Fay Ripley (born 26 February 1966)Ripley, Fay (25 February 2011). "Don't tell me you are going to get my followers up to 5,000 for my birthday tomorrow...I say my birthday tomorrow". Twitter. Retrieved 26 February 2011. is an English actress, television presenter and recipe author. She is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (1990). Her first professional role was in the chorus of a pantomime version of Around the World in 80 Days. Ripley's early film and television appearances were limited, so she supplemented her earnings by working as a children's entertainer and by selling menswear door-to-door. After her scenes as a prostitute were cut from Frankenstein (1994), Ripley gained her first major film role playing Karen Hughes in Mute Witness (1995).
In 1996, Ripley was cast in her breakthrough role of Jenny Gifford in the ITV series Cold Feet. Initially a supporting role in the pilot episode, Ripley's character was expanded when a series was commissioned in 1998. She stayed with the show for three full series before leaving to take more varied roles and to spend more time with her family. She returned for a guest appearance in the fifth series.
After leaving Cold Feet, Ripley played a succession of leading roles in comedies and dramas including Green-Eyed Monster (2001), I Saw You (2002), The Stretford Wives (2002), and Dead Gorgeous (2002). Each role won her critical acclaim. In 2006, she filmed a leading role in the ITV drama Bon Voyage, before taking time away from acting after the birth of her second child. Ripley returned to television in 2009, starring as human resources manager Christine Frances in the ITV comedy drama Monday Monday, and Nicola Perrin alongside Martin Clunes in BBC One's Reggie Perrin.
Since 2009, Ripley has authored three recipe books; Fay's Family Food in 2009, What's for Dinner? in 2012 and Fay Makes it Easy in 2014. She is married to actor Daniel Lapaine, with whom she has two children—a daughter and a son—and is an advocate of several charities and causes.
Early life Ripley was born in Wimbledon, southwest London to Bev(erley) William Deacon Ripley and Tina Ripley (née Forster) on 26 February 1966. Her father was a successful businessman – the son of Greater London Councilman Sydney William Leonard Ripley, J.P., D.L., whose family had owned a printing company that produced movie posters -British Film Posters: An Illustrated History, Sim Branaghan and Steve Chibnall, 2006, BFI, pp. 232–3RIPLEY, Sydney William Leonard (1909–1991), Member, Greater London Council (Kingston-upon-Thames Borough), 1964–86 : Who Was Who – oi and brother of 1960s pop singer Twinkle, and her mother an antiques dealer.Cooke, Rachel (11 August 2002). "The talented Miss Ripley". The Observer (Guardian News & Media): pp. 3–4 (Observer Review supplement). They separated when Ripley was two years old and both remarried, so Ripley spent her childhood moving around Surrey between two families.
She was the only child from her parents' marriage but had several half-brothers and sisters from their new relationships. In her early life, she lived in various Surrey towns, including Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge, Esher and Cobham.Steiner, Susie (23 March 2002). "The accidental feminist". The Guardian (Guardian News & Media): p. 34 (Weekend supplement). Her father wanted her to have a good education so, despite the family's Protestant religion, sent her to various Catholic convent schools around the county.Mackay, Neil (9 September 2001). "The talented Miss Ripley". The Sunday Herald (Newsquest Sunday Herald): p. 6. One was St Maur's Convent School in Weybridge, which she attended with Liza Tarbuck. Ripley did not feel academically challenged there, and later declared the school mediocre.
At school, Ripley enjoyed drama lessons, spurred on by the positive remarks she received from her drama teacher Susan Ford.Nightingale, Julie (18 November 2001). "Why Fay has got Cold Feet". The Express on Sunday (Express Newspapers): p. 75. She said of Ford, "When I was 15, one of the few people who said, 'Well done', was my drama teacher, and she was really brilliant. She was a powerful woman. Those women change your life. You always remember them. There was something about her. She basically made me feel very good about myself as a 15-year-old girl." Abandoning her childhood ambition to become a nurse, Ripley decided to go into acting.
Her father wanted to send her to a finishing school in Switzerland but, in an effort to rebel from her middle class Home Counties background, Ripley instead went to a local state college in Surrey, where she took A-levels in communication studies, art, and drama.Ross, Deborah (29 April 2002). "The Deborah Ross Interview: Cold Feet, hot property". The Independent (Independent News & Media): pp. 4–5 (features section). During her time at the college, Ripley performed her own small shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In an effort to "bring Brecht to the masses", she performed The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the 1983 festival.Smith, Aidan (9 November 2000). "According to Ripley". The Scotsman (Scotsman Publications): p. 8.Staff (26 October 2003). "My first crash: Fay Ripley". The Sunday Times (Times Newspapers): p. 24 (Driving supplement).
After completing her A-levels, Ripley sought entry to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. It took her three attempts before she was accepted onto an acting course at the age of 20. While at drama school, Ripley lived in a flat in Streatham, south London, during a time she described as "horrible and penniless". To support herself financially, she sold menswear door-to-door, timeshares on Kensington High Street and Oxford Street, worked as a receptionist at a health club, and spent five years as children's entertainer "Miss Chief the Clown".Grice, Elizabeth (6 October 2006). "'People cross the road to tell me how ridiculous I look'". The Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Media Group): p. 23 (Woman section). As Miss Chief, Ripley performed magic tricks and painted faces at children's parties. The work paid off when she was able to get a mortgage on her first flat, stating clown as her occupation.
Career Early career Ripley graduated from drama school in 1990."Acting graduates include... ". Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Retrieved 27 July 2009. Her first role afterwards was playing Osatko in the chorus of Around the World in 80 Days at the Liverpool Playhouse during the 1990–1991 pantomime season. She had ten lines in Japanese.Staff (13 December 1990). [Pantomime listings]. The Stage and Television Today: p. 26. Her next role came at the end of the year in the Manchester Royal Exchange's production of Medea.Staff (31 October 1991). "Production news". The Stage and Television Today: p. 12. Ripley recalled, "It was only my second job, and I took it all very seriously, in my Greek sarong and my torch of fire, having to burble in tongues."
Ripley's early television and film career was characterised by minor roles as prostitutes or mistresses; for her first film appearance she filmed two scenes as a prostitute in Frankenstein (1994), directed by Kenneth Branagh. In the first scene, her character was strangled by the creature (played by Robert De Niro's stand-in). The second scene featured De Niro himself, though Ripley's character was lying dead in a mortuary throughout. Pleased with what looked like her breakout role, Ripley bought a dress for the premiere, though she was distraught when Branagh sent her a card apologising for cutting her scenes from the finished film.
The same year, she filmed the role of Karen Hughes, the sister of a mute character who believes she sees a murder, in the low-budget film Mute Witness (1995), directed by Anthony Waller. After Mute Witnesss British television premiere in 1999, a Daily Record critic wrote that Ripley's dramatic scenes were not as good as her comic ones.Staff (22 May 1999). "Wink 'n' nod thriller". Daily Record (Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail): pp. 30–31. In 1995, she appeared in an episode of Channel 4's Alan Davies vehicle One for the Road and made her last theatre appearance for almost thirty years as a cast member in the Bush Theatre's Two Lips, Indifferent Red.Staff (10 September 1995). [Theatre listings]. The Observer (Guardian Newspapers): p. 154.
In 1996, she had a role in Stephen Poliakoff's Frontiers, and played a club barmaid in Dennis Potter's penultimate television series Karaoke. The following year she had roles in the comedy film Roseanna's Grave (Paul Weiland, 1997), an episode of The Bill—as a woman whose nanny is accused of stealing from her—and a two-part episode of the Kevin Whately series The Broker's Man as a police officer. Her role in The Broker's Man was one of the few occasions on which Ripley played a police officer; she has frequently declined offers of similar roles because she does not want to "summon up the misery" to play a character that performs post-mortem examinations or investigates murders when she could be starring in more true to life and funny programmes.Welch, Andy (11 July 2009). "Fay is just off her trolley". Western Morning News (Northcliffe Newspapers Group): p. 25.
Breakthrough roles In 1996, Ripley auditioned for Granada Television's Cold Feet, a television pilot about the romances of three couples living in Manchester. She believed she was reading for the role of Rachel, the "young, pretty one", and was surprised to discover that she was wanted for Jenny, the "northern housewife". In the audition, she performed with an inelegant approximation of a local Manchester accent. The producers found her approach to the role refreshing from other actresses, who were seen as too "finger-wagging". Ripley won the role, and appeared opposite John Thomson and James Nesbitt in the programme.Tibballs, Geoff (2000). Cold Feet: The Best Bits.... London: Granada Media: p. 12. . After the pilot won an award, ITV's director of programmes commissioned a series of Cold Feet, so Ripley worked on improving her character's accent by speaking to locals and mimicking their speech.Smith, Rupert (2003). Cold Feet: The Complete Companion. London: Granada Media: p. 75. . Her supporting character from the pilot episode was given a bigger role in the series; in the first episode (broadcast in 1998), Jenny gives birth to her first child. At that time, Ripley had never experienced childbirth, so copied birth scenes she had seen in other television series.Tibballs, p. 35. An Independent review of the first series in November 1998 noted, "Fay Ripley has a range of quirky mannerisms that are more reminiscent of Elaine in Seinfeld than of any other Brit-com woman."Barber, Nicholas (22 November 1998). "Comedy drama: What's less believable than Dr Who? ". The Independent (Independent Newspapers): pp. 9–10 (TV features section).