Celia Bannerman

British actress and stage director, the daughter of Hugh and Hilda Bannerman (née Diamond). Celia Bannerman studied her craft at the London Drama Centre and made her theatrical debut as Juliet in a 1965 production of Romanoff and Juliet. The following year, she appeared as Dolly in Shaw's 'You Never Can Tell' at London's Haymarket Theatre. From the mid-70s, she acted with the RSC (as recently as 2023, she appeared as Phoebe in 'As You Like It'). In 1978, Bannerman became Staff Director at Olivier's Royal National Theatre. Between 1981 and 1983, she held the position of Associate Director of the Bristol Old Vic.

Bannerman began acting on screen in 1965. Her notable roles in that medium have included Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (1967), Lady Diana Russell in Upstairs, Downstairs (1971), Rachel Paterson in The Tamarind Seed (1974) and Celia in As You Like It (1992). She has been associated with Christine Edzard and Sands Films since 1983, starting with her title role as a kindly Victorian nursery maid in Biddy (1983). Bannerman later acted in the Sands productions Little Dorrit (1987) and The Land Girls (1998), in addition to serving as casting director for Little Dorrit, The Fool (1990), As You Like It and A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1992). Bannerman has worked as a Children's Acting Coach for the BBC and as acting/dialogue coach for children on the motion pictures Seven Years in Tibet (1997), Two Brothers (2004) (both directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud) and Nanny McPhee (2005). For Warner Brothers, she worked as acting coach, as wells as on the casting of the first Harry Potter film and on Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). Bannerman has also tutored at prominent acting institutions, including R.A.D.A., The Drama Centre and the Guildford School of Acting.