Imelda Staunton
Acting • Born 1956-01-09
Biography
Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton (born January 9, 1956) is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in 1976 and appeared in various theatre productions in the United Kingdom. Staunton has performed in a variety of plays and musicals in London throughout her career, winning four Laurence Olivier Awards; three for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her roles in the musicals Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, and Gypsy, and one for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Play for her work in both A Chorus of Disapproval and The Corn is Green. Her other stage appearances include The Beggar's Opera, The Wizard of Oz, Uncle Vanya, Guys and Dolls, Entertaining Mr Sloane, and Good People. She has been nominated for 13 Olivier Awards. On film, Staunton starred in Antonia and Jane; in several supporting roles in Kenneth Branagh's comedy Peter's Friends, his adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing; Ang Lee's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility; and the costume romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love. She drew critical acclaim for her performance in the title role in Mike Leigh's Vera Drake, for which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup for Best Actress, in addition to being nominated for Best Actress by the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. She later gained a wider audience for her portrayal as Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films The Order of the Phoenix and The Deathly Hallows - Part 1. She continued supporting roles in Nanny McPhee, reunited with Leigh in Another Year, and the film continuation of Downton Abbey. She portrayed human rights activist Hefina Headon in the historical film Pride, and starred in the British comedy Finding Your Feet. She also provided voice acting roles for the films Chicken Run, Arthur Christmas, and Paddington. On television, Staunton starred in the sitcoms Up the Garden Path and Is it Legal?. Her performance in My Family and Other Animals earned her a nomination for the International Emmy Award for Best Actress, while her roles in Return to Cranford and The Girl earned her BAFTA TV Award nominations for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. For the latter, she was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. She portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the final two seasons of The Crown.
Filmography
140 credits
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Movie • 2007
Dolores Umbridge
Freedom Writers
Movie • 2007
Margaret Campbell
Shakespeare in Love
Movie • 1998
Nurse
Sense and Sensibility
Movie • 1995
Charlotte Jennings Palmer
Vera Drake
Movie • 2004
Vera Drake
Nanny McPhee
Movie • 2005
Mrs. Blatherwick
Chicken Run
Movie • 2000
Bunty (voice)
Peter's Friends
Movie • 1992
Mary Charleston
Much Ado About Nothing
Movie • 1993
Margaret
Alice in Wonderland
Movie • 2010
Talking Flowers (voice)
Taking Woodstock
Movie • 2009
Sonia Teichberg
The Far Traveller
Movie • 2020
Narrator
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Movie • 2010
Dolores Umbridge
Shadow Man
Movie • 2006
Ambassador Cochran
How About You...
Movie • 2007
Hazel Nightingale
The Wind in the Willows
Movie • 2006
Barge Lady
Three and Out
Movie • 2008
Rosemary Cassidy
Blackball
Movie • 2003
Bridget
Another Year
Movie • 2010
Janet
Twelfth Night
Movie • 1996
Maria
My Family and Other Animals
Movie • 2005
Mother
Roots
Movie • 1992
Jenny Beales
Crush
Movie • 2002
Janine
I'll Be There
Movie • 2003
Dr. Bridget
A Bunch of Amateurs
Movie • 2008
Mary
Yellowbacks
Movie • 1990
Cheryl Newman
Guilty Hearts
Movie • 2007
Naomi
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Movie • 2023
Bunty (voice)
Arthur Christmas
Movie • 2011
Mrs Santa (voice)
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Movie • 2012
Queen Victoria (voice)
Another Life
Movie • 2001
Ethel Graydon
Antonia and Jane
Movie • 1990
Jane Hartman
Paddington in Peru
Movie • 2024
Aunt Lucy (voice)
The Awakening
Movie • 2011
Maud Hill
Maleficent
Movie • 2014
Knotgrass
Downton Abbey: A New Era
Movie • 2022
Maud Bagshaw
Bill Douglas: Intent on Getting the Image
Movie • 2006
Herself
The Girl
Movie • 2012
Alma Reville Hitchcock
Rat
Movie • 2000
Conchita Flynn
Deadly Advice
Movie • 1994
Beth Greenwood
Pride
Movie • 2014
Hefina
They Never Slept
Movie • 1991
The Producer
The Englishman's Wife
Movie • 1990
Stephanie
Remember Me?
Movie • 1997
Lorna
Psychoville Halloween Special
Movie • 2010
Grace Andrews
The Canterville Ghost
Movie • 2023
Mrs Umney (voice)
Paddington
Movie • 2014
Aunt Lucy (voice)
That Day We Sang
Movie • 2014
Enid
A Confession As Told By ITV News
Movie • 2019
Imelda Staunton - Self / Karen Edwards
Jim Carter: Lonnie Donegan and Me
Movie • 2016
Self
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
Movie • 2007
Self
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
Movie • 2022
Self
Bright Young Things
Movie • 2003
Lady Brown
Mouse and Mole at Christmas Time
Movie • 2013
Shrew (voice)
Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings
Movie • 2000
Mrs. Cottisloe
Gypsy
Movie • 2015
Rose
The Virgin of Liverpool
Movie • 2003
Sylvia Conlon
Don't Leave Me This Way
Movie • 1993
Bridget Bennet
Mole's Christmas
Movie • 1994
(voices)
Citizen X
Movie • 1995
Mrs. Burakov
A Masculine Ending
Movie • 1992
Bridget Bennet
London: The Modern Babylon
Movie • 2012
Spoken Quotations (voice)
Finding Your Feet
Movie • 2017
Sandra Abbott
The Ugly Duckling
Movie • 1997
Scruffy (voice)
Comrades
Movie • 1987
Betsy Loveless
Paddington 2
Movie • 2017
Aunt Lucy (voice)
Victoria Wood - That Musical We Made
Movie • 2014
Self
National Theatre Live: Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Movie • 2017
Martha
Clay
Movie • 2008
Mary Doonan
Harry Potter: A History Of Magic
Movie • 2017
Narrator
National Theatre Live: Follies
Movie • 2017
Sally Durant Plummer
Downton Abbey
Movie • 2019
Maud Bagshaw
The Adventures of Mole
Movie • 1995
Voice
Easy Money
Movie • 1982
Mary Price
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Movie • 2019
Knotgrass
Little Bird
Movie • 2017
First Officer Simpkins
White Other
Movie • 2010
Lynne McDermott
The Heat of the Day
Movie • 1989
Louie
Amulet
Movie • 2020
Sister Claire
The Snow Queen
Movie • 1995
Ivy / Angorra
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Movie • 2012
Mrs. Lovett
The Adventures of Toad
Movie • 1996
Voice
The Gruffalo and Me: The Remarkable Julia Donaldson
Movie • 2020
reader
Ready
Movie • 2002
Naomi
The Pen
Movie • 1995
The Magical World of Julia Donaldson
Movie • 2020
Self - Readings
& Sons
Movie • 2026
Isabel
Victorian Britain on Film
Movie • 2021
Narrator
The Snow Queen's Revenge
Movie • 1996
Elspeth / Rowena (voice)
The Wind in the Willows
Movie • 1995
Mother Squirrel
Jack and the Beanstalk
Movie • 1999
Dilly (voice)
National Theatre Live: Mrs. Warren's Profession
Movie • 2025
Mrs Peggy Warren
Adapting Austen
Movie • 2009
Self
Sense and Sensibility: 25th Anniversary Reunion
Movie • 2021
Self
Testimony
Movie • 2025
Narrator (voice)
Where Have I Been All Your Life?
Movie • 2007
Angela
Midsomer Murders
TV • 1997
Christine Cooper
Is It Legal?
TV • 1995
Tales from the Crypt
TV • 1989
Sarah
Performance
TV • 1991
Jenny Beales
Strange
TV • 2003
Reverend Mary Truegood
Live! Girls! Present Dogtown
TV • 2006
If You See God, Tell Him
TV • 1993
Muriel Spry
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
TV • 1987
Polly Flinders
ShakespeaRe-Told
TV • 2005
Fingersmith
TV • 2005
Mrs. Sucksby
Cranford
TV • 2007
Miss Pole
Natural World
TV • 1983
Narrator
Psychoville
TV • 2009
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Thompson
TV • 1988
Self
The Michael Ball Show
TV • 2010
Self
Doctor Who
TV • 2005
Interface (voice)
A Bit of Fry & Laurie
TV • 1989
Up the Garden Path
TV • 1990
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
TV • 2005
Self
Lily's Driftwood Bay
TV • 2014
Rowena Rabbit (voice)
Alan Bennett's Talking Heads
TV • 2020
Irene Ruddock
Frank Stubbs Promotes
TV • 1993
Susan
Trying
TV • 2020
Penny
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self
Cambridge Spies
TV • 2003
The Queen
David Copperfield
TV • 1999
Mrs. Micawber
Murder
TV • 2002
DCI Billie Dory
A Confession
TV • 2019
Karen Edwards
Flesh and Blood
TV • 2020
Mary Bennett
Little Britain
TV • 2003
Mrs. Mead
The Crown
TV • 2016
Queen Elizabeth II
The Play on One
TV • 1988
Cheryl Newman
Screen Two
TV • 1985
The Producer
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee
The One Show
TV • 2006
Self
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
TV • 2022
Self
Playhouse
TV • 1974
Mary Price
The Story of Musicals
TV • 2012
Self – Narrator (voice)
The Singing Detective
TV • 1986
Staff Nurse White
Look at the State We're In!
TV • 1995
Councillor Johnson
Big & Small
TV • 2008
Twiba / Ruby (voice, British version)
Big & Small
TV • 2008
Twiba (voice, British version)
Ladies in Charge
TV • 1986
Edith