Lucy Punch (born December 30, 1977 in Hammersmith, London) is a British comic actress, typically cast as dim and conceited characters who deserve their comeuppance.
The London-bred Punch attended UCL to study French and art history, but was offered an acting job and subsequently dropped out. That role was Eveline in the period sitcom Let Them Eat Cake. The series bombed, but Lucy quickly became a known face on British TV. By 2004 she had graduated to film work, but migrated to Los Angeles to star in the short-lived sitcom The Class (2006).
Then came the rocky patch. Finding herself out of work, Punch barely scraped together cash for an economy flight to London, where Woody Allen was holding auditions for You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger after his star, Nicole Kidman, dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. She nailed it; and thus began her life as a Hollywood "It" girl.
Is also known for being type-cast as one of Cinderella's stepsisters. In addition to the film versions of Ella Enchanted and Into the Woods, there were also two obscure British film versions of the story. Keep in mind, most intended to invoke the Grimm's "beautiful, with fair faces, but evil and dark hearts" type of stepsister and not the pantomime-esque "Ugly Sister".
Tropes:
- …But I Play One on TV: After Motherland came out, she recalls people being quite scared of her when they saw her on the street.
- The Danza: She plays Lucinda in Into the Woods.
- Dawson Casting: Her character Sally Peep celebrates her eighteenth birthday in The 10th Kingdom. Lucy was already 23.
- Fake American: Plays this probably more often than her own nationality.
- Playing Against Type:
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One-Scene Wonder role in Cake (2014) has her playing a friendly nurse. - In Poirot, the episode based on After the Funeral, she plays a kind-hearted (really, it's not a disguise) charity activist and missionary, with only occasional shades of Holier Than Thou.
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- Typecasting:
- Need a ditzy social climbing floozy? Lucy Punch is the girl!
"Quite often I'm the posh bitch."- As mentioned above, she's played one of Cindrella's stepsisters four times. Besides Ella Enchanted and Into the Woods, there was a television movie just called Cinderella in 2000, and a modern BBC series titled Fairy Tales in which she appears in the Cinderella episode.
- What Could Have Been: Who knows how her career would have gone had Nicole Kidman not dropped out of You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Before Lucy was cast, Carice van Houten was also in the running.
Lucy Punch's roles tend to provide examples of:
Notable film roles include:
- Hattie in Ella Enchanted (2004)
- Lead Stewardess in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)
- Eve Draper in Hot Fuzz (2007)
- Charmaine in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)
- Darla in Dinner for Schmucks (2010)
- Amy Squirrel in Bad Teacher (2011)
- Nurse Gayle in Cake (2014) (2014)
- Lucinda in Into the Woods (2015)
- Bella in Silent Night (2021) (2021)
Notable TV roles include:
- Queen Stephanie in The New Adventures of Robin Hood (TV movie, 1998)
- Sally Peep in The 10th Kingdom (3 episodes, 2000)
- Shaya in Dinotopia (2003, "Night of the Wartosa")
- Elaine Denham in Doc Martin (2004)
- Holly Ellenbogen in The Class (2007)
- Sally in The Sarah Silverman Program (2007, "Ah Men")
- Deena Pilgrim in Powers (2012)
- Genevieve in New Girl (2 episodes, 2016)
- Motherland (2016-), 3 seasons
- Esme Squalor in A Series of Unfortunate Events (2018)
