Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton was born on January 9, 1956 in London, UK. She is an Academy Award-nominated English actress.

Imelda Staunton starred in Vera Drake (2004) and suddenly became a front-runner in the Oscar race for Best Actress. On stage she has had starring roles in dramas and musicals, and she turned in award-winning performances in supporting roles in 1985's A Chorus of Disapproval and The Corn is a Green.

On British television she has appeared in movies and the series The Singing Detective (1986), Up the Garden Path (1990) and Murder (2002).

She also starred in such films as Peter's Friends (1992), Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Crush (2001), and in the 2007 movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Staunton nearly stole the show as pink-cheeked, iron-fisted headmistress Dolores Umbridge.

Filmography

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
• Freedom Writers (2007)
• "Cranford Chronicles" (2007)
• The Wind in the Willows (2006)
• Shadow Man (2006)
• My Family and Other Animals (2005)
• "Little Britain" (6 episodes, 2005)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005/I) (TV)
• 3 & 3 (2005)
• Nanny McPhee (2005)
• Fingersmith (2005)
• Vera Drake (2004)
• "Let's Write a Story" (2004)
• "Strange" (1 episode, 2003)
• I'll Be There (2003)
• Blackball (2003)
• Bright Young Things (2003)
• The Virgin of Liverpool (2003)
• Cambridge Spies (2003)
• Murder (2002)
• Ready (2002)
• Crush (2001)
• Another Life (2001)
• "The Canterbury Tales" (2 episodes, 1998-2000)
• Rat (2000)
• Chicken Run (2000)
• Jack and the Beanstalk (2000)
• David Copperfield (1999)
• "Midsomer Murders" (1 episode, 1999)
• Shakespeare in Love (1998)
• Remember Me? (1997)
• The Ugly Duckling (1997)
• "Is It Legal?" (14 episodes, 1995-1996)
• Twelfth Night: Or What You Will (1996)
• "Tales from the Crypt" (1 episode, 1996)
• The Snow Queen's Revenge (1996)
• Sense and Sensibility (1995)
• "Look at the State We're In!" (1995)
• Citizen X (1995)
• The Snow Queen (1995)
• The Adventures of Mole (1995)
• "Frank Stubbs Promotes" (1 episode, 1994)
• Woodcock (1994)
• Mole's Christmas (1994)
• "If You See God, Tell Him" (1993)
• "Up the Garden Path" (18 episodes, 1990-1993)
• Don't Leave Me This Way (1993)
• Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
• Deadly Advice (1993)
• Peter's Friends (1992)
• A Masculine Ending (1992)
• Antonia and Jane (1991)
• Yellowbacks (1990)
• The Englishman's Wife (1990)
• They Never Slept (1990)
• A Sleeping Life (1989)
• "Thompson" (1988)
• Comrades (1987)
• "The Singing Detective" (1986)
• "Ladies in Charge" (1 episode, 1986)
• "BBC2 Playhouse" (1 episode, 1982)

Awards

• British Academy Film Award Best Actress "Vera Drake" 2005
• Los Angeles Film Critics Award Best Actress "Vera Drake" 2004
• National Society of Film Critics Award Best Actress "Vera Drake" 2004
• New York Film Critics Award Best Actress "Vera Drake" 2004
• Toronto Film Critics Award Best Actress "Vera Drake" 2004
• Screen Actors' Guild Award Best Ensemble Cast "Shakespeare in Love" 1998
• The Actor Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Theatrical Motion Picture "Shakespeare in Love" 1998
• Olivier Award Best Actress in a Musical "Into the Woods" 1991
• Plays and Players London Theatre Critics Award Best Supporting Actress "Uncle Vanya" 1988
• Olivier Award Best Performance in a Supporting a Role "A Chorus of Disapproval" and "The Corn Is Green" 1986
• London Critics' Circle Award Best Supporting Actress "A Chorus of Disapproval" and "The Corn Is Green" 1985