Claudie Blakley, birth name Claudia, is the sister of Kirsten Blakley, the lead singer with indie band Little Spitfire. Their mother is actress Lin Blakley and their father was Alan Blakley, bassist with Brian Poole's Tremeloes, who had several pop hits in the 1960s. Sadly Alan died of cancer in 1996 and missed seeing his daughters' success. Claudie graduated from London's Central School of Speech and Drama and in 1997 was hailed as a bright and fresh Wendy in the National Theatre's Christmas production of 'Peter Pan'. Staying with the National she went with them for their 1998-99 season at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, where she received the Ian Charleson Award as best young performer for her role in Chekhov's 'The Seagull'. In the early 2000s she appeared in ensemble costume films Gosford Park (2001) and The Cat's Meow (2001), before returning to the stage in 2003 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company, and she has been acclaimed chiefly as a stage actress, though she was a touching Charlotte Lucas in Joe Wright's film of Pride & Prejudice (2005) and, in 2007, completed two further ensemble costume pieces for television, Cranford (2007) and Lark Rise to Candleford (2008).