Brenda Blethyn
Acting • Born 1946-02-20
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. Description above from the Wikipedia article Brenda Blethyn, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
97 credits
A River Runs Through It
Movie • 1992
Mrs. Maclean
The Witches
Movie • 1990
Mrs Jenkins
Saving Grace
Movie • 2000
Grace Trevethyn
Undertaking Betty
Movie • 2002
Betty Rhys-Jones
Atonement
Movie • 2007
Grace Turner
Pride & Prejudice
Movie • 2005
Mrs. Bennet
Secrets & Lies
Movie • 1996
Cynthia Rose Purley
Girls' Night
Movie • 1998
Dawn Wilkinson
Beyond the Sea
Movie • 2004
Polly Cassotto
Little Voice
Movie • 1998
Mari Hoff
Pumpkin
Movie • 2002
Judy Romanoff
Dead Man Running
Movie • 2009
Mother
The Sleeping Dictionary
Movie • 2003
Aggie
Sonny
Movie • 2002
Jewel
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
Movie • 2005
Mama Heffalump (voice)
Belonging
Movie • 2004
Jess Copplestone
On a Clear Day
Movie • 2005
Joan
Clubland
Movie • 2007
Jean
London River
Movie • 2009
Elisabeth
Music from Another Room
Movie • 1998
Grace Swan
The Shawl
Movie • 1989
Miss A
RKO 281
Movie • 1999
Louella Parsons
Lovely & Amazing
Movie • 2002
Jane Marks
On the Nose
Movie • 2001
Mrs. Delaney
The Yellow Bird
Movie • 2002
Mrs. Louise Tutwiler
In the Winter Dark
Movie • 1998
Ida Stubbs
The Many Faces of... Michael Caine
Movie • 2011
Grown-Ups
Movie • 1980
Gloria
Mary and Martha
Movie • 2013
Martha
Bedroom Farce
Movie • 1980
Kate
Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too
Movie • 2009
Mama Heffalump (voice)
My Angel
Movie • 2011
Headmistress
The Calling
Movie • 2010
Sister Ignatious
Two Men in Town
Movie • 2014
Emily Smith
Inside the Golden Statue
Movie • 1998
Self
Henry VI Part 1
Movie • 1983
Joan La Pucelle
Mysterious Creatures
Movie • 2006
Wendy Ainscow
Night Train
Movie • 1998
Alice Mooney
Say No to Strangers
Movie • 1981
Policewoman
The Imitation Game
Movie • 1980
Fools
Movie
The Bullion Boys
Movie • 1993
Gwen
Remember Me?
Movie • 1997
Shirley
Ethel & Ernest
Movie • 2016
Ethel Briggs (voice)
Floating Off
Movie • 1983
Janice
Mike Leigh: Making Plays
Movie • 1982
Self
Claws
Movie • 1987
Sylvia
Piccadilly Jim
Movie • 2004
Nesta Pett
Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen and Milkmen
Movie • 2018
Narrator
King Lear
Movie • 1982
Cordelia
Daddy and Them
Movie • 2001
Julia Montgomery
Blizzard
Movie • 2003
Aunt Millie
A Way of Life
Movie • 2004
Annette
Strawberry Fields Forever
Movie
Grannie Nellie
Charlotte
Movie • 2022
Grossmama (voice)
King of the Teds
Movie
Nina
Dragonfly
Movie • 2025
Elsie
Bob the Builder: The Knights of Can-A-Lot
Movie • 2003
Dr. Florence Mountfitchet (voice)
Vera, Farewell Pet
Movie • 2025
Herself / Vera
My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Duper Super Sleuths
Movie • 2010
Mama Heffalump (voice)
The Storyteller: A Story Short
Movie • 1988
The Storyteller's Wife
The One Show
TV • 2006
Self - Guest
Tales of the Unexpected
TV • 1979
Carol Hutchins
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
TV • 1999
Linnie Malcolm
Rumpole of the Bailey
TV • 1975
Pauline
Chance in a Million
TV • 1984
Alison Little
Yes Minister
TV • 1980
The New Adventures of Old Christine
TV • 2006
Angela Kimble
Between The Sheets
TV • 2003
Hazel Delany
The Storyteller
TV • 1988
Storyteller's Wife
The Labours of Erica
TV • 1989
The Buddha of Suburbia
TV • 1993
Margaret Amir
The Frank Skinner Show
TV • 1995
Self
So Graham Norton
TV • 1998
Self - Guest
Maigret
TV • 1992
V Graham Norton
TV • 2002
Self
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
GMTV
TV • 1993
Self
War and Peace
TV • 2007
Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa
Vera
TV • 2011
DCI Vera Stanhope
The Mysteries
TV • 1985
Mary Magdalene / Mary
All Good Things
TV • 1991
Shirley Frame
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story
TV • 1989
Ticki Tocquet
Anne Frank: The Whole Story
TV • 2001
Auguste Rottgen-van Pels
Dalgliesh
TV • 1983
Angela Foley
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self
Kate & Koji
TV • 2020
Kate
The Play on One
TV • 1988
Miss A
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Presenter
This Morning
TV • 1988
Self
Playhouse
TV • 1974
Gloria
Who Dares Wins
TV • 1984
Various
A Woman of Substance
TV • 2026
Older Emma Harle
HBO First Look
TV • 1992
self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Winner
Outside Edge
TV • 1994
Miriam Dervish