Brenda Blethyn was born on February 20, 1946 in Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK. She is a Golden Globe-winning English film, stage, television and voice actress, and writer.

Blethyn's early stage experience included stints in the stock companies of the Bubble Theatre and the Belgrade Theater of Coventry. In 1975, she joined the Royal National Theater, where she worked with some of Britain's leading stage directors, including Peter Wood, Peter Hall, and Bill Bryden, and her roles ran the gamut from Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House to Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday. With the Royal Shakespeare Company, she appeared under the direction of Maximillian Schell in Tales From the Vienna Woods and in Alan Ayckbourn's Wildest Dream.

Blethyn made her film debut in 1990, with a small part in Nicholas Roeg's The Witches. Robert Redford cast her as Brad Pitt's mother in A River Runs Through It in 1992, but 1996's Secrets and Lies provided Blethyn with her first substantial screen role. In a story developed through six months of improvisations with Leigh and the cast, Blethyn's performance as a woman getting to know the daughter she had given up made her an international sensation almost overnight. Blethyn received another Oscar nomination in 1999, for her role as the overbearing mother in Little Voice; her nomination complemented her growing popularity in Hollywood, reflected by her casting in such high profile projects as Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy and Them (1999).

The following year, Blethyn again earned raves for her starring role in Saving Grace, a comedy about a woman forced to start growing marijuana to stave off creditors following her husband's death.

On television, Blethyn has appeared in BBC productions of King Lear and Henry VI, Part One, as well as several series, including The Labours of Erica, The Buddha of Suburbia, and Outside Edge, which first teamed her with Secrets and Lies co-star Timothy Spall.

Her last credits include Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007).

Credits by All Movie Guide

Filmography

• King of the Pipers (2008)
• No One Gets Off in This Town (2008)
• The Calling (2008)
• "War and Peace" (2007)
• Atonement (2007)
• Clubland (2007)
• Mysterious Creatures (2006)
• Pride & Prejudice (2005)
• Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005)
• On a Clear Day (2005)
• Marsha Potter Gets a Life (2005)
• A Way of Life (2004)
• Belonging (2004)
• Beyond the Sea (2004)
• Piccadilly Jim (2004)
• "Between the Sheets" (2003)
• Blizzard (2003)
• Bob the Builder: The Knights of Can-A-Lot (2003)
• The Sleeping Dictionary (2003)
• Plots with a View (2002)
• The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002)
• Sonny (2002)
• Pumpkin (2002)
• On the Nose (2001)
• Lovely & Amazing (2001)
• Daddy and Them (2001)
• The Yellow Bird (2001)
• Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001)
• Yes You Can (2001)
• Seven Roses (2001)
• Saving Grace (2000)
• RKO 281 (1999)
• Music from Another Room (1998)
• Little Voice (1998)
• In the Winter Dark (1998)
• Night Train (1998)
• Girls' Night (1998)
• Remember Me? (1997)
• Secrets & Lies (1996)
• "Outside Edge" (4 episodes, 1994)
• "The Buddha of Suburbia" (1993)
• "Screen One" (1 episode, 1993)
• "Maigret" (1 episode, 1993)
• A River Runs Through It (1992)
• "Alas Smith & Jones" (8 episodes, 1984-1990)
• The Witches (1990)
• "The Labours of Erica" (1989)
• "The Storyteller" (1 episode, 1988)
• Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987)
• "Sunday Premiere: Claws" (1987)
• "Chance in a Million" (18 episodes, 1984-1986)
• "That Uncertain Feeling" (1985)
• "Who Dares Wins" (3 episodes, 1984)
• "Rumpole of the Bailey" (1 episode, 1983)
• "Play for Today" (2 episodes, 1980-1983)
• "Tales of the Unexpected" (1 episode, 1983)
• "Death of an Expert Witness" (1983)
• Henry VI, Part One (1983)
• King Lear (1982)
• "Yes Minister" (1 episode, 1981)
• "BBC2 Playhouse" (1 episode, 1980)
• Bedroom Farce (1980)
• "Can We Get on Now, Please?" (1 episode, 1980)

Awards

• Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award Best Supporting Actress "Little Voice" 1998
• BAFTA Award Best Actress "Secrets & Lies" 1996
• Boston Society of Film Critics Award Best Actress "Secrets & Lies" 1996
• Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award "Secrets & Lies" 1996
• Golden Globe Award Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) "Secrets & Lies" 1996
• London Film Critics Circle Award Best British Actress "Secrets & Lies" 1996
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award Best Actress "Secrets & Lies" 1996
• British Comedy Award Best TV Comedy Actress "Outside Edge" 1994
• Theatre World Award "Absent Friends" 1991
• Society of West End Theatres (SWET) Award Award Best Supporting Actress "Steaming" 1982
• London Critics Circle Award Best Supporting Actress "Steaming" 1981