Eve Myles

Eve Myles (born 26 July 1978) is a Welsh actress.

Myles was born on 26 July 1978 in Ystradgynlais.

Her father is Scottish.

She attended Ysgol Maes Y Dderwen, where she learned only basic Welsh phrases.

She grew up with a strong interest in boxing, although she gave up the sport after breaking her knuckle by punching a wet sandbag.

She is best known for her television roles portraying Ceri Lewis in the long-running BBC Wales drama series Belonging (2000–2009), Gwen Cooper in the BBC science-fiction series Torchwood (2006–2011), and Faith Howells in the bilingually produced BBC / S4C drama series Keeping Faith / Un Bore Mercher (2017–2020).

She is also an accomplished theatre actress.

Myles graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 2000.

In 2000, Myles gained a Bachelor of Arts in acting at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff.

Then she moved to London.

In 2000 Myles took on the central role of Ceri Owen (née Lewis) in the BBC Wales drama Belonging. Her longest role to date, Myles played Ceri from the series' first episode through to its final series in 2008, returning for a one-off special in 2009.

Her early UK-wide television credits included the 2001 miniseries Tales from Pleasure Beach and the 2003 television drama Colditz.

In 2001, Myles undertook a role in the television film Score and the TV miniseries Tales from Pleasure Beach. From 2003, Myles based herself in Stratford-upon-Avon, playing Lavinia in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Titus Andronicus and Bianca in The Taming of The Shrew, for both of which she received the Sunday Times Ian Charleson award in 2004.

Myles is a theatre actress, winning an Ian Charleson Award in 2004 for her performances in Royal Shakespeare Company productions of the plays Titus Andronicus and The Taming of the Shrew.

Further theatre credits include both Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 at the National Theatre in 2004, and the role of Emma in the first UK run of Zach Braff's play All New People in 2012.

She took the part of Gwenfar in the BBC Radio Four series of plays "Arthur" by Sebastian Baczkiewicz and Steve May in November 2004.

In 2005, she auditioned for a part in the revived series of Doctor Who, and landed the role of servant girl Gwyneth, in the series 1 episode "The Unquiet Dead", alongside Billie Piper and Christopher Eccleston.

In 2005, appeared opposite Michael Gambon in Henry IV, Part I and II at the National Theatre.

Myles appeared in the ITV drama Colditz in 2005.

She took a supporting role in the Doctor Who episode "The Unquiet Dead", playing servant girl Gwyneth.

This brought her to the attention of lead writer Russell T Davies, who went on to create and produce Torchwood.

Considering her to be "one of Wales' best-kept secrets", Davies wrote the role of Gwen Cooper in Torchwood specifically for Myles.

Speaking on her casting, Myles stated that having the part written for her was like having her "own personal Oscar."

Gwen, an audience surrogate character, is characterised by Myles as Torchwood's "social worker", who "can run and fight and stand in her own corner and win."

Her role in Torchwood also led to Myles making a second appearance in Doctor Who, for its Fourth series' finale, alongside Torchwood co-stars John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd.

Myles appeared in every episode of Torchwood.

Myles also appeared in the first episode of Merlin, "The Dragon's Call", where she played Lady Helen of Mora and Mary Collins, a witch who impersonated her.

Her performance in this role was described positively by Anthony Head, who said that "she did it dead straight and very scarily. There was one moment she was delivering a speech to me in full prosthetic make-up... The French background artists didn't speak English but burst into applause at the end because they were moved by the emotion of it."

Her appearance in Doctor Who led to her winning a lead role in the science-fiction drama's spin-off series Torchwood, in which she portrayed the character Gwen Cooper for four series between 2006 and 2011.

Her role in Torchwood earned her a Bafta Cymru award for Best Actress in 2007.

Myles's subsequent television credits include the 2008 miniseries Little Dorrit, the 2008 premiere episode of the fantasy drama Merlin and the title role in the 2013 drama series Frankie.

She portrayed the character of Maggy Plornish in Andrew Davies' 2008 adaptation of Little Dorrit, which later went on to win seven Emmy awards.

Early 2008 also saw the actress host a radio show centred around Welsh boxer Joe Calzaghe and narrate a short story, Sorry for the Loss by Bridget Keehan, both airing on BBC Radio Wales.

Later that year, she began playing Ceri Lewis in the BBC Wales-produced drama series Belonging, a role she was to continue with until the end of the series in 2009.

2009 saw her star in the independent Welsh film A Bit of Tom Jones, as well as the one-off drama Framed for BBC Wales, alongside Trevor Eve.

In July 2010, Myles announced she would appear in an original BBC Cymru Wales TV series, Baker Boys, co-written by Helen Raynor and Gary Owen and airing in early 2011.

In 2011, she voiced one of the main characters in the video game Dragon Age II.

In 2013, for the TV channel GOLD, she appeared alongside Anthony Head in the comedy-drama You, Me & Them, in a role she reprised in 2015 for the second series.

In 2014, she was cast in the second series of the crime drama series Broadchurch, portraying Claire Ripley.

In 2016, she once again played a Victorian servant, this time Mrs. Jenkins in the ITV period drama series Victoria; she did not reprise the role for series 2.