Miranda Richardson
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Miranda Jane Richardson (born 3 March 1958)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is an English actress who has worked in film, television and theatre.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
After graduating from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School,<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> Richardson began her career in 1979 and made her West End debut in the 1981 play Moving,<ref name=":3" /> before being nominated for the 1987 Olivier Award for Best Actress for A Lie of the Mind.
Richardson has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Damage<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> and the Academy Award for Best Actress for Tom & Viv.<ref name=":4" /> A seven-time BAFTA Award nominee,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Damage.<ref name=":1" /> She has also been nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards,<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> winning twice for Enchanted April<ref name=":2" /> and the TV film Fatherland.<ref name=":2" />
Her other films include Empire of the Sun,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref> The Crying Game,<ref name=":7">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Sleepy Hollow,<ref name=":8">Template:Cite news</ref> The Hours, and Spider.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":9">Template:Cite news</ref> She also played a comedic version of Queen Elizabeth I in all six episodes of the sitcom Blackadder II, and appeared in one episode each of Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth.
Richardson also voiced Mrs Tweedy from Aardman's 2000 stop-motion film Chicken Run and reprised the role in its 2023 sequel.
Early life
Richardson was born in Southport, Lancashire. She recalls "a cinema about 50 yards from my house. So Saturday mornings were spent with The ABC Minors: the Saturday cinema club with the theme song set to the tune of Blaze Away by Abe Holzmann, a red ball bouncing over the lyrics so you could sing along. As I got older, I would go to the cinema by myself to watch matinees of westerns and historical Technicolor dramas."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Career
Theatre
Richardson enrolled at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where she studied alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Jenny Seagrove, having started out with juvenile performances in Cinderella and Lord Arthur Savile's Crime at the Southport Dramatic Club.
Richardson joined the Manchester Library Theatre in 1979 as an assistant stage manager, followed by making a number of appearances in repertory theatre. Her London stage debut was in Moving at the Queen's Theatre in 1981. She found recognition in the West End for a series of stage performances, ultimately receiving an Olivier Award nomination for her performance in A Lie of the Mind,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and, in 1996, she appeared in the single-actor theatrical adaptation of Orlando at the Edinburgh Festival. She returned to the London stage in May 2009 to play the lead role in Wallace Shawn's new play, Grasses of a Thousand Colours at the Royal Court Theatre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Richardson has said that she prefers new works rather than the classics because of the history that goes with them.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
Film and television
Template:BLP sources In 1985, Richardson made her film debut as Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom, in the biographical drama Dance with a Stranger.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Around the same time, Richardson played a comedic version of Queen Elizabeth I, aka Queenie, in the British television comedy Blackadder II.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Richardson returned in guest roles in one episode each in Blackadder the Third (1987) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989). She returned to play Queenie in the Christmas special Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and, later, played Field Nurse in a special edition for the millennium Blackadder: Back and Forth.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Following Dance with a Stranger, Richardson turned down numerous parts in which her character was unstable or disreputable, including the Glenn Close role in Fatal Attraction.<ref name=":0" /> In this period, she appeared in Empire of the Sun (1987)<ref name=":6" /> and was nominated for the BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress for her role as Penny in After Pilkington (1987). In an episode of the TV series The Storyteller ("The Three Ravens", 1988), she played a witch.
Richardson starred as Charlie Maguire in Fatherland (1994),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.<ref name=":2" /> Other television roles in this period include Pamela Flitton in A Dance to the Music of Time (1997), Miss Gilchrist in St. Ives (1998), Bettina the interior decorator in Absolutely Fabulous and Queen Elspeth, Snow White's stepmother, in Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (2001).
Richardson has appeared in supporting roles in film, including Vanessa Bell in The Hours (2002), Lady Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow (1999)<ref name=":8" /> and Patsy Carpenter in The Evening Star (1996). For her role in Sleepy Hollow she was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actress – Horror. She also won acclaim for her performances in The Crying Game (1992)<ref name=":7" /> and Enchanted April (1992), for which she won a Golden Globe.<ref name=":2" /> She received Academy Award nominations for her performances in Damage (1992) and Tom & Viv (1994).<ref name=":4" />
Her film credits also include Kansas City (1996), The Apostle (1997) and Wah-Wah (2005). She voiced Mrs Tweedy, the main antagonist, in the stop-motion animated film, Chicken Run (2000). In 2002, she performed a triple role in the thriller Spider.<ref name=":9" />
In 2003, Richardson played Mary of Teck in the miniseries The Lost Prince, for which she was nominated for both BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She also starred as Hermione Granger in a Comic Relief sketch called Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azibaijan.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite news</ref>
Richardson appeared as Queen Rosalind of Denmark in The Prince and Me and as the ballet mistress Madame Giry in the film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera (2004).<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2005, she appeared in the role of Rita Skeeter, the toxic Daily Prophet journalist in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.<ref name=":5" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She later reprised the role of Rita Skeeter in a cameo in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Richardson voiced Corky in The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky (2005), an Australian animated series for children. In 2006, she appeared in Gideon's Daughter.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2007 she played Mrs Claus in the film Fred Claus (2007)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and appeared in the BBC sitcom, The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (2007).
In 2008, Richardson was cast in a leading role in the original AMC television pilot, Rubicon. She plays Katherine Rhumor,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> a New York socialite who finds herself drawn into the central intrigue of a think tank after the death of her husband.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The following year, she portrayed Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent in film The Young Victoria (2009).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Richardson played Labour Party politician Barbara Castle in the British film Made in Dagenham (2010).<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> She was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for this role. In 2012, she played roles in the BBC comedy television series Dead Boss,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> historical drama series World Without End,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> based on the 1989 Ken Follett novel The Pillars of the Earth, and historical drama series Parade's End,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> based on Ford Madox Ford's eponymous novel cycle (1924–1928). In 2013, she played Lady Ashford in the film Belle (2013).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2012, Richardson was cast as Queen Ulla in Disney's live action film Maleficent (2014),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where she was to play the titular character's aunt, but her role was cut from the film during post-production.<ref name="StrombergMandatoryInterview">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015, she played Sybil Birling in Helen Edmundson's BBC One adaptation of J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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In 2015, she played Hilda Lorimer in the film Testament of Youth<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was cast as Emily Brent in BBC One's three-part adaptation of Dame Agatha Christie's 1939 novel And Then There Were None.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, she portrayed Clementine Churchill in the biopic film Churchill<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and starred in the films Stronger and iBoy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2019, Richardson voiced Pinky's Grandma in animated television series Pinky Malinky and played Lou Collins in seven episodes of television series Curfew.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2020, Richardson starred in the Australian comedy drama film Rams.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Richardson reprised her role as the voice of Mrs Tweedy in the 2023 film, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Richardson is due to appear in an upcoming biopic about conductor Sergiu Celibidache, The Yellow Tie, and in the British film The Bitter End.
Personal life
Richardson's hobbies include dog walking, gardening and falconry. In 2013, she began learning the cello.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="radiotimes">Template:Cite web</ref>
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
- 1958 births
- 20th-century English actresses
- 21st-century English actresses
- Actresses from Southport
- Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
- Audiobook narrators
- Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
- Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award winners
- Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (television) winners
- English film actresses
- English radio actresses
- English stage actresses
- English television actresses
- English voice actresses
- Living people