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Matilda Freeman
British actress (born 2004) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Matilda Freeman (born 2004) is a British actress from Mickle Traffordyoi. She has appeared in various short films and played a leading role in the 2019 feature film The Last Boy. In 2017, after a guest appearance on Doctors, Freeman began playing the regular role of Summer Spellman on the soap opera Coronation Street. For her work on the soap, Freeman was nominated for an Inside Soap Award and a British Soap Award. Freeman left the soap in 2020 to explore other acting opportunities and the role was subsequently recast. She has since appeared in Alma's Not Normal, The Power and Passenger, and is set to appear in the American film Animal Friends.
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Life and career
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Matilda Freeman was born in 2004.[1][2] She is from Mickle Trafford in Cheshire West and Chester.[2] For her education, Freeman attended The Queen's School, Chester.[2][3]
In 2015, Freeman had a leading role in a short film and directed a short trailer with her schoolfriends for the Chester Performs Film Festival.[2] In 2016, Freeman portrayed the role of Esther in the ITV2's sitcom television pilot Dropperz[4] and later that year she filmed scenes for the feature film The Last Boy, which was released in 2019.[1][5][2] Freeman commented that she felt lucky to have had received acting roles at a young age, adding, "I love how you can just lose yourself in another character for a while. You have to be really patient with filming as there are lots of takes but I really enjoyed the atmosphere and meeting so many interesting people who have done so much in their lives".[2][3] Freeman has appeared in various commercials for companies such as Aldi and Vodafone.[6] Freeman acted in various short filmed including Lifeline, Limbo, Strain and The Chime of Youth.[7][8][3] In 2017, Freeman appeared in an episode of Doctors as Chantelle Briggs.[1][6]
From 2017 to 2020, Freeman portrayed Summer Spellman on the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.[1] She appeared in 147 episodes and her first appearance aired in June 2017.[1][9] Freeman's character was introduced as the new adoptive daughter of established characters Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley) and Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) – becoming the first same-sex couple to raise a child in the soap opera – after the death of her father Drew Spellman (Tom Goodwin) and she was involved in a storyline where she collapsed after taking drugs.[10][11][12][13] When she joined the soap, she felt nervous but found working there "fun" and praised her colleagues for being very nice.[14] Freeman enjoyed working with Langley and Brocklebank and has said that she likes to do a mixture of funny and emotional scenes, thought she believed that her "speciality" was crying.[14] Whilst on the soap, Freeman became friends with her co-star Elle Mulvaney (Amy Barlow), who Freeman opined had been the most welcoming.[15][14] For her role as Summer, Freeman was longlisted[16] and later shortlisted for "Best Young Actor" at the 2017 Inside Soap Awards.[3][17][18][19] This was praised by the headmistress of Freeman's school, who called the actress "talented, dedicated and hard-working".[3] This was the first award that Freeman had been nominated for, which she found "amazing" and "exciting".[14] The following year, Freeman was shortlisted for Best Young Actor at the 2018 British Soap Awards.[20][21][22]
During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom, Freeman and three of her Coronation Street co-stars recreated the four-way phone conversation scene from the 2004 film Mean Girls, which received praise online.[23] Later that year, it was announced that Freeman had departed Coronation Street to explore other acting opportunities, with the role being recast to Harriet Bibby.[24] Freeman said of the news, "I'd like to say thank you to my second family, the cast, crew and viewers who have supported me during my time on the cobbles. After three and a half lovely years I felt it was time for a change and I'm excited to be starting that next chapter with a new role."[25] Bibby said that she found it "lovely" that Freeman wished her good luck in regards to joining the soap.[26] Freeman also revealed on social media that she was set to film something abroad later in 2020.[27] Freeman later commented in 2021that she found being on the soap "quite limiting" as she was unable to work other projects due to being on a contract.[28][8]
Freeman portrayed a teenage version of Lin in the sitcom Alma's Not Normal in the sixth episode of its first season, which aired in October 2021.[6][29][30][31] In 2023, Freeman played Leila in the thriller seriesThe Power.[6] In 2024, Freeman portrayed Lilly Wells in the dark comedy-thriller television series Passenger.[1][32] Freeman is set to appear in the upcoming American live action animated road Animal Friends.[6][33]
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Personal life
In June 2021, Freeman publicly came out as bisexual on her Instagram story when answering a question about her sexuality.[34][35][36] Freeman later thanked her fans for the "love and support" that she had received after making revealing her sexuality online, saying, "I really wasn't expecting it and it means the absolute world, you guys are amazing".[37][38]
Filmography
Awards and nominations
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