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.
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Acted in
Charlotte
2021
as Grossmama (voice)
Kate & Koji
2020
as Kate
Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen and Milkmen
2018
as Narrator
Ethel & Ernest
2016
as Ethel Briggs (voice)
Two Men in Town
2014
as Emily Smith
Mary and Martha
2013
as Martha
My Angel
2011
as Headmistress
The Many Faces of... Michael Caine
2011
Vera
2011
as DCI Vera Stanhope
Downton Abbey
2010
as Vera
The Calling
2010
as Sister Ignatious
Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too
2009
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
London River
2009
as Elisabeth
Dead Man Running
2009
as Mother
War and Peace
2007
as Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa
Clubland
2007
as Jean
Atonement
2007
as Grace Turner
Mysterious Creatures
2006
as Wendy Ainscow
The New Adventures of Old Christine
2006
as Angela Kimble
VM Show Vol. 2
2005
as Mari Hoff (archive footage)
Pride & Prejudice
2005
as Mrs. Bennet
On a Clear Day
2005
as Joan
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
2005
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
Beyond the Sea
2004
as Polly Cassotto
A Way of Life
2004
as Annette
Piccadilly Jim
2004
as Nesta Pett
Belonging
2004
as Jess Copplestone
Between The Sheets
2003
as Hazel Delany
Blizzard
2003
as Aunt Millie
The Sleeping Dictionary
2003
as Aggie
Undertaking Betty
2002
as Betty Rhys-Jones
Sonny
2002
as Jewel
Lovely & Amazing
2002
as Jane Marks
Pumpkin
2002
as Judy Romanoff
The Yellow Bird
2002
as Mrs. Louise Tutwiler
Daddy and Them
2001
as Julia Montgomery
On the Nose
2001
as Mrs. Delaney
Anne Frank: The Whole Story
2001
as Auguste Rottgen-van Pels
RKO 281
2000
as Louella Parsons
Saving Grace
2000
as Grace Trevethyn
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
as Linnie Malcolm
Little Voice
1998
as Mari Hoff
In the Winter Dark
1998
as Ida Stubbs
Girls' Night
1998
as Dawn Wilkinson
Music from Another Room
1998
as Grace Swan
Inside the Golden Statue
1998
as Self
Night Train
1998
as Alice Mooney
Remember Me?
1997
Secrets & Lies
1996
as Cynthia Rose Purley
Outside Edge
1994
The Buddha of Suburbia
1993
as Margaret Amir
The Bullion Boys
1993
as Gwen
A River Runs Through It
1992
as Mrs. Maclean
Maigret
1992
All Good Things
1991
as Shirley Frame
The Witches
1990
as Mrs Jenkins
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story
1989
as Ticki Tocquet
The Shawl
1989
as Miss A
The Labours of Erica
1989
The Storyteller
1988
as Storyteller's Wife
The Play on One
1988
as Miss A
Claws
1987
as Sylvia
The Mysteries
1985
as Mary Magdalene / Mary
Chance in a Million
1984
as Alison Little
Floating Off
1983
as Janice
Dalgliesh
1983
as Angela Foley
Henry VI Part 1
1983
as Joan La Pucelle
King Lear
1982
as Cordelia
Mike Leigh: Making Plays
1982
as Self
Say No to Strangers
1981
Grown-Ups
1980
as Gloria
Bedroom Farce
1980
as Kate
The Imitation Game
1980
Yes Minister
1980
Tales of the Unexpected
1979
as Carol Hutchins
BBC Television Shakespeare
1978
Rumpole of the Bailey
1975
The Oscars
1953
as Self
Fools
Strawberry Fields Forever
as Grannie Nellie
King of the Teds
as Nina