Rula Lenska was born in England of Polish parents. She trained at Webber Douglas and made her stage debut as Ruth in Suddenly at Home, which transferred from Windsor to the Fortune Theatre where it played for a year. Rep seasons include Westcliff and Worcester in The Secretary Bird, Forget-Me-Not Lane, Romeo and Juliet and Ghosts and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regents Park Open Air Theatre. National and International tours include: Doris in Same Time Next Year, Phillipa in Double Double, Patricia in Flarepath, and The Real Thing. Other notable stage appearances include Freda Caplan in J B Priestley’s Dangerous Corner in the West End and on tour, Annie Wilkes in Misery, Frances in Present from the Past, Madame Lyuba Ranyevskaya in The Cherry Orchard at the Redgrave; Desiree Arnfelt in A Little Night Music at Plymouth; Valerie Vilma in Vaclav Havel’s Temptation at the Westminster; Elvria in Blithe Spirit at the Churchill and Lyric Theatre; a tour of Alan Ayckbourn’s Confusions, Macbeth at Stafford Festival;

Rula’s first major television role was as Q in Rock Follies, which became a major cult hit, recently released on video and DVD. Many leading roles followed in Boon, Minder, Kappatoo II; Mrs Peacock in Cluedo, Marjorie in An Actors Life for Me with John Gordon Sinclair and Victor Spinetti; Stay Lucky, The Detectives and One Foot in the Grave. Rula played Gilda in BBC’s A Design for Living and starred in Fay Weldon’s Watching Me Watching You. Other appearances on our screens have included The Saint, Private Schultz, The Miser and Take a Letter Mr Jones with John Inman. She played the title role in Morgan of Ravenscar – part of the Robin of Sherwood series and co-starred with John Stride in Conversations with a Stranger. Rula’s most recent starring TV role is EastEnders – a four episode special shot in Spain featuring a major story line with Mike Reid and Barbara Windsor.

Rula made her film debut in Soft Beds; Hard Battles with Peter Sellars and went on to appear in Alfie Darling. Rula recently filmed Fakers and along with her other recent feature Paradise Grove will be released later this year.

Rula has many radio credits, most recently leading role in Half Name for Half Person, a new play for BBC Radio 4. Rula has also recorded numerous audio books, most recently If My Father Loved Me and Ripe for the Picking and narratives about Joy Adamson and Anglia TV’s Survival series.

Rula is a keen conversationalist (elephants and dolphins in particular) and has been on several working expeditions including India and Nepal. Her first book Mammouth Hunt was released last year.