Lesley A. Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress of film, theatre and television. She is an Olivier Award winner.
Manville began her career on stage in the 1972 West End musical I and Albert. In the 1980s, she appeared in the films Dance with a Stranger (1985), directed by Mike Newell and Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987), directed by Stephen Frears. She frequently collaborates with director Mike Leigh, twice being named British Actress of the Year at the London Film Critics Circle Awards for her performances in his 2002 film All or Nothing and his 2010 film Another Year. For the latter, she also received a BAFTA Award nomination. Other Mike Leigh films she has appeared in include High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy Turvy (1999), Vera Drake (2004) and Mr. Turner (2014).
Her extensive career on stage includes appearing in the early 1980s Royal Court productions of Andrea Dunbar's Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1981) and Carol Churchill's Top Girls (1982). She also appeared in Top Girls in New York, in the 1983 Off-Broadway production. Other roles include As You Like It (1985) and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1985-1986), at the RSC and All About My Mother (2007) and Six Degrees of Separation (2010), at the Old Vic. At the National Theatre, her work includes His Dark Materials (2005), The Alchemist (2006) and her Olivier nominated role in Mike Leigh's Grief (2011). For her role as Helena in the National's revival of the Ibsen play Ghosts (2013), she won the 2014 Olivier Award for Best Actress.
Early life
Manville was born in Brighton, Sussex, to a former ballet dancer mother and a taxicab driver father. She was brought up in nearby Hove, one of three daughters. Training as a soprano singer from age 8, she twice became under-18 champion of Sussex. She began acting as a teenager, appearing in television series such as King Cinder. As a result, at age 15, she gained a place at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.
Career
After turning down teacher Arlene Phillips' invitation to join her new dance troupe Hot Gossip, she was taught improvisation by Italia Conti teacher Julia Carey.
Her first job was in West End theatre in the musical I and Albert directed by John Schlesinger, which was followed by television presentation on Westward Television's version of the BBC's Blue Peter. She paid for her first flat taking a part on Emmerdale Farm, which lasted for 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.
In 1979, she met Mike Leigh, who was looking for RSC actors who could improvise. She starred in the 1980 BBC play Grown-Ups. She subsequently appeared in Leigh's films High Hopes, Secrets & Lies, Topsy-Turvy, All or Nothing and Another Year. Other film appearances include: Dance with a Stranger, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, High Season and The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael, as well as A Christmas Carol and Womb.
Manville has also remained active on television, with credits such as The Gentle Touch, Coronation Street, Bulman, Soldier Soldier, Ain't Misbehavin', Tears Before Bedtime, Kavanagh QC, Holding On, Silent Witness, Real Women, The Cazalets, North and South and Cranford. and "Mayday" in 2013.
In 2011, Manville starred in Mike Leigh's play Grief at the National Theatre.
Awards
For her role as Nadine in the series Other People's Children, Manville received a nomination for Best Actress in the 2000 Royal Television Society Awards. In 2002 Manville received another nomination for her performance in the tv series, Bodily Harm.
For her role in All or Nothing she won the London Film Critics' Circle British Actress of the Year in 2002.
For her role in Another Year she has been 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 her second London Film Critics Circle award for British Actress of the Year. She also won the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress and 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 Lesley Manville for "Another Year" at the "Movies for Grownups Awards". On stage, she received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in 2012 for Grief. In 2014, she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress and the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress for Ghosts.
Personal life
She met her first husband Gary Oldman while working at the Royal Court Theatre. Oldman left her in 1989, three months after their son, Alfie, was born. Her second marriage was to Joe Dixon. As of 2007, Manville lived with her son in East Grinstead, West Sussex.
Film and television
Theatre
References
External links
- Lesley Manville at the Internet Movie Database
- Interview, 2010, The Independent [1]