Helen Baxendale is an English stage and television actress, best known for her roles as Rachel Bradley in the British comedy-drama Cold Feet (1997-2003) and Emily Waltham in the series American sitcom Friends (1998-1999).
Helen Baxendale’s early credits include Soldiers at the Citizens Theater in Glasgow, which earned her an Ian Charleson Award nomination in 1993. Her other television credits include Heart Arrest (1994-1996), Unsuitable Work for Women (1997-1999), Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino (2001), Coucou (2012-2019) and Noughts + Crosses (2020) years.
Helen Baxendale was born in Pontefract, West Riding of Yorkshire. Her parents are teachers at a general school. Her sister is screenwriter Katie Baxendale. She grew up in Shenstone, Staffordshire and attended King Edward VI School in Lichfield. She wanted to be a ballet dancer and trained at Elmhurst Dance School, until she dropped out at the age of 17 to pursue an acting career. She joined the Bristol Old Vic Theater School, then worked at the Glasgow Citizens Theater from 1992 to 1995.
Through her work at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, Helen Baxendale was cast in the hospital drama series Cardiac Arrest, although this was not her first television role. Her role as Dr. Claire Maitland earned her a Scottish BAFTA nomination in 1995. Her role as Rachel Bradley in the TV series Cold Feet earned her a British Comedy Award nomination. She starred in the film An Unsuitable Job for a Woman as Cordelia Gray.
The 27-year-old Helen Baxendale had a recurring role on Friends as the girlfriend, wife of Ross Geller and eventually ex-wife Emily Waltham. She appeared in fourteen episodes over the course of season 4 and into season 5.
Speaking to The Independent in 2022, Baxendale said, “I saw those people in Friends, for example, and thought: I don’t think that life is really what I want. They were hounded. They weren’t able to walk into a supermarket and buy something…” On the attention she received for being in Friends, she said, “This thing… this programme that I happened to be in for a few episodes. The whole thing was bonkers.” Director James Burrows said Baxendale “…was nice but not particularly funny. Schwimmer had no one to bounce off. It was like clapping with one hand.”
Other notable roles include Lorna Johnson in Truth or Dare with John Hannah, Caroline Meagher in The Investigator with Laura Fraser and Julie Matthews in Curt Truninger’s Dead by Monday. She was nominated for another Scottish BAFTA in 1997 for the role of Lorna Johnson. Dead by Monday won the Angel Award for Best Picture at the 2003 Monaco International Film Festival and the Portland Film Festival’s World Film Award for Best Feature Film in 2001.
She played Pandora Braithwaite in Adrian Mole. The year 2001 Cappuccino and “Maggie” in Bolse Vita have won many awards. She appeared in Saving Nellie, a physics program that aired on Teachers TV. From 2007 to January 2008, she starred in Swimming with the Sharks with Christian Slater at the Vaudeville Theater in London.
Helen Baxendale played Christine in Patrick Marber’s After Miss Julie and in 2005 appeared as Romy, the lead role in The Woman Before at the Royal Court alongside Nigel Lindsay, Saskia Reeves, Tom Riley and Georgia Taylor. She played Ophelia in Hamlet (Hamlet Marovitz) opposite Henry Ian Cusick. She was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award (Best Classical Actor Under 30) for her 1993 performance in Soldiers at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre. In 2009, Helen Baxendale played Lara in Amongst Friends alongside Aden Gillett and Emma Cunniffe at the Hampstead Theatre.
In 2008, Helen Baxendale starred in the third episode of the BBC comedy Cabin Pressure. She has been dating boyfriend David L. Williams since her days in Glasgow. Together they have three children. Her first pregnancy was written in Inappropriate Work for Women and her second pregnancy was written in the fourth series of Cold Feet. Helen Baxendale’s eldest child is actress Nell Williams.
Due to Baxendale’s first pregnancy and the fact that she was living in the UK and not the US, her character was dropped from Friends earlier than the screenwriters had originally planned. She appeared in only 14 episodes, although her character was dating, married, and divorced with Ross Geller (David Schwimmer), one of the show’s six main characters.
What is Helen Baxendale’s relationship status?
Helen Baxendale has been in a relationship with David L. Williams a British-American film director, writer, and producer living in London.
As an active film campaigner in Rwanda and Liberia, his commercial work with the UK production house Shooting Pictures has led to collaborations with comedians including Dom Joly, Russell Brand, and Alistair McGowan.
Williams began his career as an actor, working regularly with theatre director Matthew Lloyd at the Almeida Theatre, Leicester Haymarket and Glasgow Citizens Theatre, where he met his partner, Helen Baxendale. Television and film roles included playing opposite Michael Elphick, and Tom Hollander in the BBC’s “Harry”, and a lead for two series in Russell T Davies BAFTA winning, “The Ward”.
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