Raquel Cassidy

Raquel Josephine Dominic Cassidy (born 22 January 1968) is an English actress. 2Early life and education Born to a Spanish mother and an English father, she was the third child and only daughter born to the couple. Born and brought up in Fleet, Hampshire she was educated at Farnborough Hill Convent, and then Girton College, Cambridge, where she studied modern languages and then biological anthropology. She later pursued a PhD in biological anthropology, but she abandoned it in order to pursue a career in acting instead. 2Career Cassidy is best known for her 2013-2015 television role as rehabilitated thief and ladies maid Phyllis Baxter in the worldwide television phenomenon Downton Abbey. She also played Susan Gately in Teachers (series 1 and 2), the Home Office Junior Minister Jo Porter in Party Animals, and Mel in Lead Balloon, as well as her various stage performance