Lesley Manville facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lesley Manville CBE
Manville at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Lesley Ann Manville (1956-03-12) 12 March 1956 (age 68) Brighton, East Sussex, England
Alma mater	Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1972–present
Spouse(s)	Gary Oldman ​ ​ (m. 1987; div. 1990)​ Joe Dixon ​ ​ (m. 2000; div. 2004)​
Children	1

Lesley Ann Manville CBE (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014). She has been nominated for two British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Another Year (2010) and Phantom Thread (2017), with her performance in the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Manville has also appeared in the films Dance with a Stranger (1985), A Christmas Carol (2009), Maleficent (2014), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), Let Him Go (2020), and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022), as well as the television series Emmerdale (1974–1976), Cranford (2007), Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond (2014), River (2015), and Mum (2016–2019). She has been nominated for three British Academy Television Awards for the lattermost. A three-time Laurence Olivier Award nominee, she has won once for her role in the 2013–2014 revival of the play Ghosts. She portrays Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon in the final two seasons of the television series The Crown.

Early life

Manville was born in Brighton, East Sussex, the daughter of Jean, a former ballet dancer, and Ron Manville, a taxi driver. She was brought up in nearby Hove, the youngest of three daughters. Training as a soprano singer from age 8, she was twice under-18 champion of Sussex. She began acting as a teenager, appearing in television series such as King Cinder. At age 15, she gained a place at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

Career

After turning down teacher Arlene Phillips's invitation to join her new dance troupe Hot Gossip, she was taught improvisation by Italia Conti teacher Julia Carey. She made her professional stage debut in the 1972 West End musical I and Albert directed by John Schlesinger and paid for her first flat by taking a part in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale Farm (1974–76), appearing in 80 episodes.

Manville built a career as a distinctive theatre actress, appearing in new plays at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Warehouse and Royal Court Theatre from 1978. She met Mike Leigh in 1979, when he was looking for RSC actors who could improvise. In the 1980s, her work for the Royal Court included Andrea Dunbar's Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1981) and Caryl Churchill's Top Girls (1982) and Serious Money (1987). She also starred in the Top Girls Off-Broadway production in 1983. For the RSC, she starred in As You Like It (1985). She made her film debut in 1985s Dance with a Stranger directed by Mike Newell, and went on to appear in Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987) directed by Stephen Frears, and High Season (1987). Back on the stage, she starred in The Cherry Orchard at the Aldwych Theatre in 1989, directed by Sam Mendes, and in Three Sisters at the Royal Court in 1990.

In 1994, Manville starred in the first series of the BBC sitcom Ain't Misbehavin'. For her work in the 2000 miniseries Other People's Children, and the 2002 TV film Bodily Harm, she received nominations for Best Female Actor at the Royal Television Society Awards. Her extensive television credits include prominent roles in the dramas Holding On (1997), Real Women (1998–99), The Cazalets (2001), North & South (2004) and Cranford (2007). She also starred in Cards on the Table, a 2006 feature-length episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot.

Since 2005, Manville has starred in several National Theatre productions, including His Dark Materials (2005), The Alchemist (2006) and Her Naked Skin (2008). She also starred in The Old Vic productions of All About My Mother (2007) and Six Degrees of Separation (2010). In 2009, she played Margaret Thatcher in the Channel 4 drama The Queen.

Manville has appeared in numerous Mike Leigh films throughout her career, including High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Vera Drake (2004) and Mr. Turner (2014). Her most notable Mike Leigh films are All or Nothing in 2002 and Another Year in 2010. For both, she won the London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year. For Another Year, she also won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, and was nominated for the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress and the European Film Award for Best Actress, as well as the Chicago Film Critics Award for Best Actress. She also won Best Supporting Actress from the San Diego Film Critics Society. On 18 January 2011, she received a BAFTA nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category. On 7 February 2011, former Charlie's Angels stars Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd presented the Best Actress Award to her at the "Movies for Grownups Awards".

In 2011, Manville starred in Mike Leigh's play Grief at the National Theatre which earned her a Best Actress Olivier Award nomination. For her role as Helene Alving in the 2013 revival of the Ibsen play Ghosts, she won the 2014 Olivier Award for Best Actress and the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress. She also appeared in the films Romeo and Juliet (2013) and Maleficent (2014).

In 2015, she starred opposite Stellan Skarsgård in the BBC drama River, which earned her a nomination for the 2016 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress. She then starred opposite Peter Mullan in the BBC sitcom Mum, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance in 2017 and 2019.

In the 2017 period film Phantom Thread, Manville played Cyril Woodcock, the sister of the dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock, played by Daniel Day-Lewis. For her role, she was nominated for the Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. In 2020, she played the villainous and intimidating matriarch of an 'off the grid' family in the neo-western thriller Let Him Go opposite Diane Lane and Kevin Costner. During that year, she was cast as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon for the final two seasons of The Crown.

Manville was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to drama and charity.

In 2022, Manville starred in the Anthony Horowitz murder mystery series, Magpie Murders, alongside Daniel Mays, Alexandros Logothetis, Jude Hill, and Claire Rushbrook. Manville also played the role of the titular character in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. She received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for her performance in this film.

In January 2023, it was announced that Manville was added to the cast of the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black and would be playing Winehouse's grandmother Cynthia Winehouse.

Personal life

Manville's first boyfriend was actor Peter Duncan whom she met at stage school while attending Italia Conti.

Her first husband was actor Gary Oldman. The pair split in 1989, three months after their son, Alfie (born 1988), was born. Her second marriage was to actor Joe Dixon.

In 2007, Manville was living with her son in East Grinstead, West Sussex.

In 2020, she delivered a monologue for the Equity Benevolent Fund to support fellow actors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manville was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours for services to drama, and promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to drama and charity.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Dance with a Stranger	Maryanne
1987	Sammy and Rosie Get Laid	Margy
1987	High Season	Carol
1988	High Hopes	Laetitia Boothe-Braine
1996	Secrets & Lies	Jenny Ford the Social Worker
1999	Milk	Fiona
1999	Topsy-Turvy	Lucy Gilbert
1999	Toy Boys	Mrs. Allen	Short film
2002	All or Nothing	Penny
2004	Vera Drake	Mrs. Wells
2007	Richard Is My Boyfriend	Mother
2007	Sparkle	Jill
2009	A Christmas Carol	Mrs. Cratchit	Voice
2010	Another Year	Mary
2010	Womb	Judith
2013	Romeo and Juliet	The Nurse
2013	A Five Star Life	Kate Sherman
2013	Spike Island	Margaret Titchfield
2013	The Christmas Candle	Bea Haddington
2014	Maleficent	Flittle
2014	Mr. Turner	Mary Somerville
2015	Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism	Miss Adderstone
2016	Rupture	Dr. Nyman
2017	Hampstead	Fiona
2017	Phantom Thread	Cyril Woodcock
2019	Ordinary Love	Joan
2019	Maleficent: Mistress of Evil	Flittle
2020	Misbehaviour	Dolores Hope
2020	Let Him Go	Blanche Weboy
2022	Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris	Ada Harris	Also executive producer
2023	The Critic	Annabel Land
2024	Back to Black	Cynthia Winehouse	Post-production
TBD	Queer		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Village Hall	Merle	Episode: "Dancing in the Dark"
	Softly, Softly: Task Force	Janet	Episode: "Pop Goes the Weasel"
1974–1976	Emmerdale Farm	Rosemary Kendall	48 episodes
1975	Barlow at Large	Christine West	Episode: "Protection"
1976	The Emigrants	Janice Parker	3 episodes
1977	A Bunch of Fives	Helen Wyatt	14 episodes
	Leap in the Dark	Julie	Episode: "The Fetch"
	King Cinder	Nikki	6 episodes
1978	Wings	Francoise	Episode: "Dawn Attack"
1980	The Gentle Touch	Shirley Davis	2 episodes
	Grown-Ups	Mandy	Television film
1982	Objects of Affection	Liz	Episode: "Our Winnie"
	Coronation Street	Jill Mason	2 episodes
	Our Winnie	Student	Television short
1984	Play for Today	Vivienne	Episode: "Dog Ends"
1985	Bulman	Karen Tait	Episode: "The Name of the Game"
1989	The Firm	Sue Bissel	Television film
1991	Performance	Marlene	Episode: "Top Girls"
1992	Soldier Soldier	Rachel Elliot	5 episodes
1993	The Mushroom Picker	Margot	3 episodes
	A Statement of Affairs	Carol	Episode #1.1
	Goggle-Eyes	Rosalind Killin	4 episodes
	Crime Story	Gail	Episode: "When the Lies Run Out"
1994	Ain't Misbehavin'	Melissa Quigley	6 episodes
	Little Napoleons	Judith Silver	4 episodes
	A Skirt Through History	Bessie Parkes	Episode: "A Lady's Portion"
1995	Tears Before Bedtime	Beattie Freman	4 episodes
1996	The Bite	Ellie Shannon	2 episodes
	Kavanagh QC	Lucy Cartwright	Episode: "The Commitment"
1997	Holding On	Hilary	7 episodes
	Painted Lady	Susie Peel	Television film
1998–1999	Real Women	Karen	7 episodes
1998	Silent Witness	Suzy Franklin	Episode: "Fallen Idol"
1999	Real Women II	Karen Turner	4 episodes
2000	Other People's Children	Nadine	2 episodes
	Black Cab	Yvonne	Episode: "Lost & Found"
	David Copperfield	Mrs. Micawber	Television film
2001	The Cazalets	Villy Cazalet	6 episodes
2002	Bodily Harm	Mandy Greenfield	2 episodes
	Plain Jane	Dora Bruce	Television film
2003	Promoted to Glory	Capt. Annie Sullivan	Television film
2004	Rose and Maloney	Professor Diane Marquis	2 episodes
	North & South	Maria Hale	4 episodes
2005	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Mrs. Lorrimer	Episode: "Cards on the Table"
2006	Perfect Parents	Sister Antonia	Television film
2007	Cranford	Mrs. Rose	5 episodes
2009–2011	Law & Order: UK	Phyllis Gladstone	3 episodes
2009	The Queen	Margaret Thatcher	Episode: "The Rivals"
2011	Midsomer Murders	Phoebe Archbold	Episode: "Fit for Murder"
2013	An Adventure in Space and Time	Heather Hartnell	Television film
	Mayday	Gail Spicer	5 episodes
2014	Fleming	Evelyn St. Croix Fleming	4 episodes
2015	The Go-Between	Mrs. Maudsley	Television film
	River	DCI Chrissie Read	6 episodes
2016–2019	Mum	Cathy	18 episodes
2019–2023	World on Fire	Robina Chase	13 episodes
2020	Save Me Too	Jennifer Charles	4 episodes
	Love Life	Narrator	10 episodes
	Talking Heads	Susan	Episode: "Bed Among the Lentils"
2021	I Am...	Maria	Episode: "I Am Maria"
2022	Magpie Murders	Susan Ryeland	6 episodes
	Sherwood	Julie Jackson	5 episodes
2022–present	The Crown	Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon	Main role (Seasons 5–6)
2023	Citadel	Dahlia Archer	Main role
	Who Do You Think You Are?	Herself	1 episode
TBD	Disclaimer	Nancy	Upcoming miniseries

Theatre

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Lesley Manville para niños