Lysette Anthony (born Lysette Chodzo September 26, 1963 in London, England) is an English film, television, and theatre actress. Her parents are actors Michael Anthony (Michael Chodźko) and Bernadette Milnes. Heralded as the "Face of the Eighties" by David Bailey at the age of 16, Anthony was a highly successful model before she became a household name as an actress at the age of 20.
Anthony’s work in films includes Krull with Kenneth Marshall and Freddie Jones, the 1988 mini series Jack the ripper as Mary Jane Kelly with Michael Caine and Jane Seymour, Without A Clue again with Michael Caine and also Ben Kingsley, Woody Allen’s award winning Husbands and Wives in which she played Sydney Pollack’s neurotic mistress. Further film credits include: Farewell to Harry, The Loch with Patrick Bergin, the Miramax/Dimension feature Tale of the Mummy with Christopher Lee, Mel Brooks' Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde with Sean Young; Tri-Star’s Look Who's Talking Now with John Travolta, The Advocate starring alongside Colin Firth and The Lady and the Highwayman with Hugh Grant and Emma Samms.
Well-known to television audiences, Anthony’s numerous credits include ITV’s Murder in Suburbia, a regular role in the award winning soap opera Night & Day (ITV), Hotel! for Channel 5, BBC’s Jonathan Creek, Oliver Twist, Dombey and Son, Campion, Lovejoy and ITV’s Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. She also starred for six years in the repeated BBC sitcom Three Up, Two Down. She is also memorable as portraying Angelique the Witch for eight episodes of the primetime revival of the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, in which she spoke with a French accent.
Her television appearances in 2006 included guest lead roles in Casualty and a new sit-com pilot, Baggy Trousers. She also recently played the roles of Rachel Heath, a semi regular character in The Bill and Veronica Cray in The Hollow, a two-part Poirot film for ITV, with David Suchet.
Anthony was part of a sell-out run at the Trafalgar Studios in the West End as Arabella Lucretia in the hit comedy The New Statesman, with Rik Mayall, directed by Josie Rourke. She has also played the role of Joanna Lyppiatt in Noel Coward's Present Laughter (with Simon Callow) and the role of Eleanor in Terry Johnson's Dead Funny at The West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Anthony’s other notable theatre credits include The Vagina Monologues at The Royal Albert Hall and the role of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis in the Broadway transfer of Jackie at the Queen's Theatre, the lead in 23:59 at The Crucible, Sheffield, Toys In the Attic at Watford with Hayley Mills, Restoration at Bristol Old Vic, The Lady's Not for Burning at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter, Ibsen’s Ghosts and The New Statesman with Rik Mayall.
Anthony also appeared in music videos for artists such Bryan Adams ("Run to You") and Depeche Mode ("I Feel You").
In 2008, Anthony guest starred as Clara Harris in the Doctor Who audio adventure Assassin in the Limelight.
