Linda Bassett
Acting • Born 1950-02-04
Biography
Linda Bassett was born in the Kentish village of Pluckley - location for the television series The Darling Buds of May (1991). She was brought up in Pimlico, South London, by her typist mother and police officer father. She became interested in acting as a child when she was frequently taken to see plays in London, most notably at the Old Vic, the famous classical theater. On leaving school, Linda went to work at the Old Vic as an usherette and catering manager, before going to read English at Leeds University. However, she dropped out after a year and became involved in a local drama group which put on plays in community-based locations, such as schools. She regards this as her theatrical schooling, having had no formal training. She made her London stage debut at the age of 32 in 1982 and, in 1991, joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. Although she was a well-regarded stage performer, it was the 1999 film version of the play East Is East (1999) (in which she had been an original stage cast member) which brought her to a larger audience and, throughout the 2000s, she has been a familiar face in a variety of films and television series. In the late 1980s, she returned to live in Pluckley.
Filmography
57 credits
The Hours
Movie • 2002
Nelly Boxall
East Is East
Movie • 1999
Ella Khan
Calendar Girls
Movie • 2003
Cora
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Movie • 2023
Queenie
Lounge Act
Movie • 2000
Spivs
Movie • 2004
Auntie Vee
West Is West
Movie • 2010
Ella Khan
Kinky Boots
Movie • 2005
Mel
The Martins
Movie • 2001
Anthea
A Small Dance
Movie • 1991
Sandra Matkin
In The Cold Light Of Day
Movie • 1994
Mrs. Loveless
Waiting for the Moon
Movie • 1987
Gertrude Stein
The English Harem
Movie • 2005
Monica Pringle
National Theatre Live: People
Movie • 2013
Iris
Beautiful People
Movie • 1999
Sister
News Hounds
Movie • 1990
Virginia Lyddon
Loved Up
Movie • 1995
Mum
Mary Reilly
Movie • 1996
Mary's Mother
Spoonface Steinberg
Movie • 1998
Mrs. Spud
The Life and Crimes of William Palmer
Movie • 1998
Mary Thornton
Alive and Kicking
Movie • 1996
Doctor
Effie Gray
Movie • 2014
Anna
Let Him Have It
Movie • 1991
Mrs. Miles
Far from the Madding Crowd
Movie • 1998
Maryann Money
A Village Affair
Movie • 1995
Gwen
Carnage: Swallowing the Past
Movie • 2017
Dr Yasmine Vondenburg
Cass
Movie • 2008
Doll
Colour Me Kubrick
Movie • 2005
Trolley Lady
Separate Lies
Movie • 2005
Maggie
The Reader
Movie • 2008
Ms. Brenner
Careful How You Go
Movie • 2018
Skallagrigg
Movie • 1994
Susan
This Little Life
Movie • 2003
Nurse Nina
Oscar and Lucinda
Movie • 1997
Betty Stratton
Paris by Night
Movie • 1989
Janet Swanton
Haunted
Movie • 1995
Madame Brontski
Don Quixote
Movie • 2000
Housekeeper
Midsomer Murders
TV • 1997
Eileen Carnack
The Bill
TV • 1984
Dramarama
TV • 1983
A Touch of Frost
TV • 1992
Heartbeat
TV • 1992
Beryl Palmer
Lark Rise to Candleford
TV • 2008
Queenie Turrill
No Bananas
TV • 1996
Ellen Slater
Grandma's House
TV • 2010
Grandma
Bramwell
TV • 1995
Maud
dinnerladies
TV • 1998
Peggy
The Brief
TV • 2004
Maureen Tyler
Kavanagh Q.C.
TV • 1995
Miss Haddon QC
Casualty
TV • 1986
Olwyn Humphries
Frank Stubbs Promotes
TV • 1993
Eileen
Sense and Sensibility
TV • 2008
Mrs. Jennings
Call the Midwife
TV • 2012
Phyllis Crane
The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby
TV • 2012
Mrs. Smike
Strike
TV • 2017
Joan Nancarrow
Our Mutual Friend
TV • 1998
Abby Potterson
Spies of Warsaw
TV • 2013
Maika Rosen