Angharad Rees was born on 16 July 1944 in Edgware, Middlesex, England, the daughter of the Welsh psychiatrist William Linford Rees and Catherine Thomas. This record has long stated she was born in Llanelli, but research finds no evidence for that: her family moved to Cardiff when she was about two years old, and it was there that she was raised a genuinely Welsh upbringing, if not a Welsh birthplace.
She was educated at Commonweal Lodge School before spending two terms at the Sorbonne in Paris, training at the Rose Bruford Drama College in Kent, and studying at the University of Madrid, where she also taught English before beginning her acting career in English repertory theatre.
Rees is best remembered for playing Demelza in the BBC's original television adaptation of Poldark, appearing in almost every episode across its two series between 1975 and 1977. She built a career in British television through the 1970s and 1980s.
Following the death of her son, Linford, in 1999, Rees stepped back from acting to concentrate on jewellery design, founding the company Angharad in Knightsbridge, London. She died of pancreatic cancer on 21 July 2012, aged 68.