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Anne-Marie Duff (born 8 October 1970) is an English actress best known for playing Fiona Gallagher in Shameless, and Elizabeth I in The Virgin Queen. Duff was born on 8 October 1970, the younger of two children of Irish immigrants – her father was a painter and decorator and her mother worked in a shoe shop. The family lived in Southall, Middlesex, and Anne-Marie went to a comprehensive school. At an early age, Anne-Marie attended a local youth theatre in order to battle her shy nature and soon became hooked on the stage. In her mid-teens, involved in an amateur theatre company, she... MORE

Anne-Marie Duff (born 8 October 1970) is an English actress best known for playing Fiona Gallagher in Shameless, and Elizabeth I in The Virgin Queen. Duff was born on 8 October 1970, the younger of two children of Irish immigrants – her father was a painter and decorator and her mother worked in a shoe shop. The family lived in Southall, Middlesex, and Anne-Marie went to a comprehensive school. At an early age, Anne-Marie attended a local youth theatre in order to battle her shy nature and soon became hooked on the stage. In her mid-teens, involved in an amateur theatre company, she began to think seriously about applying to drama schools. Her first application was rejected. “At the time, I was desperately unhappy about it, but I just wasn’t polished. I got too nervous in the audition. It wasn’t a world I was familiar with…” So she went away and did some more A levels and studied Film and Theatre Studies. At the age of 19 she ended up alongside John Simm, Anastasia Hille and her good friend, Paul Bettany at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Drama Centre, London. Duff was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2000, but first became well known as Fiona in the LESS