Charlotte Coleman

Best known for her role as Hugh Grant's eccentric roommate in the 1994 romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, British actress Charlotte Coleman had a talent for playing quirky characters thanks in part to her intense and unique personality. Born into a theatrical London household in April of 1968, the youngest daughter (her sister, Lisa, also an actress) of actress Ann Beach and television producer Francis Coleman began acting at the age of eight, receiving her early education at St. Michael's School in Highgate. Later training at the same Camden club as Emma Thompson, Coleman found much success in her early years with roles in such popular television programs as Worzel Gummidge and Educating Marmalade. Expelled from Camden due to her rebellious nature, the unruly teen attempted to sabotage her own career by giving deliberately bad audition performances, only to be thwarted when she was often offered the roles that she had worked so hard to reject. Following her expulsion from Camden, Coleman had a change of heart regarding her career and later paid for an education at the West Country's progressive Dartington with money that she had earned from television roles. Later noted for her role as a lesbian teen in the BBC production of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Coleman would shoot to fame four short years later with her role alongside Grant in the international hit Four Weddings. Increasingly busy into the later 1990s, Coleman turned up in such films as The Young Poisoner's Handbook (1995), The Man With Rain in His Shoes (1998), and Beautiful People (1999). Turning up in the lead for A Loving Act in 2001, Coleman was gaining increasing momentum when a lifelong illness cut short her promising career. A lifelong asthmatic, Coleman died after suffering a major asthma attack in her London home in November of 2001. Coleman was 33. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide