Biography

Joanna Vanderham

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Joanna grew up in Scotland. During her training at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, she was 'spotted' by casting director Emma Style for her first professional role as 'Cathy' in The Runaway (2010) joining a wonderful cast that included Burn Gorman, Keith Allen, Ken Stott, Alan Cumming and Jack O'Connell. Among others, the excellent range of her subtle performances includes notable TV and film works such as Stephen Poliakoff's Dancing on the Edge (2013), The Paradise (2012), Banished (2015), Retribution (2016), What Maisie Knew (2012) and Warrior (2019). Her superb stage work as a brilliant theatre artist also includes her exquisite interpretations as Lika in Aleksei Arbuzov's "The Promise" (London's Donmar Warehouse, 2012) and Milly in Richard Greenberg's "The Dazzle" (Soho Theatre, 2015-16) alongside Andrew Scott and David Dawson, as well as her remarkable Shakespearean performances as Desdemona in Othello (2015) and as Lady Anne in Richard III (2016) (Almeida Theatre) with Hugh Quarshie and Ralph Fiennes in the title roles respectively.
- IMDb mini biography by: premmier and Markos.

Her father is a businessman and her mother is a cardiovascular professor. Her eldest sister and brother are also doctors.
Half Scottish, half Dutch.
She received a Commendation at the 2016 Ian Charleson Awards for her role as Queen Anne in Richard III at the Almeida Theatre.
Studied Acting at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Her parents separated when she was 11.

You're on tenterhooks for the whole duration of filming these adrenaline-filled scenes, and your body doesn't know the difference between what's real and fake. When I act, I do everything in my power to believe the story is real, whether that's through the prep beforehand, the set that we're in or my imagination. I'm really bad at letting myself off the hook at the end of it all. I forget that I need to spend almost as much time afterwards cooling down and letting it all go.
What draws me to a role tends to be - do I think that this will challenge me? Have I done this before? What's becoming clearer to me as I spend more time in the business is that the best acting feels like it's you in that situation. Being brave enough not to hide behind your character, but let the reactions and emotions come from you and your own truth. At the end of the day, it's a gut instinct.

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