TV NEWS
Why The Woman In The Baileys Commercial Looks So Familiar
By JULIA SELINGER
Actress Hannah Waddingham recently starred in Baileys’ Christmas commercial alongside the UK’s Gold Vocal Collective, and you’ve definitely seen the Emmy winner before.
Waddingham made her film debut in 2008's "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People," but showed off her musical theater bonafides in the 2012 screen adaptation of "Les Misérables."
Les Misérables (2012)
The actress has a small role as a factory worker who is hell bent on getting Fantine fired. In the scene, she shows off her singing chops behind a pair of fake, yellowing teeth.
In 2015, she began playing Septa Unella, also known as the "Shame Nun," in "Game of Thrones," who Cersei gets her revenge on in Season 6 when she waterboards her with wine.
Game of Thrones (2015)
According to Waddingham, the scene made her develop claustrophobia and water phobia, for which she had to seek the help of a mental health professional.
Between 2019 and 2023, Waddingham appeared in 14 episodes of "Sex Education" as Sofia Marchetti, one of Jackson’s moms, who is also one of many queer characters on the show.
Sex Education (2019)
Championing the queer community is important to Waddingham, given her extensive theatre background. "The larger part of my friend group is gay," she told the Gay Times.
Waddingham is probably best known for her Emmy-winning performance as Rebecca Welton, the owner of the Premier League soccer team AFC Richmond, in "Ted Lasso."
Ted Lasso (2020)
Over the course of three seasons, Waddingham showed Rebecca’s humanity, as her character grows from a spiteful villain archetype to a woman who has embraced her own autonomy.
Her most recent feature film was 2022's "Hocus Pocus 2," in which she played Mother Witch, who the Sanderson sisters meet in 17th-century Salem.
Hocus Pocus 2 (2022)
Waddingham told InStyle that she viewed a witch as "a woman who knows she has power, and who's been very misunderstood. And that's been so many of us[…]."