Rachel Pickup

Rachel Pickup is a British actress whose career has centered on classical theater, especially Shakespeare. Born in London to actors Lans Traverse and Ronald Pickup, she joined the National Youth Theatre at 16 and later trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After graduating, she took the lead in the 1996 BBC miniseries No Bananas. Her film work includes Clara Fairfax in Basil (1998), Stella Primrose in AKA (2002), and Sarah Holt in Chronic (2015). On stage, she has portrayed many Shakespearean heroines with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the West End, and other companies, earning a Critics' Circle Theatre Award nomination for her Miss Julie and a Manchester Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress for Time and the Conways. In 2016 she played Portia in The Merchant of Venice opposite Jonathan Pryce, and in 2017 she made her Broadway debut in Present Laughter. She has also appeared on television in The Gilded Age.