Brenda Blethyn
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1946-02-20 (79 years old)
Place of Birth
Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK
Brenda Blethyn
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.
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Known For
Acting
King of the Teds
as Nina
Strawberry Fields Forever
as Grannie Nellie
(2025)
Dragonfly
as Elsie
(2022)
Charlotte
as Grossmama (voice)
(2018)
(2016)
Ethel & Ernest
as Ethel Briggs (voice)
(2014)
Two Men in Town
as Emily Smith
(2013)
Mary and Martha
as Martha
(2011)
My Angel
as Headmistress
(2011)
(2010)
The Calling
as Sister Ignatious
(2009)
Dead Man Running
as Mother
(2009)
London River
as Elisabeth
(2009)
Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
(2007)
Atonement
as Grace Turner
(2007)
Clubland
as Jean
(2006)
Mysterious Creatures
as Wendy Ainscow
(2005)
Pride & Prejudice
as Mrs. Bennet
(2005)
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
(2005)
On a Clear Day
as Joan
(2004)
Beyond the Sea
as Polly Cassotto
(2004)
Piccadilly Jim
as Nesta Pett
(2004)
Belonging
as Jess Copplestone
(2004)
A Way of Life
as Annette
(2003)
Blizzard
as Aunt Millie
(2003)
Bob the Builder: The Knights of Fix-A-Lot
as Dr. Florence Mountfitchet (voice)
(2002)
Undertaking Betty
as Betty Rhys-Jones
(2002)
Sonny
as Jewel
(2002)
Lovely & Amazing
as Jane Marks
(2002)
Pumpkin
as Judy Romanoff
(2002)
The Yellow Bird
as Mrs. Louise Tutwiler
(2001)
The Sleeping Dictionary
as Aggie
(2001)
Daddy and Them
as Julia Montgomery
(2001)
On the Nose
as Mrs. Delaney
(2000)
RKO 281
as Louella Parsons
(2000)
Saving Grace
as Grace Trevethyn
(1998)
Little Voice
as Mari Hoff
(1998)
Music from Another Room
as Grace Swan
(1998)
Girls' Night
as Dawn Wilkinson
(1998)
Inside the Golden Statue
as Self
(1998)
Night Train
as Alice Mooney
(1998)
In the Winter Dark
as Ida Stubbs
(1997)
(1996)
Secrets & Lies
as Cynthia Rose Purley
(1993)
The Bullion Boys
as Gwen
(1992)
A River Runs Through It
as Mrs. Maclean
(1990)
The Witches
as Mrs Jenkins
(1989)
The Shawl
as Miss A
(1987)
Claws
as Sylvia
(1983)
Henry VI Part 1
as Joan La Pucelle
(1983)
Floating Off
as Janice
(1982)
Mike Leigh: Making Plays
as Self
(1982)
King Lear
as Cordelia
(1981)
(1980)
Grown-Ups
as Gloria
(1980)
(1980)
Bedroom Farce
as Kate
Crew
(2007)
Clubland
Writer