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 69) Brighton, 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 (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress. She is 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), Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022), and Luca Guadagnino's Queer (2024), as well as the television series Emmerdale (1974–1976), Cranford (2007), Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond (2014), River (2015), Mum (2016–2019), Sherwood (2022–2024), and The Crown (2022–2023). She has been nominated for five 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. Her performance as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon in the television series The Crown earned her a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award.

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. She paid for her first flat by landing a part in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale Farm (1974–76), in which she appeared in 80 episodes.

Manville built a career as a distinctive theatre actress; from 1978 she appeared in new plays at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Warehouse and Royal Court Theatre. 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 the US in 1983. For the RSC, she starred in As You Like It (1985) and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1985–86).

She made her film debut in 1985 with Dance with a Stranger, directed by Mike Newell, and telling the story of Ruth Ellis. She also appeared 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 each, 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 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 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 (2024) and would be playing Winehouse's grandmother Cynthia Winehouse.

In 2024 she played Jocasta in Oedipus at Wyndham's Theatre, directed by Robert Icke.

Personal life

Manville's first boyfriend was actor and former Blue Peter presenter 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 (b. 1988), was born. Her second marriage was to actor Joe Dixon. In 2007, Manville was living with her son in East Grinstead, West Sussex.

Manville's sister Brenda, nine years her senior, died of a brain tumour. Her sister's husband and two daughters died of Huntington's disease.

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.

In February 2024, she was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, where her choices included "Over the Rainbow" recorded by Eva Cassidy, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" recorded by Dusty Springfield and "Make You Feel My Love" recorded by Adele.

Filmography (selected)

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Dance with a Stranger	Maryanne
	Christmas Present	Judy Tall
1987	Sammy and Rosie Get Laid	Margy
	High Season	Carol
1988	High Hopes	Lætitia Boothe-Braine
1996	Secrets & Lies	Jenny Ford the Social Worker
1997	Dual Balls	Joanna	Short film
1999	Milk	Fiona
	Topsy-Turvy	Lucy Gilbert (Kitty)
	Toy Boys	Mrs. Allen	Short film
2002	All or Nothing	Penny
2004	Vera Drake	Mrs. Wells
2007	Richard Is My Boyfriend	Mother
	Sparkle	Jill
2008	The Escort	Lesley	Short film
2009	A Christmas Carol	Mrs. Cratchit (voice)
2010	Another Year	Mary
	Womb	Judith	Retitled Clone for its UK DVD release
2012	Spike Island	Margaret Titchfield
	Ashes	Cath
2013	Romeo & Juliet	The Nurse
	A Five Star Life	Kate Sherman
	The Christmas Candle	Bea Haddington
2014	Ghosts	Helene Alving
	Maleficent	Flittle
	Mr. Turner	Mary Somerville
2015	Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism	Miss Adderstone
2016	Domestic Policy		Short film
	Rupture	Dr. Nyman
2017	Hampstead	Fiona
	The Agency	Anthea	Short film
	Phantom Thread	Cyril Woodcock
2019	Ordinary Love	Joan
	Maleficent: Mistress of Evil	Flittle
2020	Misbehaviour	Dolores Hope
	Let Him Go	Blanche Weboy
2021	Everything I Ever Wanted to Tell My Daughter About Men	The Mother
2022	Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris	Ada Harris	Also executive producer
2023	The Critic	Annabel Land
2024	Back to Black	Cynthia Levy
	Queer	Dr. Cotter
TBD	Winter of the Crow	Dr. Joan Andrews	Post-production
	Cold Storage		Post-production
	Mr Burton	Ma Smith	Post-production

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Lesley Manville para niños