photo of yrself ! Thank you for making staying at home …due to this lockdown…more pleasurable…
Kay Coltman
GREAT actress. Not sure where she was hiding all these years? One of the most expressive actresses in the business today. ‘River’ said it best– when she smiles her cheeks burst ( in a good way and its too late for you as she owns your emotions from that point on 🙂 ) amazingly crazy-skilled, charming lady.
I love your acting and I love your face, Nicola. I’m an old man of 80+ and I’ve never said this to anyone except my wife. My Mum came from Stepney. I lived in Enfield for years, now Cambridge. All the best. You deserve it.
What a lovely comment from Terrence! I write from Finlad and I love British drama and comedy. I found Nicola´s acting a bit straining to watch in the Last Tango in Halifax. Now, I´ve watched her as the superintendent series and the drama about lawyers. I have grown to like her immensively! Now, she seems to have gotten rid of the whiney qualities, I suppose it´s a habit, we all have them. Despite what I just said, I think she has a very rare and genuine quality about her in her acting. She is truthful as is Martin Shawn in Inspector Gently. I love that quality of honesty, uncorruptable and love of truth. As a matter of fact, despite liking the series about the high fly lawyers, and I think Nicola looks stunning, I still prefer her in parts that fight for justice anfd for the underdog, no pretension. There is too much greed in this world, I would not like to sacrifice Nicola to that greedy world, playing the part of a partner in a greedy law firm. They would not have normal average clients, would they.
Why did they not make a script about lawyers who base their work pon ethics, not accumulating money. Nicola would be just the right person to play the leading role.
Just recently introduce to this wonderful actress while watching Last Tango and River. She is so convincing in her roles. I will rewatch and then again and again.
Such an amazing talent!
Nicola you are such a fabulous actress, always different and unique
Nicola, You are fantastic. You have the most expressive face ever and the more I watch you ,the more beautiful you become . At 82 I think I have fallen for you. Above all you are a fabulous actress.
So inspiring, no instant fame. Hard work and experience = fabulous adaptable character actress. Great talent which I think will keep growing.
I could watch her act forever.
US fan.
Nicola, cheers from a big fan in St. Charles, MO USA. I love your work, saw you first in Four Weddings and a Funeral, you made me laugh! and then spooks and now, my current fave, Last Tango in Halifax. You are fabulous!!
Great actress, great on Scott and Bailey, watch on PBS in NH USA.
Dear Nicola, I have seen you in “last tango in Halifax”and just think your acting is fantastic! It is rare to see such good acting! I’m so hoping there will be another series, it’s brilliant!
Dear Nicola , I came across this site after an Internet search
I noticed that you were a stand out actress after watching spooks.
Same wonderful performances in “tango in Halifax”.
I’ve never written on any fan sites before but you are a very special actress.
Best wishes.
I just watched Nicola in Luther. Splendid performance! I am now officially of fan of her!
I was impressed by Nicola’s acting in “Spooks” (MI5 here in the US). But while I was warming to the 1st series of Last Tango In Halifax I learned just how exceptional her talent is. So much so that the increasingly ‘soapy’ script isn’t reaching the level of her performance. I will be watching everything she’s in from now on. A truly gifted actress.
What more to add? The UK has the best female actresses in the world. Nicola Walker is up there with the best of them.
The Yanks can’t hold a candle to our girls.
Nicola’s characterisations are so real.
great actress, just watch touching evil( again)
and its just as good as the first time i saw it, been in some great programs, and played great parts, no i,m no relation, nor friend.
Fantastic actress, Heading Out has been a revelation, she is fab at comedy too!
Splendid site! Nicola Walker is my all time favorite actress. I could watch her peeling potatoes for an hour and I know she’d be brilliant, as she is at everything she does!
Dear Nicola
just found your fansite and enjoyed reading about your work.
Spooks for me is absolutely riveting, and i spent far too many hours over each series, lol
Am about to watch next week series 10, having bought and watched each series, punishing myself to try and wait at least a month per series.
I failed!
watched the video clip of you and Peter, what a charming lady you are, and both you and Peter Firth brilliant actors. Fantastic series. Will there ever be anything else on the bbc??
best wishes
Dear Nicola,
I have enjoyed watching your performances as an actress since the first ‘Touching Evil’ episode. You can play a tough, steadied charachter, so believable, yet you always have a certain softness, a femine demeaner without ‘ being a woman’ get in the way of doing a job in charachter equal to any man. Here in American, script writers are incapable to show a strong female role with out all the added baggage attached to it. Your work is admirable and with your other works, the current role in Spooks shows that if anyone deserves a BAFTA award, it is certainly yours. The emotional and physical demands on your role as ‘Ruth’ have shown the best side of your talents; can’t wait til season 10 ever gets to America, as series 9 is now available on DVD, and yes I own a multiregion DVD player since I am a hopeless Anglophile and know U.K. productions are superior to those in the states. Sucess in all that you do and still want to accomplishment. A sincere long time fan, Mary Drew
This outstanding actress won me over with her role in “Touching Evil”… been enjoying her talents in “Spooks” as you call it across the Pond in the UK (seen on Public Television as “MI-5” here in the States)… a fan for life? Count me in. Best to you, Nicola! 😉
Definitely the best biography I’ve read of her to date – really interesting to read why she took up acting in the first place!
I LOVE THIS BIO! Despite my searches for everything Nicola, this bio has revealed so much more than I thought I knew about her. The quotes are such a wonderful insight. It’s great! Thanks so much for this site and for all the extras that I can’t seem to find anywhere else. 🙂
Fascinating! I really can’t wait to read more!
Love love love the new site by the way – it’s gorgeous! 😛
Cheers! Lovely coverage of Nicola’s background. 🙂
Like the new look. 😀