Rebecca Jayne Callard is an English actress and writer.
Early life
She was born Rebecca Jayne Atkinson, the only surviving child from her mother Beverley Callard's first marriage to Paul Atkinson. Her parents divorced in 1978, and her mother remarried three times, to David Sowden, Steven Callard, and Jon McEwan. As a young actor, Rebecca was credited in early roles as Rebecca Sowden; she changed her stage name to Rebecca Callard following her mother's 1989 marriage to Steven Callard. As a child Callard lived on Dawsons Corner in Pudsey, Leeds. She attended Intake High School in Farsley, where she was friends with future Spice GirlMelanie Brown and actress Angela Griffin. Callard married actor Gideon Turner in 2001 but they separated in 2016.
Career
Her television roles have included Fiona Brett in Children's Ward, Arrietty Clock in The Borrowers and The Return of the Borrowers, Laura Hutchings in Sunburn, chambermaid Kate Morris in The Grand, and Harriet Marsh in Plotlands. She was also a regular cast member in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series Smelling of Roses, and performed the voice of Tamar in the claymation film The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus. Callard appeared on stage as Juliet at the age of eighteen in Romeo and Juliet, directed by Judi Dench. She played Celia in the UK and US tour of a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, Rosalind being played by Rebecca Hall. After a four-year break, she returned in 2009 with a production of another Shakespeare playMacbeth at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, and in a guest-star role in an episode of the television series Robin Hood. In 2011 she played the part of Ruth Walsh in the drama soap Coronation Street. In 2012 she played Ruth Pulis in the BBC crime drama series Blackout. In 2013 she played Sarah in The Accrington Pals at the Royal Exchange and appeared in the feature filmOrthodox also starring Stephen Graham and Michael Smiley. In 2015 Callard played Grace Wells in the BBC1 series Ordinary Lies. She also played a car mechanic, Toni, in the 2015 Christmas special and 2017 series 3 of the BBC4 comedy Detectorists. In February 2016 she appeared in the BBC drama series Moving On. After appearing in the 2017 ITV drama series, Fearless, she claimed she was relieved not to have any scenes with its star, Michael Gambon, because she and her younger son, George, are such Harry Potter fans that she would have been tempted to "hound him with questions". In 2017 she won a commendation from The Bruntwood Prize for her first play, “A Bit of Light”.
