Lucy Punch

Lucy Punch (born 30 December 1977) is a British actress. She has appeared in the films Ella Enchanted (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Dinner for Schmucks, (both 2010) and Into the Woods (2014). She is also known for her role as Amy in Bad Teacher (2011), Amanda in the BBC series Motherland and Esmé Squalor in the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events. Early life Punch was born on 30 December 1977 in Hammersmith, London, the daughter of Johanna and Michael Punch, who ran a market research company. She was educated privately at Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith, London. She performed with the National Youth Theatre from 1993 to 1997, and began a course at University College London before dropping out to become an actress. Career Punch made her acting debut in a 1998 episode of The New Adventures of Robin Hood. Her other TV credits include the naive daughter of Alison Steadman's character in the short-lived series Let Them Eat Cake which starred French and Saunders. She starred as a football player in the children's TV show Renford Rejects, and played the role of the victim Melissa Townsend in the 19th episode of Midsomer Murders.