Brenda Blethyn

Actor

Brenda Blethyn (born February 20, 1946 in Ramsgate, Kent) is a multi-award-winning British actress known for her strong character portrayals in arthouse and mainstream productions. She achieved her international breakthrough with SECRETS & LIES (1996, directed by Mike Leigh), in which she played Cynthia Rose Purley. For this role, she was awarded Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival and also received a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She played other significant film roles in Little Voice (1998, directed by Mark Herman), for which she received another Oscar nomination, as well as in Saving Grace (2000, directed by Nigel Cole) and Pride and Prejudice (2005, directed by Joe Wright). On television, she made a lasting impression on audiences with her role as Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope in the long-running crime series Vera (since 2011), for which she received numerous nominations, including for a Primetime Emmy. In 2003, Blethyn was honored with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to the theater. Her career is characterized by impressive versatility—she embodies poetic characters in independent films as well as powerful characters in series formats.

Films on Sooner

Secrets and Lies

1996

142 mins

Drama

Two BAFTA Awards and six Oscar nominations: Hortense, a black woman, learns that her mother is white and wants nothing to do with her.