MyAnna Buring is a strong ensemble actor who helps make horror’s ordinary people credible. We rate that grounded quality, though The Descent is a reminder that she needs more from the writing than a place in the group.
Fi1m perspective
The tension between the women in The Descent (2005) holds a scene even when the writing has not properly distinguished them. MyAnna Buring’s Sam suffers from that shortage of detail, alongside Rebecca and Holly. We felt hemmed in well before the violence began, because Neil Marshall makes the confined spaces frightening through his control of light. The darkness can also make the less developed characters harder to follow. It is a strong horror film that could have given Buring more to play.
Kill List (2011) is a better place to look for what she brings: a grounded performance as Shel within Ben Wheatley’s mixture of suburban tension and hitmen at work. Buring is useful to this kind of horror because she helps make the people credible. Neil Maskell and Michael Smiley do much of that work too; this is an ensemble, and her contribution need not be the largest to count. We recommend the film despite a less persuasive final stretch, with a warning about the violence.
Kill List also helped turn an early foothold in horror into sustained television work. As Long Susan Hart in Ripper Street (2012–2016), Buring had five series in which to sustain a complicated character, a more generous opportunity than Sam offered. Her television work also includes Edna Braithwaite in Downton Abbey (2012–2013) and the fantasy role of Tissaia de Vries in The Witcher (2019–2023). Recurring television work suits an actor whose strength is contributing to a group.
We would not judge her by how thoroughly she takes over a film; these parts require her to work with the people around her. The fairer question is whether the character has enough detail to make that work count. Sam needs more, despite the quality of the film around her. Start with Kill List for Buring, then try The Descent for Marshall’s control of confined spaces, accepting that her character gets less attention.
Biography
MyAnna Buring is a Swedish-born British actress. She was born My Margaretha Anna Buring Rantapää on 22 September 1979 in Sundsvall, Sweden.
She grew up in the Middle East, attending the American British Academy in Muscat, Oman, before moving to the United Kingdom at the age of 16. Buring studied drama at the University of Bristol and graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2004.
Buring is known for her role as Sam in the horror film The Descent (2005) and its sequel The Descent: Part 2 (2009). Other credits include The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011) and Part 2 (2012) as Tanya Denali, the BBC series Downton Abbey (2010) as Edna Braithwaite, and the Netflix series The Witcher (2019–2023) as Tissaia de Vries.
