The story of one of Britain's most talented and prolific actresses and proud Jewess.
Tracy-Ann Oberman (c) Daily Mirror
Early life and education
Tracy-Ann Oberman was born in Brent,Greater London on 25th August 1966 and is of Jewish background. She grew up in North London, attending Heathfield School for Girls, before going on to study Classics at Leeds University; however, after a year she moved to Manchester University to pursue drama. After graduating she was accepted into the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she trained as an actor. In 1991, Oberman studied for a term at the Moscow Art Theatre School as part of her training. Oberman has spoken of how her drive for professionalism was a result of her parents' initial concern with her career choice.
As she came from a strong legal background, her family "weren't wildly happy" about her desire to become an actress: "My parents were always making me watch Rumpole of the Bailey, going 'You see? It's just like acting, you make things up, you wear a wig and a funny outfit. Why not the law?' But I just always wanted to act, as far back as I remember."[ Her joining the Royal Shakespeare Company though, finally won her parents over. However, in a 2004 interview, Oberman noted that her father's death seven years earlier prevented his seeing the development of her career and her national success as an actor: "I've come a long way in my career since he died and I wish he was here to see it. He was a big EastEnders fan so I know he'd be very, very proud of me."
ACTING - THEATRE
After leaving the Central School of Speech and Drama, Oberman joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1993 she took part in the RSC's award-winning production of Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine as "Olympia". This was followed by roles in The Changeling, as "Diaphanta", A Jovial Crew in the part of "Joan Cope", and The Beggar's Opera where she played Molly Brazen. In 1994 she completed her run at the RSC playing in Macbeth and A Christmas Carol.
After performing in several West End productions, Oberman played at the Royal National Theatre in Clifford Odets' Waiting for Lefty during 1999. This was followed by starring in School Play at the Soho Theatre. The play was lauded by The Guardian critic Michael Billington as a "remarkable" production, praising Oberman for her successful portrayal of Miss Fay as "the teacher torn between her career and her pupil's potential".
In 2003, Oberman returned to the National in Edmond, playing opposite Kenneth Branagh. Her role as wife to Branagh's title character was well received by some critics, Norman Miller in a BBC News review commended Oberman for making a particular "impression".
That year also saw her star in Hello and Goodbye at the Southwark Playhouse. According to Fiona Mountford in The Evening Standard, the production was "given the outing of its life by" Oberman and her co-star, Zubin Varla. The review in The British Theatre Guide was similarly positive, praising Oberman who "rages away" in the role of "Hester", and delivers "one of the best performances in town". She took a couple of years away from acting with the birth of her daughter in August 2006. At the end of 2007 she returned full-time to work in the West End revival of Boeing-Boeing, playing "Gretchen" opposite Jean Marsh and Jennifer Ellison.
In July 2008 Oberman starred in the world premiere of On the Rocks as Frieda Lawrence, wife of novelist D. H. Lawrence. The play, by Amy Rosenthal, follows the marriage of the Lawrences during one idyllic summer in 1916, most reviews following the line taken by Benedict Nightingale of The Times in declaring Oberman to have given a "fine performance... as a gloriously sensual, blowsily defiant Frieda".In 2011, she played in the touring production of Earthquakes in London by Mike Bartlett which was an updated version of the National Theatre / Headlongs production earlier that year.
In December 2012 Oberman returned to the stage at the Hampstead Theatre in the premiere of Old Money by Sarah Wooley directed by Terry Johnson. In 2015, Oberman played the role of Isabella Blow in the play McQueen, at the St James Theatre, London .
She is known for roles including Chrissie Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2004–2005) and Valerie Lewis or "Auntie Val" in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner (2011–2020).
Following training at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, Oberman spent four years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, before joining the National Theatre. Her theatrical experience includes appearing with Kenneth Branagh in David Mamet's Edmond (2003) and a run in the West End revival of Boeing-Boeing (2007–2008). She appeared in a production of Earthquakes in London in its 2011 run as Sarah Sullivan. Oberman has performed in more than 600 radio plays since the mid-1990s.
Oberman's TV credits have also included Doctor Who, Mistresses, Robin Hood, and Doctors. Before EastEnders, Oberman appeared in a variety of television programmes including Casualty (1997–1998), Kiss Me Kate (1998), and The Bill (2000), and carved out a comedic niche with leading roles in Bob Martin (2000–2001), Lenny Henry In Pieces (2000–2003), Big Train (2002), and Toast of London (2013–2015). She had a recurring role in the penultimate and last series of procedural comedy-drama New Tricks (2014–2015) as Fiona Kennedy, a forensic pathologist. Oberman appeared in Tracey Ullman's Show and Tracey Breaks the News from 2016 to 2018.
Oberman has contributed to several radio sketch shows and, in 2008, co-authored with Diane Samuels the play 3 Sisters on Hope Street. In 2010, she wrote and starred alongside Catherine Tate in her BBC Radio 4 play Bette and Joan and Baby Jane and in 2012 wrote the BBC Radio 4 play Rock and Doris and Elizabeth. In 2015 she wrote and starred in the third part of her Hollywood Trilogy for BBC Radio 4, Mrs. Robinson, I Presume, alongside John Simm and Kevin Bishop. Oberman was a regular columnist for The Guardian newspaper during 2007, for which she is still an occasional contributor. She was a regular contributor to The Jewish Chronicle (2009–2017) and also contributes to Red magazine.
Television and EastEnders
Her first major television role was in 1997 when she was cast as Zoe Gerrard, a security officer in the medical drama Casualty.
In 1998, she joined the cast of Comedy Nation, a satirical sketch show that featured some of Britain's leading up-and-coming comedians, such as Sacha Baron Cohen, Julian Barratt, and Robert Webb. This was followed by an assortment of parts in various television productions, including a performance in a two-part story for the police serial The Bill in 2000.
That year Oberman was cast as series regular "Beverly Jordan" opposite Michael Barrymore in Bob Martin, and became a lead performer in Lenny Henry in Pieces, starring actor/comedian Lenny Henry, which ran until 2003. In 2002 Oberman joined the second and final series of the sketch show Big Train, performing beside comedians Simon Pegg and Catherine Tate.The following year saw the Harringham Harker move from radio to television as part of BBC 2's Autumn line-up alongside The Office and Coupling, with Oberman continuing in her role as lead and writer.
She has appeared in many other TV programmes, including; The Way It Is (2000), Bob Martin (2000–2001) opposite Michael Barrymore, Lenny Henry in Pieces (2000–2001), Big Train (2002), SuperTex (2003) and in episodes of Doctors, The Last Detective, Where the Heart Is, The Bill, Casualty. She played the previously unseen character of Marion in a special half-hour episode of the monologue series Marion and Geoff in 2001.
In 2004, Oberman moved away from comedy to join the BBC soap opera EastEnders, after she was cast as Chrissie Watts, the second wife of "one of the best-loved villains in soap history", "Dirty" Den Watts. It was a role she played for almost two years, and which brought her public recognition Before long, Oberman would become one of the leading regulars of the show and at the forefront of several storylines. At the time, though, television critics pointed to Oberman's extensive theatrical background and questioned: "why would an actress with such pedigree agree to be in EastEnders?" Oberman has continuously responded by placing the move in the context of her professional exposure, noting her position as a "jobbing actress" at the time and her desire to return to drama after her recent comedic roles. Making her debut on 29 April, Oberman was viewed as an "overnight success" in the role of Chrissie, with Amy Raphael of The Telegraph feeling that the actress "easily upstaged the rest of the cast with her three-dimensional portrayal of a classic soap bitch". In 2005, "18 million people" watched her character kill Den in a fit of rage to mark the 20th anniversary of EastEnders, with Oberman "anchoring" the show's success that year and dominating drama as Chrissie, who "packed into a year what most soap characters do in three." Commenting on her role two years after she left the show, Oberman concluded:
"I think the character, from the feedback I get, made a huge impact because people couldn't decide whether she was a villain or a victim. In hindsight I loved it; I loved the character, I loved the acting challenge, I loved the discipline. You're learning all the time because you literally do 25 scenes a day, go home, learn another 20 scenes, come in, film 20 scenes, go home... every day for a year and a half, and you do all your own stunts... being punched in the face by Peggy Mitchell and having to fall into a seven-foot grave; it was fantastic. I was only in it for 18 months and it feels like I clocked up about three years worth of TV experience."
Oberman described her time on EastEnders as "hectic", leading her to depart the show during December 2005. However, the role of Chrissie has remained a defining point of her career. In a recent interview, Oberman remarked: "Chrissie was such a wonderful character and the show was watched by so many people, especially the murder of Den, that it opened up doors that I never thought it would. I had some fantastic offers when I left, there were film and theatre... it was wonderful for me; EastEnders is a very good calling card." Oberman has also recently declared her willingness to return to the part of Chrissie and EastEnders, even if only to provide a resolution for the character.
Writing
From 2006 to 2007, Oberman was a regular columnist for The Guardian newspaper. From 2009–2017, she was a regular columnist for The Jewish Chronicle.
Oberman wrote and performed in her first BBC Radio 4 play which went out to great critical acclaim on 29 April 2010. Catherine Tate played Bette Davis and Oberman herself (after persuasion by the producer) played Joan Crawford, with Lorelei King as Hedda Hopper. The play was chosen as Pick of The Week by Gillian Reynolds, and garnered a huge amount of press interest due to the subject matter, and it being Oberman's first radio play.
She followed this up three weeks later by writing and performing her own BBC Radio 4 short story called "Girl on an Island" as part of a series of three called Actors' Voices (along with Anna Massey and James Dreyfus).
On 16 October 2012 BBC Radio 4 broadcast her second radio play Rock and Doris and Elizabeth (starring Frances Barber and Jonathan Hyde as Rock Hudson and Doris Day, and Oberman as Elizabeth Taylor) to very positive feedback. It followed Rock Hudson's AIDS scandal hitting the world's media after appearing on his old friend Doris Day's cable network show. Radio Drama Review Online described it as "poignant and utterly spellbinding".
In December 2020 BBC Radio 4 broadcast her play That Summer Of '67, a dramatisation concerning the production of the ground-breaking film Guess Who's Coming To Dinner.
She has also written comedy sketches and a sitcom for BBC Three, The Harringham Harker.
Oberman co-wrote 3 Sisters on Hope Street with playwright and neighbour Diane Samuels. The play, published in 2008, is a reinterpretation of Chekhov's The Three Sisters, transferring events to Liverpool after the Second World War, and re-casting the Pozorov sisters as three Jewish Englishwomen.
Another radio play written by Oberman was Mrs Robinson, I Presume for BBC Radio 4 which told the story of how the film The Graduate was produced.
Other work
Oberman has appeared as a guest reviewer on an episode of Film 2007 with Jonathan Ross, as a contestant on a Doctor Who special of The Weakest Link – she was the second one voted off – and as a special guest performer in Tim Crouch's two-hander The Oak Tree at the Soho Theatre. In 2004 she came a close second place on Celebrity Mastermind, the specialist subject being The Imperial Roman Family Augustus to Claudius Caesar.
She appeared on Test the Nation.
In September 2005 she was a guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. In 2006 she was the guest on Nigel Slater's A Taste of My Life and in 2007 Oberman appeared on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen. She has featured in the BBC Radio 4 show Rudy's Rare Records.
Oberman is also known for her narration of advertisements and documentaries such as Five's I'm A Celebrity: Who Won! and Channel 4's ’’Escape to the Chateau’’.
She is featured in the video for The Yeah You's debut single "15 Minutes", hosting her fictional chat show, interviewing the rock band.
She made it through to the quarter-finals of Celebrity MasterChef in 2009. She is a regular panellist on The Wright Stuff.
Oberman hosted the "2009 International Hall of Fame Awards" at the International Women's Forum World Leadership Conference in Miami, 7–9 October.[
In 2011 Oberman appeared in Born To Shine singing folk music and playing the guitar.
In 2012, Oberman was a judge, alongside Yiddish scholar, David Katz, on a Channel 4 reality series, Jewish Mum of the Year. Commenting, Maureen Lipman said "It's disgusting. It is very damaging, with anti-Semitism being what it is. Not to mention that being a Jewish mother is nothing like the way they portray it". Former BBC chairman Michael Grade also criticised the programme, saying: "I don't know what it was supposed to be. They seemed to cram in every cliché in the book".
Oberman has narrated many documentaries on Channel 5.
She hosts the podcast Trolled with Tracy Ann Oberman, with past guests including Danny Baker, Rachel Riley, Dom Joly and more. Oberman has also appeared on other podcasts, including The QuaranTea Break Podcast with Simon Ward.
Views on Israel and antisemitism
Oberman has described Israel as "a country I love", has friends and family living there and has holidayed there throughout her life. In April 2012, and again in September 2014, she called on supporters of Israel to be more active in campaigning on Twitter. She resigned as a member of the Labour Party in 2016 due to its delay in concluding the disciplinary process of Ken Livingstone after he referred to Hitler "supporting Zionism" during his early years in power.
In February 2019, Oberman and Rachel Riley instructed a lawyer to take action against 70 individuals for tweets which they perceived to be either libelous or tantamount to harassment, related to their campaign against allegations of antisemitism in the Labour party.[51] As a result, Riley and Oberman sued one person who had retweeted a link to an article which had accused Oberman and Riley of harassing a young Labour activist who had commented on accusations of antisemitism in the Labour Party. In May 2019, a High Court judge ruled that the article that was linked in the tweet was defamatory. In July 2020, Riley and Oberman dropped their joint libel suit and contributed towards the defendant's legal costs.
In late April 2019, Oberman was one of over 100 celebrities who signed a statement against a campaign advocating the boycotting of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest which was held that year in Israel. In December 2019, Oberman spoke at a rally held by Campaign Against Antisemitism in Parliament Square, calling for solidarity with British Jews.
On 4 April 2021, Oberman falsely accused politician and academic Philip Proudfoot of antisemitism, claiming he had a Twitter "Jew Blocklist" On 26 April 2022, she issued a statement apologising for her inaccurate and "hurtful comments", noting that she would pay "substantial damages" to Proudfoot along with his legal costs.
Personal life
Oberman is Jewish, and has said that "Surprisingly, to me, it all came back to being Jewish. I say surprisingly because I spent most of my 20s and early 30s on a path that took me far from my religion" In December 2004, she married music producer Rob Cowan. In August 2006, she gave birth to their daughter.
This article is an edited version of the Wikipaedia biography