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Is Notting Hill girl 'new Keira'?
By Tom Teodorczuk, Evening Standard Last updated at 09:52am on 24.08.06
Striking: Young British actress Hayley Atwell has been praised her wide range
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Only a year ago, Hayley Atwell was just another drama student in west London.
But already this year the 24-year-old has been the leading lady in Woody Allen's latest film - known only as his "Summer Project" - alongside Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell and appeared in the BBC adaptation of Booker Prize-winning novel The Line Of Beauty.
Now we can reveal that she has landed two more star roles. In the New Year she will appear in a revival of The Man Of Mode at the National Theatre, directed by Nicholas Hytner.
She will also star alongside Billie Piper in ITV's multi-million-pound serialisation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park next year.
Before that, Atwell and Piper will team up for BBC drama The Ruby In The Smoke, based on the Philip Pullman novel.
Atwell, whose first job was in a Pringles commercial, is being talked of as Britain's brightest acting star since Keira Knightley.
Critics have praised her wide range, which extends from being a natural period drama actress to her acclaimed performance playing the troubled daughter of a Conservative MP in The Line Of Beauty.
Her striking looks have hardly been a hindrance.
Like Knightley, Atwell plants her feet firmly on the ground. "I still don't think of myself as being especially talented," she told the Evening Standard. "I was in a great drama school with people who were just as good as I was.
"But I am fortunate enough to have worked with, and got advice and guidance from, people who know what they are talking about."
An only child, she was brought up in Notting Hill. Atwell's English mother works in property and her American photographer father lives in California.
She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama last year after turning down a place at Oxford to read philosophy and theology.
Atwell is especially excited about taking on the role of Belinda in the National's revival in February of George Etheredge's 1776 comedy of manners The Man Of Mode. She said: "I feel so lucky. From when I was little I always wanted to act at the National."
Disappointingly for her male admirers, Atwell has a boyfriend whose identity she is keeping secret. But judging by the work she has lined up, he won't be seeing much of her in the near future.
Reader views (2)
Voluptuous and stunningly beautiful. I'm seeing her for the first time right now, in the American Movie Classics remake of "The Prisoner," with Ian McKellen.
- Adrian, Washington, D,C,, USA
Is it me or is every new British star that comes along always referred to as the new this that or the other?
Give the girl a break and let her carve out her own niche. Being compared to Keira Knightley won't help and will only harm the poor girl's prospects in the long run.
- Justin, Walthamstow, UK
