She has worked in television and theatre as both actress and writer. Her first credited television appearance was as a terrified diner in The Bill in 1984, running frantically out of a Chinese restaurant after it had received a bomb scare. A year later she appeared as an alien in the Doctor Who serial Attack of the Cybermen.[2] Her novels include the semi-autobiographical Hideous Kinky, which was adapted into a film starring Kate Winslet.
She is also the author of The Wild, Gaglow, and The Sea House.[3] She also wrote the foreword for The Summer BookbyTove Jansson.
Freud was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Novelists" by Granta magazine in 1993.[3] Her novels have been translated into 13 languages.[3] She is also the co-founder (with Kitty Aldridge) of the women's theatre company Norfolk Broads.
In 2009, she donated the short story Rice Cakes and Starbucks to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Water' collection.[4] As of 2014 Freud taught at the Faber Academy.
Freud has a sister, fashion designer Bella Freud, and a half-brother, Noah Woodman. Her uncle was politician Sir Clement Freud. She has two cousins in the media industry; public relations executive Matthew and broadcaster Emma.
She was married to actor David Morrissey, with whom she had three children, Albie, Anna and Gene Morrissey. They married in 2006.[5] They had separated by 2020, when Freud began living with a boyfriend.[6] Freud maintains homes in London and Walberswick near Southwold in Suffolk.
Freud's maternal grandparents were practising IrishCatholics but her mother was non-observant, while her father's Jewish family were atheists. She identifies herself as Jewish.[7][8][9]
