Famous Welsh Women

Catherine Zeta-Jones is one of the most popular and successful actresses from Wales. Starting out as a child actress, Catherine went on to cement her place in the American film industry with roles that accentuated her sex appeal. She is the recipient of several awards. Also a well-known humanitarian, she was appointed CBE for her humanitarian and film endeavors.

Shirley Bassey is one of the most popular Welsh singers of all time. Blessed with an expressive voice, Shirley Bassey is renowned for recording the theme songs of popular James Bond movies, such as Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, and Goldfinger. In 2000, she was appointed a DBE for services to performing arts.

Known for her signature raspy voice and blonde locks, Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler soared to fame with her Billboard-charting track It's a Heartache. The 3-time Grammy-nominated singer has previously also sung for the UK at Eurovision. She is also a philanthropist and invests in property, too.

British actress Perdita Weeks is known for her role in the CBS reboot series Magnum P.I. An alumnus of the Courtauld Institute of Art, she always knew she wanted to be an actress. She began acting as a child and her passion for the profession only intensified with time. She primarily acts on TV and a done a few films.

Charlotte Church is a Welsh actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, and television presenter. She achieved popularity after hosting her own chat show for Channel 4, The Charlotte Church Show. As a recording artist, Church has won many awards, including a Hollywood Reporters Young Star Award and Classical BRIT Award. She has also published an autobiography named Voice of an Angel.  

While Classic FM named her The Biggest Selling Classical Artist of the Century, Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins released 13 number-1 albums by age 23. Initially a singing teacher, Jenkins had also worked as a tour guide and a model. Her $10 million record deal with Warner Bros. was the biggest-ever in classical music.

Sian Phillips is a respected Welsh actress whose achievements over the course of her career spanning over seven decades were honored with a Radio Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 BBC Audio Drama Awards. Sian Phillips, who has won prestigious awards, such as BAFTA TV Award, was appointed DBE during the New Year Honours in 2016.

Known for her trademark gap between her front teeth, Welsh actor Eve Myles is best known for her roles series such as Belonging. Her phenomenal performance in an episode of Doctor Who in 2005 earned her the lead role in the spin-off Torchwood. She is also an award-winning stage actor.

Welsh actor Ruth Jones apparently wasn’t too confident of her being accepted into a drama school and thus had only applied to one, the Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she ended up being accepted. The fine comedian is known for appearing in and co-writing the BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey.  

Initially aspiring to be a classical singer, Aimee-Ffion Edwards had her first stint with showbiz on the show Wawffactor. As a teenager, she was the only girl in a rugby team. She is equally at ease playing a working-class mother in The Left Behind and a gypsy in Peaky Blinders.

Welsh actor-director Erin Richards is best known to audiences for her roles in the series Gotham and Breaking In. She has also appeared in films such as The Quiet Ones and That Good Night. She likes doing her own stunts and is fond of low-budget productions with good storylines.

Mandy Rice-Davies was a British model and a showgirl, best remembered for her involvement in the Profumo affair that damaged the credibility of Harold Macmillan's Conservative government in early 1960s. Later, she opened a restaurant and a nightclub in Tel Aviv and publishing three books including her autobiography. She also appeared in a number of films and television productions.  

Actor Alexandra Roach was already a regular on the Welsh soap Pobol Y Cwm by her teens. She later trained at the National Youth Theatre and then at RADA. She played the younger version of Margaret Thatcher in the biographical drama The Iron Lady. She also played Mary Boleyn in The Tudors.

BAFTA-winning actor Rachel Roberts is best remembered as Mrs. Margaret Hammond from This Sporting Life, a role that also earned her Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. A theater veteran, she has also won a Drama Desk Award. Her journals were published following her suicide by drug overdose.

Cardiff-born actor Mali Harries is best known for her roles in Pobol y Cwm and Hinterland. She has been nominated for a BAFTA Cymru and was once voted one of the 10 Sexiest Woman in Wales in an online poll.  She has also been part of films such as Leap Year.

Laura Ashley was a Welsh businesswoman and fashion designer. She is credited with co-founding a British textile design company called Laura Ashley plc, which became an international retail chain after some 20 years from its founding. Two years after her death, the Laura Ashley Foundation was established in order to fund arts and social welfare projects.

While BAFTA-winning veteran actor Margaret John initially wished to be a vet or a nurse, her aversion to blood made her choose acting. Known for her role in Pobol y Cwm, she was one of the 31 actors to be part of both the Doctor Who series of the 1960s and the 2000s.

While she began singing at age 13, Welsh singer Jemma Griffiths, better known as Jem, also earned a law degree, pushed by her lawyer father. Experimenting with both electronica and pop/rock, she created masterpieces such as They and Wish I. Her music has been featured in movies such as Monster-in-Law.

While she was catapulted to fame with the 90s’ pop group Steps, famous for hits such as 5,6,7,8, Lisa Scott-Lee later launched her solo career. She also ventured into reality TV, with the show Totally Scott-Lee and now works as a head teacher at a performing arts academy in Dubai.

Best known for hosting music shows on various BBC Radio networks, singer-songwriter Cerys Matthews had also previously established the Welsh band Catatonia. She also writes and presents documentaries and has been a reporter for the TV magazine The One Show. Her album Tir has been the best-selling Welsh album in a decade.

Known for her stage roles in Wicked and The Wizard of Oz, Sophie Evans has also had a long association with the Mid-Rhondda Operatic Society. She was also the runner-up on Over the Rainbow and has been part of films such as Pride. She has performed at numerous charity and sports events, too.

Known as Two Ton Tessie for her plus-size built, Tessie O'Shea was a Welsh entertainer who had begun performing at age 6. Known for her signature hats and striped stockings, she later soared to fame singing bawdy tracks. She also won a Tony Award for The Girl Who Came to Supper.

British author Sarah Waters soared to fame with her debut novel, Tipping the Velvet, and is known to include lesbian protagonists in her writings. Three of her books have been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Initially an academic, she also has a PhD in LGBT fiction. She is herself openly lesbian.

Welsh harpist Hannah Stone had started performing at age 8 and has since played for the British Royal Family quite a few times. She was also named the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales back in 2011. She is now married to bass-baritone opera singer Sir Bryn Terfel.

A close associate of Samuel Johnson, Hester Thrale was married to an affluent brewer named Henry Thrale but, following Henry’s death, got married to her daughter’s Italian music teacher. A renowned diarist, she released volumes of letters and anecdotes of Samuel Johnson after Johnson’s death.

Born to a Welsh opera singer, Judith Owen was never a stranger to music. A talented singer-songwriter in her own right, she is known for tracks such as Hand on My Heart, which was featured on the soundtrack of As Good As It Gets. She now co-owns a record label with her husband.

Catrin Finch began playing the harp at 6 and was part of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain by 10. Once the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales, she is also a breast cancer survivor. A mother of two by her previous husband, she is now married to her lesbian partner.

Author Kate Roberts was perhaps the first woman to make a significant impact in Welsh literature. The poverty and harsh living standards of Welsh villages was the predominant theme of most of her writings. She was mostly known for her short story collections, such as Tea in the Heather.

Welsh soprano Margaret Price was regarded as one of the greatest singers of her time. Starting her singing lessons at age 9, she won a scholarship to the Trinity School of Music at 15. Born with a leg deformity, she struggled with leg pain throughout her life. Post-retirement, she became a dog breeder.

Best remembered for her book The Descent of Woman, author Elaine Morgan was a 2-time BAFTA-winning TV write, who had penned many adaptations, and a scientific theorist. She propagated the aquatic ape theory of human evolution, suggesting that all other theories had been negligent of a woman’s role in evolution.