---
name: "Daniela Nardini"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/daniela-nardini"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "26 April 1968"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T21:54:13.245565+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Daniela Nardini

Actor. Born 26 April 1968 in Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 26 April 1968, Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland, UK

## Fi1m on Daniela Nardini

> Daniela Nardini makes a confident woman’s discomfort worth watching. Her Anna in *This Life* is sharp and sexually assured, but the awkward attraction between her and Jack Davenport’s Miles is what makes us care.

When Nardini’s Anna and Jack Davenport’s Miles respond to each other in *This Life* (1996), attraction becomes another awkward thing to manage. They give us enough to care about without a declaration, and neither actor works to make the pair look especially enviable. We were moved by them because both allow desire to bring out less flattering feelings. The programme’s opening is a little over-arranged, but their scenes give it the untidy human behaviour it needs.

Anna Forbes, the sharp, sexually confident Scottish lawyer, was Nardini’s breakthrough, and it remains a useful performance against which to test the description ‘feisty’. That word tells us little about how she works with another actor. Davenport matters here: their chemistry depends on both performers leaving room for discomfort, rather than presenting attraction as something we should simply applaud. Nardini makes Anna’s wanting matter without asking us to approve of everything it brings with it.

The casting that followed could be restrictive; Nardini found it difficult to escape requests for another version of Anna. She reprised the part in *This Life +10* (2007), and played another driven professional woman as Meredith McIlvanney, the ruthless estate agent in *New Town* (2009). Later film parts included the Chef in *Sunshine on Leith* (2013) and Jean Guthrie in *Sunset Song* (2015). Those credits broaden the list, though we would not use them to displace *This Life* as the starting point for her work.

That is also why we would be wary of recommending her on the promise of a succession of cutting remarks. The pleasure in *This Life* comes from watching two actors respond to one another, with enough uncertainty left between them to make the next exchange matter. A script that only asks Nardini to be formidable would leave much of that unused. Start with Anna and Miles; give the slightly fussy opening time to settle.

## Biography

Daniela Nardini is a Scottish actress. She trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and appeared in early television roles including episodes of Taggart before her breakthrough.

She played Anna Forbes in the BBC Two series *This Life* (1996–1997). The role brought her a BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress in 1998 and a Scottish BAFTA. She received a second Scottish BAFTA in 2009 for her performance in *New Town*. Other credits include *Vera* (2011), *The Fades* (2011), *Sunshine on Leith* (2013) and *Sunset Song* (2015). She has also worked in theatre.

Nardini later trained as a cognitive behavioural therapist and now practises in Glasgow.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, bbc.co.uk, theguardian.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *This Life* (1996), Fi1m 84, as Anna — [page](https://film.one/tv/this-life.md)

## Also known for

- *Vera* (2011), Anne Preece
- *Sunshine on Leith* (2013), Chef
- *Lewis* (2007), Magda Donnelly
- *Sunset Song* (2015), Jena Guthrie
- *The Fades* (2011), Helen
- *The Party's Just Beginning* (2018)

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© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/daniela-nardini