Introduction
Maria Eleanor David (born 30 November 1955) is an English actress who has worked on projects in the UK, the US and New Zealand. She won positive reviews for her starring role in the biopic Sylvia, in which she played pioneering educationalist Sylvia Ashton-Warner.
David was born in Lincolnshire. She has appeared in several films and television programmes. Her work includes BAFTA-nominated comedy Comfort and Joy directed by Bill Forsyth, mini-series Paradise Postponed, Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy and Alan Parker's film of Pink Floyd The Wall, in which she played the wife of the main character.
Sylvia
In 1984 David travelled to New Zealand to star as Sylvia Ashton-Warner in the biopic Sylvia. Reviewing her performance, Janet Maslin of The New York Times commented: "Miss David bears a striking resemblance to the real woman and gives an intelligent, compassionate performance, limited only by the uncomplicated reverence with which the film makers regard their heroine." Village Voice critic Andrew Sarris praised the four principal actors and named Sylvia one of the ten best films of 1985.
Television credits
- The Borgias (1981, TV Mini-Series) - Sancia
- Reilly: Ace of Spies (1984, TV Mini-Series) - Eugenie
- Shroud for a Nightingale (1984, TV Mini-Series) - Jo Fallon
- Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1986) - Mrs St Clair
- Paradise Postponed (1986, TV Mini-Series) - Agnes Simcox / Agnes Salter
- Lovejoy (1992) - Katriona Brooksby
- Rumpole of the Bailey (1992) - Elizabeth Casterini
- Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Vanity Dies Hard (1993) - Alice Fielding
- Drop the Dead Donkey (1993) - Lady Caroline
- Midsomer Murders (2001) - Georgina Canning
- The Last Detective(2002) - Tricia Lloyd