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Brenda Blethyn
Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK
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…
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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
Movies and shows, newest first
-
2026
A Woman of Substance
TV show Older Emma Harte
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2025
Dragonfly
Movie Elsie
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2025
Vera, Farewell Pet
Movie Herself / Vera
-
2022
Charlotte
Movie Grossmama (voice)
-
2020
Kate & Koji
TV show Kate Abbott
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2018
Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen and Milkmen
Movie Narrator
-
2016
Ethel & Ernest
Movie Ethel Briggs (voice)
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2014
Two Men in Town
Movie Emily Smith
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2013
Mary and Martha
Movie Martha
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2012
Playhouse Presents
TV show Nina
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2011
My Angel
Movie Headmistress
- 2011
-
2011
Vera
TV show DCI Vera Stanhope
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2010
The Calling
Movie Sister Ignatious
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2010
My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Duper Super Sleuths
Movie Mama Heffalump (voice)
-
2009
Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too
Movie Mama Heffalump (voice)
More credits
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2009
London River
Movie Elisabeth
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2009
Dead Man Running
Movie Mother
-
2007
War and Peace
TV show Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa
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2007
Clubland
Movie Jean
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2007
Atonement
Movie Grace Turner
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2007
The Graham Norton Show
TV show Self
-
2006
Mysterious Creatures
Movie Wendy Ainscow
-
2006
The One Show
TV show Self - Guest
-
2006
The New Adventures of Old Christine
TV show Angela Kimble
-
2005
Pride & Prejudice
Movie Mrs. Bennet
-
2005
On a Clear Day
Movie Joan
-
2005
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
Movie Mama Heffalump (voice)
-
2004
Beyond the Sea
Movie Polly Cassotto
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2004
A Way of Life
Movie Annette
-
2004
Piccadilly Jim
Movie Nesta Pett
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2004
The Best of So Graham Norton
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2004
Belonging
Movie Jess Copplestone
-
2003
Between The Sheets
TV show Hazel Delany
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2003
Blizzard
Movie Aunt Millie
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2003
Bob the Builder: The Knights of Can-A-Lot
Movie Dr. Florence Mountfitchet (voice)
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2003
The Sleeping Dictionary
Movie Aggie
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2002
The Wild Thornberrys Movie
Movie Mrs. Fairgood (voice)
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2002
Undertaking Betty
Movie Betty Rhys-Jones
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2002
Sonny
Movie Jewel
