Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Bio

Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge, born on 14 July 1985 in Hammersmith, London, is an English actress, screenwriter, and producer whose work has reshaped contemporary British television and film. She is best known as the creator, writer, and lead star of the comedy series Fleabag, which ran from 2016 to 2019 and earned her three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Television Award. She later received further Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for writing and producing the spy thriller series Killing Eve. Beyond her small-screen success, she has co-written a James Bond film and voiced characters in major franchise movies, establishing herself as one of the most distinctive creative voices in modern entertainment.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Early Life and Background

Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge was born in Hammersmith, London, on 14 July 1985. She is the daughter of Michael Cyprian Waller-Bridge, founder of the electronic trading platform Tradepoint, and Theresa Mary, whose father was Sir John Edward Longueville Clerke, 12th Baronet. The Bridge, later Waller-Bridge, family included soldiers and clergymen who became part of the landed gentry of Cuckfield in Sussex. Her paternal grandfather, Cyprian Waller-Bridge, worked as an actor and BBC announcer, planting an early connection to the performing arts within the family.

Waller-Bridge grew up in Ealing, London, alongside an older sister, Isobel Waller-Bridge, who is a composer and frequent collaborator, and a younger brother, Jasper. Her parents later divorced, and she was educated at St Augustine’s Priory, an independent Catholic school for girls. She continued her studies at DLD College London, an independent sixth form college in the Marylebone area of London, before graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2006. Her training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art provided the formal foundation for her transition into professional acting and writing.

Path to Celebrity

Waller-Bridge’s performing credits begin in theatre in 2007, when she co-founded the DryWrite Theatre Company with Vicky Jones. The two women met while working on theatre productions and went on to serve as co-artistic directors of the company. Her early acting theatre credits include the 2009 productions Roaring Trade at the Soho Theatre and Rope at the Almeida Theatre, followed by a 2011 production of Noël Coward’s Hay Fever and Mydidae in 2012. These stage experiences sharpened her voice as both a performer and a writer, leading her to write and star in the first version of Fleabag at the London Storytelling Festival on 25 November 2012.

The first full version of Fleabag premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013, marking a turning point in her career. She later wrote the short plays production Good. Clean. Fun. and returned to the stage for further productions of Fleabag between 2013 and 2019. This blend of live performance and original writing gave her the creative freedom to develop a distinctive comedic voice, paving the way for her transition to television.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Career

Early Career (2009–2015)

Waller-Bridge began her screen career in 2009, taking roles in short films and individual episodes of television sitcoms and dramas. Her early television appearances include a 2011 short film titled The Night Watch, Bad Education and Coming Up in 2013, and Blandings in 2014. She also had supporting roles in The Café from 2011 to 2013 and in the second season of the crime drama series Broadchurch in 2015. Her first feature length theatrical film roles came in 2011, when she appeared in Albert Nobbs and The Iron Lady, working alongside actors such as Glenn Close and Meryl Streep.

During this period, Waller-Bridge also built a voice acting portfolio through BBC Radio plays, including a 2013 production of Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast. She provided narration for short films and voiced advertisements for brands such as The Cotswold Company, Warburtons, and Trainline. These varied projects allowed her to experiment with tone and character while she developed the early drafts of her first television series.

Breakthrough (2016–2019)

In 2016, Waller-Bridge wrote and starred in her first television project, the Channel 4 comedy Crashing, which followed a group of twenty-somethings living in an abandoned hospital. That same year, Fleabag moved to BBC Two and premiered in the United States on the Amazon Video service. For her performance in Fleabag, she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance and earned a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. The second and final series of Fleabag aired in 2019 and brought her Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Comedy Series.

Waller-Bridge expanded into film in 2018, voicing and performing droid L3-37 in the Star Wars film Solo: A Star Wars Story. She also wrote and produced the BBC America thriller series Killing Eve, based on novels by Luke Jennings, and served as showrunner for its first series. For her work on Killing Eve, she received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series. She also co-wrote the screenplay for the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021) and signed a three-year overall deal with Amazon Studios in September 2019.

Notable Works and Milestones

Waller-Bridge’s signature work remains Fleabag, a comedy series that earned her three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Television Award, and saw her top the Radio Times TV 100 power list in 2019. Her additional milestones include creating the BBC America spy thriller Killing Eve, voicing L3-37 in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and co-writing the screenplay for No Time to Die. Each project reinforced her reputation for blending sharp humour with emotional depth.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Award Nominations

Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge has earned multiple high-profile nominations across her career in television and film. For her work on the BBC America series Killing Eve, she received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series, the latter as a producer. She was also nominated for a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance in Fleabag. Her Golden Globe nominations include recognition for both Fleabag and Killing Eve, reflecting her sustained impact on international television.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Awards Won

Waller-Bridge’s most celebrated achievements are tied to the comedy series Fleabag, for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance. In 2019, she received Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Comedy Series. She also won two Golden Globe Awards, cementing her status as one of the leading writer-performers of her generation.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge Family

Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge is the daughter of Michael Cyprian Waller-Bridge, founder of the electronic trading platform Tradepoint, and Theresa Mary. Her older sister, Isobel Waller-Bridge, is a composer who has collaborated with her on multiple projects. Her younger brother, Jasper, was born in 1987, and her parents later divorced. Her family background blends business, the arts, and British heritage, with roots in the landed gentry of Cuckfield in Sussex.

Personal Life

Waller-Bridge lives in the Shoreditch area of London. She married Irish presenter and documentary filmmaker Conor Woodman in 2014 after meeting him while she was performing in the play Mydidae. They separated in December 2017 and filed for divorce, with the divorce finalised in 2022. Since 2017, she has been in a relationship with filmmaker and playwright Martin McDonagh, with the couple first publicly linked in October 2017 at the UK premiere of his film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.