British Actors You Should Know: Nicola Walker

Nicola Walker was born in 1970 in Stepney, East London, England, and began acting classes at the age of 12, in her own words, to meet boys. Both her parents were teachers, but she was the first in the family to attend university, the prestigious New College, Cambridge. She joined the Footlights comedy club, where other actor/comedians such as Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Emma Thompson got their start. But her best and lifelong friend from university is Sue Perkins (writer, comedian, and the original co-host of The Great British Baking Show), who was her college “mother:”

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.

After university, she and Sue, screenwriter Sarah Phelps (The Sixth Commandment) and writer/actor Emma Kennedy, who wrote for Sue and Mel Giedroyc’s comic performances, shared flats and adventures. She was offered a place at RADA, but an agent suggested only accepting it if she couldn’t get work for six months. She performed in small theaters in London and at the Edinburgh Festival and was finally approached by an agent, who offered a small role in Four Weddings and a Funeral.