Tuppence Amelia Middleton (born 21 February 1987) is a British actress known for her performances in film, television and theatre. In 2010, she was nominated for the London Evening Standard Film Awards for Most Promising Newcomer.
Middleton appeared in various films before making her breakthrough in Morten Tyldum's historical drama The Imitation Game (2014), and subsequently appeared in The Wachowskis' science fiction film Jupiter Ascending (2015), Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's historical drama The Current War (2017), David Fincher's film Mank (2020), and the historical drama films Downton Abbey (2019) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022).
She made her first television appearance in Bones (2008) and subsequently appeared as a guest in New Tricks (2010), Friday Night Dinner (2011), and Lewis (2013). She also appeared as Jem in the Black Mirror episode "White Bear" (2013), as Miss Havisham in Dickensian (2015–2016), as Russian princess Hélène Kuragina in War & Peace (2016), and as Riley "Blue" Gunnarsdóttir in Sense8 (2015–2018).
Early life
Middleton was born in Bristol on 21 February 1987, the daughter of Tina and Nigel Middleton. She has an older sister named Angel and younger brother named Josh. She was named "Tuppence" after the childhood nickname her grandmother gave to her mother. She was raised in Clevedon, Somerset. She has described her younger self as shy, reclusive, and "geeky" at school, but "quite loud and brash" at home; she found youth theatre an "outlet" in which she could be confident. She attended Bristol Grammar School, where she was involved in school plays such as Guys and Dolls. She also attended Stagecoach, a performing arts school in Portishead. She appeared in local drama productions, including a pantomime with her sister at the Princes Hall in Clevedon. She subsequently studied acting at the Arts Educational School in London, earning an honours degree in acting.
Career
Middleton gained a following for her appearance in the 2009 British comedy horror film Tormented. Her character, head girl Justine Fielding, dates one of the most popular boys in school, only to find that he and his friends were responsible for a classmate's death. She has also appeared in adverts for the chewing gum Extra and for Sky TV.
In 2010, she was nominated for the London Evening Standard Film Awards 2010 for Most Promising Newcomer and she starred in Samuel Abrahams's BAFTA-nominated short film Connect. In 2011, she played the character Tanya Green in the British sitcom Friday Night Dinner, and Sarah in Sirens. In 2012, she appeared in the spy thriller film Cleanskin.
In 2013, she made her professional theatre debut in The Living Room, before playing a minor role in Danny Boyle's psychological thriller film Trance and giving a highly praised performance in the Black Mirror episode "White Bear". In 2014, after working on Lilly and Lana Wachowski's space opera film Jupiter Ascending (2015), she joined the main cast of their Netflix science fiction series Sense8 (2015–2018).
In 2016, she starred in the BBC drama War & Peace, playing Russian aristocrat Princess Hélène Kuragina. The series received critical acclaim. The Daily Express said: "Rising star Tuppence Middleton takes on the role of the delightfully evil Hélène Kuragina, who is one half of the incestuous duo. Audiences witnessed her brother getting a little too intimate with his sibling in the first episode before she turned her attentions to Pierre and dug her claws into him. She is a vile character who will use and abuse Pierre without giving him a second thought." Andrew Davies, who adapted War and Peace, described Middleton's Hélène as "the naughtiest woman on TV at the moment".
In 2018, she starred in Vicky Jones' play The One at the Soho Theatre in London and got the part of Lucy in the feature film Downton Abbey (2019), which she later reprised in Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022). In 2019, she played the lead role in the mystery drama Disappearance at Clifton Hill. This film was soon followed by the psychological horror Possessor (2020), the Netflix-distributed historical miniseries The Defeated (2020), also known as Shadowplay, and David Fincher's biographical drama Mank (2020), in which she portrayed the wife of Herman J. Mankiewicz, the co-writer of Citizen Kane (1941).