Aisling Loftus

Aisling Loftus (born 1 September 1990) is an English actress. Loftus is best known for portraying Agnes Towler on the ITV series Mr Selfridge and Sonya Rostova on the BBC historical drama series War & Peace.

Aisling Loftus
Born	1 September 1990 Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2000–present
Known for	Mr. Selfridge War & Peace Pride & Prejudice & Zombies A Discovery of Witches
Spouse(s)	Jacob Anderson

Early and personal life

Loftus was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, the daughter of Irish parents, Paddy and Eileen Loftus; she has an older sister, Aoife.[1] She began acting at age nine at the Carlton Workshops, and later took her A-Levels at the Becket School in Nottingham. She played several small roles in television dramas and films, including This Is England.

In December 2018, Loftus married actor Jacob Anderson.[2]

Acting career

Loftus made her mainstream television debut in 2000, when she appeared in an episode of Peak Practice. Subsequently, Loftus has appeared in various television series, including Casualty, Doctors, The Bill, and in the ITV comedy drama The Fattest Man in Britain, starring Timothy Spall and Bobby Ball.[3]

In 2008 Loftus was described as a "star of tomorrow" in Screen International magazine.[4][5] She also appeared in Daniel Elliott’s short Jade, which won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2009.[3][6]

In 2010 Loftus starred in the BBC drama Five Daughters as murder victim Gemma Adams. In July of the same year she took the leading female role in another BBC drama, Dive, by BAFTA award winning Dominic Savage and Simon Stevens, in a cast that included Skins actor Jack O'Connell, Eddie Marsan, Gina McKee, Joseph Mawle and Ewen Bremner. Dive was critically acclaimed, Euan Ferguson of The Observer predicting that Aisling "Ash" Loftus will be a "phenomenon."[7]

Loftus played Leonie Fowler in the summer box office hit Spur of the Moment by Anya Reiss at the Royal Court Theatre in 2010[8] in London where she has received favourable reviews with Dominic Cavendish of The Daily Telegraph calling her "superb."[9] In February 2017, she played Joan in the fortieth anniversary production at Nottingham Playhouse of Touched by Stephen Lowe.[10]

In 2011 Loftus starred in a new BBC TV film version of The Borrowers broadcast on Boxing Day, as Arrietty. This was followed up in 2012 with roles in two BBC series : Jade in Public Enemies and Cassandra in Good Cop and in 2013 by the role of Agnes Towler in ITV's Mr. Selfridge. In 2016, she played Sonya Rostova in the BBC prime-time drama War & Peace.

Filmography

Year	Title	Character	Production	Notes
2000	The Worst Witch		ITV
2000	Peak Practice	Abby Moffett	ITV	1 episode
2001	A Fish Out of Water	Angela	BBC
2004	Help! I'm a Teenage Outlaw	Montague's Food Tester	ITV	1 episode
2005	Doctors	Emma Tyler	BBC	1 episode
2006	This Is England		Shane Meadows film	Part was cut from the theatrical release
2006	Casualty	Mellie Bennett	BBC	1 episodes
2006	Blind Man's Alley	Player 4	Tony Kelly short film
2008	The Bill	Sophie Randall	ITV	2 episodes
2008	Doctors	Ellie Lowell	BBC	1 episode
2008	Casualty	Jo Balmayne	BBC	1 episode
2009	The Fattest Man in Britain	Amy	ITV	One-off drama
2009	Jade	Jade	Daniel Elliot short film	Won a Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival
2010	Oranges and Sunshine	Susie	Jim Loach's first feature film
2010	Thorne: Sleepyhead	Rachel	Sky 1	3-part drama
2010	Dive	Lindsey	BBC	2-part drama
2010	Five Daughters	Gemma Adams	BBC	2 episodes
2011	Death of a Superhero	Shelly	Grand Pictures
2011	The Borrowers	Arrietty Clock	BBC
2011	Page Eight	Melissa Legge	BBC
2011	Case Histories	Lily Rose/Tanya	BBC	2 episodes
2012	Good Cop	Cassandra	BBC
2012	Public Enemies	Jade	BBC	2 episodes
2012	Little Crackers	Maria	Sky One	1 episode
2013–2015	Mr. Selfridge	Agnes Towler/Leclair	ITV
2016	Pride & Prejudice & Zombies	Charlotte
2016	War & Peace	Sonya Rostova	BBC	6 episodes
2016	Property of the State	Ann Marie	Kit Ryan film
2017	Broken	PC Dawn Morris[11]	BBC	3 episodes
2017	Midsomer Murders	Tegan Langton	ITV	1 episode[12]
2017	Gun Shy	Marybeth
2018	A Discovery of Witches	Sophie Norman	Sky One	5 episodes

References

1. Radio Times, 3–9 July 2010
2. Instagram
3. Loftus profile on IMDb
4. "Loftus in This Is Nottingham". Archived from the original on 23 December 2009. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
5. "Loftus in the Television Workshop website". Archived from the original on 25 September 2008. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
6. 'Jade wins Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Short Film' on the UK Film Council website
7. Ferguson, Euan (11 July 2010). "TV review: Dive; Identity; To Kill a Mockingbird at 50". The Guardian. London.
8. "Spur of the Moment".
9. Cavendish, Dominic (21 July 2010). "Spur of the Moment, Royal Court, review". The Daily Telegraph. London.
10. https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2017/touched-review-nottingham-playhouse/
11. "IMDB Cast". Retrieved 7 June 2017.
12. "Meet the cast of Midsomer Murders". RadioTimes. Retrieved 20 January 2017.

External links

• Aisling Loftus at IMDb
• Loftus on Screen Daily website
• BBC: Aisling Loftus in Dive
• LeftLion: Aisling Loftus