--- name: "Sian Clifford" canonical: "https://film.one/person/sian-clifford" fi1m_id: "sian-clifford" imdb_id: "nm5427486" tmdb_id: 1648728 wikidata_id: "Q58008052" roles: ["Actor"] born: "7 April 1982" reviewed_on_fi1m: 6 average_fi1m_score: 76 average_as: "actor" average_over: 6 updated: "2026-10-03T02:56:26.945878+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." --- # Sian Clifford ## Identity Sian Clifford - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/sian-clifford - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** sian-clifford - **IMDb ID:** nm5427486 - **TMDB ID:** 1648728 - **Wikidata ID:** Q58008052 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sian_Clifford, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q58008052, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5427486/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1648728 Actor. Born 7 April 1982 in London, England, UK. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 7 April 1982, London, England, UK - **Active:** 2016–present - **Average Fi1m score:** 76, as actor, over 6 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 90 (1), 2020s 73 (5) - **Fi1m against the critics:** 76 to 74 across 6 titles - **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 3 at 60–79, 1 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 1 of 3 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Comedy 5, Drama 5, Crime 2, Music 2, Mystery 2, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 1 - **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $26m across 3 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sian_Clifford, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q58008052, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5427486/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1648728 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Fleabag*](https://film.one/tv/fleabag.md) (90) - **Peacock:** [*The Ballad of Wallis Island*](https://film.one/film/the-ballad-of-wallis-island.md) (78) - **HBO Max:** [*Mother Mary*](https://film.one/film/mother-mary.md) (58) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Sian Clifford > Sian Clifford plays women who have done everything right and are furious about it, holding themselves together by posture alone. In *Fleabag* that made her the other reason the series works; since then the parts have been smaller than the actor. Watch Claire in *Fleabag* stand in a kitchen. Her back is straight, her mouth is set, and everything she wants to say is being kept in by posture alone. Sian Clifford plays the sister who has done everything right and is furious about it, and the fury never comes out where it should; it comes out sideways, in the pause before she answers and in how carefully she does not raise her voice. The best scenes in either series are the ones the two sisters share in kitchens and toilets and the backs of cars, and Clifford is the reason they are the best. It was a long time coming. She trained at RADA, graduating in 2006, and spent most of a decade in small theatres before Phoebe Waller-Bridge, a friend from drama school, wrote Claire for her. Even then it was not simple. "She wrote the part for me, [but] she had to fight for me to get an audition." *Fleabag* (2016) changed that, and the work since has been steady rather than starry: Martha Crawley in *Vanity Fair* (2018), Diana Ingram in Stephen Frears's *Quiz* (2020), a lead in *Two Weeks to Live* (2020), and film parts in *See How They Run* (2022), *Young Woman and the Sea* (2024) and *The Ballad of Wallis Island* (2025). What she does is narrow and she does it exactly. She is cast as the tightly wound woman, the one with the good coat and the plan, and she plays the plan seriously enough that when it cracks the crack means something. She does not go in for immersion; she turns up, hits the line and lets the character's dignity do the rest. In *Fleabag* we laughed at Claire for whole scenes and then, without warning, felt ashamed of ourselves, and it was the set of Clifford's shoulders that did it: they are held so high for so long that when they drop half an inch it lands harder than any speech. The caveat is one we keep making about her parts, not about her. In *The Ballad of Wallis Island* she is funny in every scene she has as Amanda and is in too few of them, and much the same could be said of most of what she has done since Claire. Directors know what she is for and use her sparingly, as seasoning. Seasoning is not a meal. If you have not seen *Fleabag*, see it, and watch Clifford while Waller-Bridge is talking; the reaction is often funnier than the line. If you have, the thing to hope for is that somebody writes her the part where she is the one in the kitchen with the camera on her, and nobody else gets to speak. ## Biography Sian Clifford is an English actress. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2006. She is best known for playing Claire in the BBC comedy-drama series *Fleabag* (2016–2019), for which she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance and received a Primetime Emmy nomination. Other television roles include Martha Crawley in *Vanity Fair* (2018) and Diana Ingram in *Quiz* (2020). Film credits include *See How They Run* (2022), *The Duke* (2021), *Young Woman and the Sea* (2024) and *The Ballad of Wallis Island* (2025) as Amanda. Her stage work includes *Consent* at the Harold Pinter Theatre, *Pains of Youth* at the National Theatre and *The Road to Mecca* at the Arcola Theatre. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (6) - *Bait* (2026), Fi1m 81, as Vivian Newhouse — [page](https://film.one/tv/bait-2026.md) - *Mother Mary* (2026), Fi1m 58, as Jade — [page](https://film.one/film/mother-mary.md) - *The Ballad of Wallis Island* (2025), Fi1m 78, as Amanda — [page](https://film.one/film/the-ballad-of-wallis-island.md) - *Ludwig* (2024), Fi1m 76, as Joanne Kemper MP — [page](https://film.one/tv/ludwig.md) - *See How They Run* (2022), Fi1m 70, as Edana Romney — [page](https://film.one/film/see-how-they-run.md) - *Fleabag* (2016), Fi1m 90, as Claire — [page](https://film.one/tv/fleabag.md) ## Complete filmography (35) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *All Yours* (2026), Actor - *Lady* (2026), as Lady Isabella - *Mother Mary* (2026), as Jade — Fi1m 58, [page](https://film.one/film/mother-mary.md) - *The Miniature Wife* (2026), series, as Terry Leyland - *Bait* (2026), series, as Vivian Newhouse — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/bait-2026.md) - *The Ballad of Wallis Island* (2025), as Amanda — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-ballad-of-wallis-island.md) - *Ludwig* (2024), series, as Joanne Kemper MP — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/ludwig.md) - *Doctor Who: The Legend of Ruby Sunday & Empire of Death* (2024), as Kind Woman - *Young Woman and the Sea* (2024), as Charlotte 'Eppy' Epstein - *Doctor Who* (2024), series, as Kind Woman - *Chevalier* (2023), as Madame de Genlis - *Unstable* (2023), series, as Anna - *The Magician's Elephant* (2023), as Gloria Matienne (voice) - *A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou* (2023), as Nafaf - *See How They Run* (2022), as Edana Romney — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/see-how-they-run.md) - *The Suspect* (2022), series, as Fenwick - *Life After Life* (2022), series, as Sylvie Todd - *The Duke* (2021), as Dr. Unsworth - *Star Wars: The Bad Batch* (2021), series, as GS-8 (voice) - *Good Grief* (2021), Actor - *Two Weeks to Live* (2020), series, as Tina Noakes - *Quiz* (2020), series, as Diana Ingram - *Hitmen* (2020), series, as The Accountant - *A Serial Killer's Guide to Life* (2020), as Rebirthing Cynthia - *His Dark Materials* (2019), series, as Agent Salmakia - *Dodgy Dave* (2018), as Stephanie - *Vanity Fair* (2018), series, as Martha Crawley - *Fry-Up* (2017), as Rosie - *Liar* (2017), series, as Ruby Allen - *Fleabag* (2016), series, as Claire — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/tv/fleabag.md) - *Inside No. 9* (2014), series, as Iris — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/inside-no-9.md) - *Midsomer Murders* (1997), series, as PC Milton — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/tv/midsomer-murders.md) - *Real Love (Yes, It's Real Love!)*, as Sally - *White Lies*, Actor - *The Worst*, Actor ## Gallery - ![Sian Clifford](https://film.one/media/person/8430/gallery-ea8a1cb0bf76.jpg) Sian Clifford — PunkToad, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Sian_Clifford_Narrates_Rebecca_Solnit_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Power of Story: The People Speak, Egyptian Theater, Sundance Film Festival 2020, Park City UT](https://film.one/media/person/8430/gallery-cb7703cd238b.jpg) Power of Story: The People Speak, Egyptian Theater, Sundance Film Festival 2020, Park City UT — PunkToad, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Sian_Clifford_Narrates_Rebecca_Solnit.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Power of Story: The People Speak, Egyptian Theater, Sundance Film Festival 2020, Park City UT](https://film.one/media/person/8430/gallery-89d1120161e1.jpg) Power of Story: The People Speak, Egyptian Theater, Sundance Film Festival 2020, Park City UT — PunkToad, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Sian_Clifford_Narrates_Vicky_Starr.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) --- © 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/sian-clifford