Every juicy melodrama needs a character you love to hate, and in HBO’s critically acclaimed “Rome”, she came in the form of Atia, and British actress Polly Walker played the part to the hilt. As the sexually ravenous and morally bankrupt niece of Julius Caesar, Walker’s Atia sneered and connived her way through every scene.

Walker was born in 1966 in Cheshire, England. Interested in the performing arts since childhood, she originally planned to be a dancer, but an injury when she was just 18 forced her to concentrate on acting. She enrolled at London’s Drama Center and went on to the Royal