Brenda Blethyn

Brenda Blethyn

Born 1946-02-20 (age 80) Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK
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Biography

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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Known For

Pride & Prejudice
Pride & Prejudice

2005

as Mrs. Bennet

Atonement
Atonement

2007

as Grace Turner

A River Runs Through It
A River Runs Through It

1992

as Mrs. Maclean

Pooh's Heffalump Movie
Pooh's Heffalump Movie

2005

as Mama Heffalump (voice)

Lovely & Amazing
Lovely & Amazing

2002

as Jane Marks

The Sleeping Dictionary
The Witches
The Witches

1990

as Mrs Jenkins

The Wild Thornberrys Movie
The Wild Thornberrys Movie

2002

as Mrs. Fairgood (voice)

Secrets & Lies
Secrets & Lies

1996

as Cynthia Rose Purley

Saving Grace
Saving Grace

2000

as Grace Trevethyn

Piccadilly Jim
Piccadilly Jim

2004

as Nesta Pett

RKO 281
RKO 281

1999

as Louella Parsons

Undertaking Betty
Undertaking Betty

2002

as Betty Rhys-Jones

Dragonfly
Dragonfly

2025

as Elsie

Little Voice
Little Voice

1998

as Mari Hoff

Music from Another Room
Music from Another Room

1998

as Grace Swan

Beyond the Sea
Beyond the Sea

2004

as Polly Cassotto

Sonny
Sonny

2002

as Jewel

Ethel & Ernest
Ethel & Ernest

2016

as Ethel Briggs (voice)

Daddy and Them
Daddy and Them

2001

as Julia Montgomery