Bafta-winning actress Anne-Marie Duff has said she feels “incredibly lucky and privileged” to do a job she loves as she is made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours list. The stage and screen star, 54, made her name in hit comedy drama series Shameless and further established herself playing regal roles such as Queen Elizabeth I and Lady Macbeth.
On receiving the prestigious accolade for her services to drama, she told the PA news agency: “I feel incredibly lucky and privileged to do a job that I love, so to be acknowledged in any way always feels like an incredible blessing. I am very grateful.”.
She was born in London in 1970 to Irish immigrant parents and later attended the Drama Centre London. After featuring in a number of TV shows in the 1990s, including police drama Trial And Retribution and period show Aristocrats, she gained attention for her role in 2002 drama film The Magdalene Sisters about teenage girls who are sent to Magdalene laundries.
She broke through further playing Fiona Gallagher in Shameless, which followed the lives of a group of siblings and their father in a Manchester estate, for which she picked up a best actress Bafta nomination. The following year in 2007, Duff was nominated again for the Bafta for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen.
