
Brenda Blethyn
Acting
🎂 1946-02-20
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.
Cast credits(93)

Self
2007

Self
2002

Linnie Malcolm
1999

Self
1995

Self - Nominee
1944

Self - Presenter
1944

Gloria
1974

DCI Vera Stanhope
2011

Cordelia
1978

Joan La Pucelle
1978

Carol Hutchins
1979

Self - Guest
1998

Self
1993

Self
1953

Angela Kimble
2006

Storyteller's Wife
1988

Self - Guest
2006

Margaret Amir
1993

Ticki Tocquet
1989

Alison Little
1984

1992

Auguste Rottgen-van Pels
2001

Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa
2007

Angela Foley
1983

1980

Mrs. Bennet
2005

Hazel Delany
2003

1994

1975

Grace Turner
2007
1989

Kate
2020

Shirley Frame
1991

Mrs. Maclean
1992

Mary Magdalene / Mary
1985

Mrs Jenkins
1990

Miss A
1988

Mama Heffalump (voice)
2005

Aggie
2003

Cynthia Rose Purley
1996

Self
1988

Julia Montgomery
2001

Ethel Briggs (voice)
2016

Grace Swan
1998

Grossmama (voice)
2022

Jewel
2002

Grace Trevethyn
2000

Betty Rhys-Jones
2002

Judy Romanoff
2002

Elisabeth
2009

Mari Hoff
1998

Mother
2009

Louella Parsons
2000

Polly Cassotto
2004

Emily Smith
2014

Nesta Pett
2004

Martha
2013

Aunt Millie
2003

Mama Heffalump (voice)
2009

Jane Marks
2002

Elsie
2025

Gwen
1993

Self
1998

Joan
2005

Various
1984

Miss A
1989
Dawn Wilkinson
1998

Headmistress
2011

Wendy Ainscow
2006

Self
1982

Jess Copplestone
2004

Mrs. Delaney
2001

Mrs. Louise Tutwiler
2002

1997

Jean
2007

Grannie Nellie

Gloria
1980

Sylvia
1987

Cordelia
1982

Alice Mooney
1998

Sister Ignatious
2010
Kate
1980

Joan La Pucelle
1983

1980

Ida Stubbs
1998
Policewoman
1981

Janice
1983

Annette
2004

Dr. Florence Mountfitchet (voice)
2003
2011

Narrator
2018

Nina