Brenda Blethyn
Brenda Anne Blethyn is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one. In addition, she has won a BAFTA, an Empire Award and a Golden Lion, and has earned a Theater World Award and both a Critics' Circle Theatre Award and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for her theatrical work. Born into a working class home in Ramsgate, Kent, Blethyn pursued an administrative career until her early 30s before enrolling in the Guildford School of Acting after the dissolution of her marriage in 1973. She subsequently joined the Royal National Theatre and received credits for her performances in Troilus and Cressida (1976) and Mysteries (1979). In 1981, Blethyn earned her first critical acclaim for Steaming. In 1980, Blethyn made her television debut in Mike Leigh's film Grown-Ups; then, after a modest number of guest spots in several productions, in the mid-1980s she garnered leading roles in the short-living sitcoms Chance in a Million and The Labours of Erica. Having followed her big screen debut with smaller supporting roles in films such as The Witches (1990) and A River Runs Through It (1992), she made her real cinema breakthrough with her role in the 1996 dramedy Secrets & Lies, for which she received rave reviews. Blethyn has since appeared in an eclectic range of films, including independent comedies such as Saving Grace (2000), Plots with a View (2002) and Clubland (2007), music-themed films like Little Voice (1998) and Beyond the Sea (2004) and big-budget dramas such as Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007). In addition, Blethyn has appeared in television productions including The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), Belonging (2004) and War and Peace (2007). Her most recent leading role in TV drama is the title role in Vera (2011), playing Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope. Description above from the Wikipedia article Brenda Blethyn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
A River Runs Through It
(Mrs. Maclean)
The Witches
(Mrs Jenkins)
Saving Grace
(Grace Trevethyn)
Undertaking Betty
(Betty Rhys-Jones)
Atonement
(Grace Turner)
Pride & Prejudice
(Mrs. Bennet)
Secrets & Lies
(Cynthia Rose Purley)
Girls' Night
(Dawn Wilkinson)
Beyond the Sea
(Polly Cassotto)
Little Voice
(Mari Hoff)
Pumpkin
(Judy Romanoff)
Dead Man Running
(Mother)
The Sleeping Dictionary
(Aggie)
Sonny
(Jewel)
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
(Mama Heffalump (voice))
Belonging
(Jess Copplestone)
On a Clear Day
(Joan)
Clubland
(Jean)
London River
(Elisabeth)
Music from Another Room
(Grace Swan)
The Shawl
(Miss A)
RKO 281
(Louella Parsons)
Lovely & Amazing
(Jane Marks)
On the Nose
(Mrs. Delaney)
The Yellow Bird
(Mrs. Louise Tutwiler)
In the Winter Dark
(Ida Stubbs)
The Many Faces of... Michael Caine
Grown-Ups
(Gloria)
Mary and Martha
(Martha)
Bedroom Farce
(Kate)
Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too
(Mama Heffalump (voice))
My Angel
(Headmistress)
The Calling
(Sister Ignatious)
Two Men in Town
(Emily Smith)
Inside the Golden Statue
(Self)
Henry VI Part 1
(Joan La Pucelle)
Mysterious Creatures
(Wendy Ainscow)
Night Train
(Alice Mooney)
Say No to Strangers
The Imitation Game
Fools
The Bullion Boys
(Gwen)
Remember Me?
Ethel & Ernest
(Ethel Briggs (voice))
Floating Off
(Janice)
Mike Leigh: Making Plays
(Self)
Claws
(Sylvia)
Piccadilly Jim
(Nesta Pett)
Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen and Milkmen
(Narrator)
King Lear
(Cordelia)
Daddy and Them
(Julia Montgomery)
Blizzard
(Aunt Millie)
A Way of Life
(Annette)
Strawberry Fields Forever
(Grannie Nellie)
Charlotte
(Grossmama (voice))
King of the Teds
(Nina)
The One Show
(Self - Guest)
Tales of the Unexpected
(Carol Hutchins)
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
(Linnie Malcolm)
Rumpole of the Bailey
Chance in a Million
(Alison Little)
Yes Minister
The New Adventures of Old Christine
(Angela Kimble)
Between The Sheets
(Hazel Delany)
The Storyteller
(Storyteller's Wife)
The Labours of Erica
The Buddha of Suburbia
(Margaret Amir)
The Frank Skinner Show
(Self)
So Graham Norton
(Self - Guest)
Maigret
V Graham Norton
(Self)
The Oscars
(Self)
Outside Edge
BBC Television Shakespeare
GMTV
(Self)
War and Peace
(Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa)
Vera
(DCI Vera Stanhope)
Downton Abbey
(Vera)
The Mysteries
(Mary Magdalene / Mary)
All Good Things
(Shirley Frame)
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story
(Ticki Tocquet)
Anne Frank: The Whole Story
(Auguste Rottgen-van Pels)
Dalgliesh
(Angela Foley)
The Graham Norton Show
(Self)
Kate & Koji
(Kate)
The Play on One
(Miss A)
Golden Globe Awards
(Self - Nominee)
Golden Globe Awards
(Self - Presenter)