Eileen June Atkins was born 16 June 1934 in Clapton, London, England, UK. She is an English writer and award-winning film and theatre actress.

She is one of England's most renowned stage actresses, Eileen Atkins has been a staple of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and London's West End since the 1960s. She has also popped up occasionally on film and television, and she has made numerous contributions to both mediums as a scriptwriter, most notably for the acclaimed series Upstairs Downstairs and House of Eliott and the well-received screen adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

A product of London's East End, where she was born in the Clapton Salvation Army Home on June 16, 1934, Atkins grew up in a council home as the third child of a homemaker and a gas meter reader. She began performing as a tap dancer in working men's clubs at the age of seven, and she had done professional pantomime by the time she was 13. Under the encouragement of a school instructor -- who gave Atkins voice lessons to remove her Cockney accent and introduced her to Shakespeare -- she went on to attend the Guildhall School of Drama, where she did a teaching course and took drama classes.

Atkins struggled to begin her professional career, finding it difficult to get stage roles of any substance, to say nothing of stage roles, period. She got her first break when she moved to Stratford with her then-husband, Julian Glover, who had found work with the RSC. Atkins got her start in Stratford as an usherette, and she gradually moved her way up until she was allowed into the company. She first performed on the Stratford stage as Audrey in As You Like It, chosen to fill in for the understudy of Dame Peggy Ashcroft after both had taken ill. Atkins spent several years with the RSC, performing in both classical and contemporary plays alongside the likes of Lawrence Olivier and Alec Guinness. On the London stage, she portrayed numerous characters, earning a Best Supporting Actress Olivier Award for her performance in Peter Hall's production of The Winter's Tale. Her one-woman show, A Room of One's Own, was an international success, earning Atkins a Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance and a special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf.

Although the international stage has been the centerpoint of Atkins' career, she has made many contributions to film and television. Aside from her work on the aforementioned Upstairs, Downstairs, The House of Elliot, and Mrs. Dalloway (the last of which earned her the Evening Standard British Film Best Screenplay award), she has appeared in such films as Let Him Have It (1991), Jack and Sarah (1995), and John Schlesinger's Cold Comfort Farm (1995). Among the endless honors Atkins holds is a Commander of the British Empire.

Atkins was married to Julian Glover from 1957 to 1966, but they were later divorced. She has been married to her current husband, Bill Shepherd, since 2 February 1978. She has no children.

Credits by Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie

Filmography

• The Girl in Melanie Klein (2008)
• Evening (2007)
• "Waking the Dead" (2 episodes, 2007)
• "Cranford Chronicles" (2007)
• Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006)
• Ask the Dust (2006)
• Marple: Towards Zero (2006)
• Fiesta del chivo, La (2005)
• The Queen of Sheba's Pearls (2004)
• Vanity Fair (2004)
• Cold Mountain (2003)
• Love Again (2003)
• Hét Pesten és Budán, Egy (2003)
• What a Girl Wants (2003)
• The Hours (2002)
• Bertie and Elizabeth (2002)
• The Lives of Animals (2002)
• Gosford Park (2001)
• Wit (2001)
• The Sleeper (2000)
• David Copperfield (2000)
• Madame Bovary (2000)
• Women Talking Dirty (1999)
• The Avengers (1998)
• "Talking Heads 2" (1998)
• "A Dance to the Music of Time" (1997)
• Jack & Sarah (1995)
• Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
• Wolf (1994)
• The Maitlands (1993)
• The Lost Language of Cranes (1991)
• Let Him Have It (1991)
• The Stuff of Madness (1990)
• A Room of One's Own (1990)
• The Vision (1988)
• Roman Holiday (1987)
• A Hazard of Hearts (1987)
• Breaking Up (1986)
• Titus Andronicus (1985)
• The Burston Rebellion (1985)
• A Better Class of Person (1985)
• Bewitched (1985)
• The Dresser (1983)
• Nelly's Version (1983)
• "Smiley's People" (4 episodes, 1982)
• Oliver Twist (1982) (TV)
• "Sons and Lovers" (1981)
• "BBC2 Play of the Week" (1 episode, 1978)
• Equus (1977)
• Raku Fire (1977)
• I Don't Want to Be Born (1975)
• The Lady's Not for Burning (1974)
• "Play of the Month" (4 episodes, 1969-1974)
• The Lady from the Sea (1974)
• The Duchess of Malfi (1972)
• "W. Somerset Maugham" (2 episodes, 1969-1970)
• Party Games (1970)
• "The Wednesday Play" (4 episodes, 1965-1969)
• "Half Hour Story" (1 episode, 1968)
• Inadmissible Evidence (1968)
• "The Massingham Affair" (6 episodes, 1964)
• "Z Cars" (1 episode, 1964)
• "An Age of Kings" (1960)
• Hilda Lessways (1959)

Awards

• Broadcast Film Critics Association Award Best Acting Ensemble "Gosford Park" 2001
• Florida Film Critics Circle Award Best Ensemble "Gosford Park" 2001
• Online Film Critics Society Award Best Ensemble "Gosford Park" 2001
• The Actor Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture "Gosford Park" 2001
• Olivier Award Best Actress in a Play "The Unexpected Man" 1999
• Evening Standard Award Best Actress "A Delicate Balance" 1997
• Special Drama Desk Award "Vita and Virginia" 1995
• OBIE Award Performance "Vita and Virginia" 1994 - 95
• London Critics' Circle Award Best Actress "The Night of the Iguana" 1992
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding One-Person Show "A Room of One's Own" 1991
• New York Drama Critics Circle Special Citation "A Room of One's Own" 1990 - 91
• OBIE Award Performance "A Room of One's Own" 1990 - 91
• Olivier Award Best Supporting Performance "Cymbeline" and "Mountain Language" 1988 - 89
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play "The Night of the Tribades" 1978
• Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance "Vivat! Vivat Regina!" 1972
• Plays and Players London Theatre Critics Award Best Actress "Vivat! Vivat Regina!" 1972
• Plays and Players London Theatre Critics Award Most Promising Newcomer 1965