Pam Ferris | |
---|---|
Ferris in 2012
|
|
Born |
Pamela E. Ferris 11 May 1948 Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1971–present |
Spouse(s) | Roger Frost (m. 1986) |
Parent(s) | Fred Ferris Ann Perkins |
Pamela E. "Pam" Ferris (born 11 May 1948) is a British character actress. She starred on television as Ma Larkin in The Darling Buds of May, and as Laura Thyme in Rosemary & Thyme, and has played parts in family films based on works by British authors, such as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda and as Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and most recently as Sister Evangelina in Call the Midwife.
Ferris was born in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany, to Welsh parents, while her father was serving in the Royal Air Force. Ferris spent her childhood in the Aberkenfig area, near Bridgend in Wales. Her father, Fred Ferris, was a policeman, and her mother, Ann Perkins, worked in her family's bakery business. Her family emigrated to New Zealand when she was 13. Ferris returned to the UK in her early 20s. In 1986, she married actor Roger Frost. She lives in Elham, Kent, South East England.
Ferris performed in her younger years at the Mercury Theatre in Auckland, and later with various regional companies in the UK.
Ferris played motherly Ma Larkin in the ITV series The Darling Buds of May, which ran from 1991 to 1993. She appeared in The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends as Aunt Pettitoes in The Tale of Pigling Bland in 1995. She has also acted in a succession of television dramas. These include: Meantime, in which she played the Cockney mother of Phil Daniels and Tim Roth, Connie, Hardwicke House, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Where the Heart Is and Paradise Heights. From 2003 to 2006, she played the gardening sleuth, Laura Thyme, in Rosemary & Thyme.