He later became a Progressive Party Member of Parliament in South Africa, and a director of Anglo American PLC.

She read Social and Political Science at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, which allowed her to take time off from her studies to pursue her career.

Amongst her roles to date have been her performance as Sasha opposite Ralph Fiennes and Bill Paterson in the Almeida Theatre's London production of Ivanov (1997), Countess Nordston in Anna Karenina (1997), Tess in a London Weekend Television production of Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1998), Julia Bertram in Mansfield Park (1999), Estella in Great Expectations, Nina in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov (2000), for which she was nominated for an Ian Charleson award and Molly Gibson in the television mini series Wives and Daughters for which she won a Broadcasting Press Guild Best Actress award.

In 2011 Waddell had a starring role in Mishen,[2] which is a Russian science fiction film directed by Alexander Zeldovich and written by Vladimir Sorokin.

[6] She is also the founder and director of Kino Klassika Foundation which educates audiences about film and film materials from the countries of the former Soviet Union,[7] and Klassiki streaming platform dedicated to cinema from Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia.