Joanna Riding

Joanna Riding, born Joanne Riding on 9 November 1967 in Preston, Lancashire, England, is an English actress best known for her work in West End musicals. She grew up on a farm where her father operated a cheese-making business, and she trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School between 1986 and 1989.

Following her training, Riding spent a season at Chichester Festival Theatre, where she took on the roles of Anne Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. It was during this period that she met actor Peter O'Brien; the two married on Christmas Eve 1990 and separated in December 1993. Her early West End work included stepping in as a replacement Sally in Me and My Girl.

Riding's career gained significant recognition in 1993 when she was cast as Julie Jordan in Nicholas Hytner's Royal National Theatre revival of Carousel, a performance that earned her the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. That same year she appeared in the second series of the television comedy Sean's Show, playing Sean Hughes' love interest Lizzie Workman, a character introduced through a parody of the Grease number "Summer Nights." In 1995, she appeared in two National Theatre productions: A Little Night Music, in which she played Anne Egerman opposite Judi Dench, and Richard Eyre's revival of Guys and Dolls, in which she played Sarah Brown.

Riding created the role of Jane Smart in The Witches of Eastwick at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 2000. Two years later, she played Eliza Doolittle in Trevor Nunn's National Theatre revival of My Fair Lady, winning her second Olivier Award for the performance. On 12 May 2002, she took part in the Richard Rodgers tribute concert Some Enchanted Evening at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, performing "An Old Man" from Two by Two; the event was broadcast on BBC Four and subsequently released on DVD.

In 2004, Riding toured in Blithe Spirit, playing Ruth at the Milton Keynes Theatre and Theatre Royal, Bath before bringing the production to the Savoy Theatre in London. That same year she appeared in the television drama The Royal as Sheena, a character dealing with postnatal depression, and in 2006 she guest-starred in Heartbeat as Ange, the sister of PC Rob Walker, in the episode "Keeping Secrets." From December 2008 through May 2010, she starred as Mrs. Wilkinson in the London production of Billy Elliot the Musical at the Victoria Palace Theatre, taking maternity leave from December 2008 to August 2009, during which Kate Graham covered the role. In October 2010, she headlined a one-off concert at Freedom Bar in Soho titled Sondheim in Reverse, staged as part of the composer's 80th birthday celebrations.

During 2011, Riding appeared in two productions at the Gielgud Theatre. From March to May she played Madame Emery in Kneehigh Theatre Company's musical adaptation of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a production that had previously tried out at Leicester's Curve Theatre, and from June to August she played Maria Merelli in Lend Me a Tenor. In 2013, she appeared in the Sky1 comedy series Stella as Melissa and portrayed Valerie Hobson in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Stephen Ward. The following year she appeared in Rob Marshall's film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, playing Cinderella's Mother.

In September 2016 it was announced that Riding would take the leading role of Annie in The Girls, the musical written by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, which opened at the Phoenix Theatre, London in January 2017. When the 2017 London revival of Sondheim's Follies returned to the Olivier Theatre in February 2018, Riding replaced Imelda Staunton in the role of Sally, remaining with the production through May of that year. In May 2019, she reprised the role of Julie Jordan in a concert staging of Carousel at Cadogan Hall, appearing alongside Hadley Fraser and Janie Dee. In July 2022, she played Rose in the Buxton Festival production of Gypsy.

Riding made her Broadway debut in 2025, appearing in Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends. Over the course of her career she has received five Olivier Award nominations, winning two.