Cathy Tyson

{{Infobox person

|name = Cathy Tyson

|image =

|imagesize =

|caption =

|birthname = Catherine Tyson

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|06|12|df=y}}

|birth_place = Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, England

|occupation = Actress

|yearsactive = 1984–present

|spouse = {{marriage|Craig Charles|1984|1989|end=div}}

|children = 1

|website =

}}

Catherine Tyson (born 12 June 1965) is an English actress. She won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Mona Lisa (1986), which also earned her Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards. She has starred in The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), Priest (1994), and Band of Gold (1995–1997). She won the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2022 for her performance in the film Help.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60925307|work=BBC News|title=Bafta TV Awards 2022: The winners and nominees|date=8 May 2022|access-date=5 June 2022}}

Early life and education

Tyson was born in Kingston-upon-Thames on 12 June 1965, the daughter of an English social worker mother and a Trinidadian barrister father.{{Cite book |last1=Hoyles |first1=Asher |url=https://archive.org/details/remembermeachiev0000hoyl |title=Remember Me: Achievements of Mixed Race People, Past and Present |last2=Hoyles |first2=Martin |publisher=Hansib Publications Ltd & Ethos Publishing |year=1999 |isbn=9781870518628 |location=London |pages=40–42 |chapter=Cathy Tyson}} She grew up in Liverpool,{{Cite web |date=2023-10-02 |title=Boiling Point star Cathy Tyson has a very famous ex-husband |url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/film/503739/boiling-point-cathy-tyson-famous-ex-husband-craig-charles/ |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=HELLO! |language=en}} having moved there with her parents when she was two years old. She was a pupil at St Winifred's School.{{cite news|url=https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/cathy-tyson-star-liverpool-schoolmates-8540449|work=Liverpool Echo|title=Cathy Tyson to star in Liverpool schoolmate's new play|first=Catherine|last=Jones|date=29 January 2015|access-date=5 June 2022}} She attended Liverpool's Everyman Youth Theatre in her teens, and dropped out of college at 17 to pursue an acting career there.{{cite news|url=http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-arts/2007/10/22/everyman-theatre-nurturing-stars-of-the-future-64375-19990144|work=Liverpool Daily Post|title=Everyman Theatre nurturing stars of the future|first=Lou|last=Baxter|date=22 October 2007}}{{dead link|date=June 2022}}

Career

Tyson joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984, taking the lead role in their performance of Golden Girls.{{cite book|author=Yinka Sunmonu|author-link=Alison Donnell|editor-link=Alison Donnell|editor=Alison Donnell|title=Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfdpdZ9DwH0C&pg=PA312|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-70025-7|page=310|chapter=Tyson, Cathy}} Also in 1984, Tyson made an early TV appearance playing Joanna in Scully.

Tyson's film debut was in Mona Lisa (1986) as Simone, an elegant prostitute, a performance which brought her critical acclaim. Her other films include Business as Usual (1987), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), The Lost Language of Cranes (1991), Priest (1994) and The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2001). Probably her best-known television appearance was also as a prostitute, Carol Johnson, in the ITV series Band of Gold.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/jun/02/writer-kay-mellor-and-actor-cathy-tyson-how-we-made-band-of-gold |work=The Guardian|title=Interview {{!}} Writer Kay Mellor and actor Cathy Tyson: how we made Band of Gold|first=Dave|last=Simpson|date=2 June 2015|access-date=5 June 2022}}{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/bradford-band-of-gold-yorkshire-ripper-prostitution-a7599621.html|work=The Independent|title=Life as a Bradford sex worker: has anything changed for prostitutes twenty years on from Band of Gold?|first=David|last=Barnett|date=27 February 2017|access-date=5 June 2022}}

In 2007, Tyson joined the cast of two long-running television series. She played headmistress Miss Gayle in the BBC One school drama Grange Hill, and featured in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale as single mother Andrea Hayworth.

Tyson played Herodia in BBC Three's Liverpool Nativity, a modern adaptation of the traditional Christmas story. Recorded as a live event in Liverpool City Centre on 16 December 2007, it was broadcast several times over the Christmas period and repeated the following year.

In September 2009, Tyson enrolled at the adult learning centre City Lit on an access to higher education course in creative studies. She completed a degree in English and Drama at Brunel University in 2013.{{cite news|url=https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/people/qa-with-cathy-tyson/2019754.article|work=Times Higher Education|title=Q&A with Cathy Tyson|first=John|last=Elmes|date=23 April 2015|access-date=5 June 2022}}

In 2018 Tyson played DI Siobhan Clarke in the stage play Rebus: Long Shadows, written by Rona Munro and Ian Rankin.{{Cite news |date=September 6, 2018 |title=Rebus returns with a new case at Birmingham Rep |url=https://archive.org/details/stourbridge-chronicle-2018-09-06 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=20 March 2025 |work=Stourbridge Chronicle |pages=20}}{{Cite web |last=Weekly |first=Theatre |date=2018-12-04 |title=Rebus Long Shadows Extends Tour With Ron Donachie in Title Role |url=https://theatreweekly.com/rebus-long-shadows-extends-tour-with-ron-donachie-in-title-role/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201020416/https://theatreweekly.com/rebus-long-shadows-extends-tour-with-ron-donachie-in-title-role/ |archive-date=1 December 2024 |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=Theatre Weekly |language=}}

In 2020, Tyson was cast as the second titular character in the CBeebies series JoJo & Gran Gran.{{cite web|url=https://www.melanmag.com/2020/03/17/jojo-gran-gran-cbeebies-tv-series/|title=JoJo & Gran Gran is based on the loving relationship I had with my Gran|publisher=Melan Mag|date=17 March 2020|accessdate=3 April 2023}}

In 2021, she guest starred in an episode of TV drama McDonald & Dodds.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2021/02/28/mcdonald-dodds-review-absolutely-ridiculous-brilliant-fun|work=The Sunday Telegraph|title=McDonald & Dodds, review: absolutely ridiculous and brilliant fun for it|first=Ed|last=Power|date=28 February 2021|access-date=5 June 2022}}

In 2021, Tyson appeared in Channel 4 film Help playing Poll, an elderly resident of a care home during the Covid-19 pandemic; the following year she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

In 2023 she appeared as Maureen in the film Bank of Dave.{{Cite web |date=2023-05-21 |title=9 best British films of 2023 making us proud, from blockbuster hits to festival-season darlings |url=https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/gallery/best-british-films-2023 |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=Glamour UK |language=en-GB}} She also produced the short The Consequence.

In 2024 she played Sam in Luna Carmoon's debut feature Hoard,{{Cite web |title=Hoard, returning to cinemas with Cinematik |url=https://www.cinematik.app/shortlists/films/hoard |access-date=2024-05-22 |website=Cinematik |language=en}} and Mother Superior Raquella Berto-Anirul in Dune: Prophecy.{{Cite web |last=O'Keefe |first=Meghan |date=11 November 2024 |title='Dune: Prophecy' Review: HBO's Lavish New Sci-Fi Drama Gives 'Dune' Back to the Herbert Heads |url=https://decider.com/2024/11/11/dune-prophecy-review/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241225202540/https://decider.com/2024/11/11/dune-prophecy-review/ |archive-date=25 December 2024 |access-date=20 March 2025 |website=Decider |language=}} She also played one of the Furies, Alecto, in the tv series Kaos. Over Christmas 2024 she performed as Mrs Higgins in My Fair Lady at the Curve Theatre, Leiciester.[https://www.curveonline.co.uk/news/curve-announces-full-cast-for-new-production-of-lerner-and-loewes-my-fair-lady/ My Fair Lady at the Curve]

Charity work

Tyson hosted a charity event for the Sick Children's Trust on 17 November 2007, and again on 1 November 2008. The event, organised by Friends of Eckersley House, a committee supporting the charity's Leeds house, was held at the Haven Golden Sands resort in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire. She is also one of the Honorary Patrons of the London children's charity Scene & Heard.{{cite web|url=http://sceneandheard.org/about_whoweare.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210015720/http://sceneandheard.org/about_whoweare.html|work=Scene & Heard|title=Who We Are|archive-date=10 February 2009}}

Personal life

Tyson married actor and comedian Craig Charles in 1984. Their son Jack was born in 1988. They later divorced in 1989.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/29/craig-charles-my-family-values|work=The Guardian|title=Interview {{!}} Craig Charles: My family values|first=Nikki|last=Spencer|date=29 May 2015|access-date=5 June 2022|issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |last=Ward |first=Victoria |date=21 Jun 2006 |title=EXCLUSIVE: CHARLES'S EX CATHY - MAYBE IT'S FOR BEST |pages=1 |work=Mirror |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/exclusive-charless-ex-cathy---630131 |access-date=7 April 2023}}

Awards and nominations

! scope="row" | 1986

| rowspan=2| Mona Lisa

| Actress in a Leading Role

| 40th British Academy Film Awards

| {{nom}}

| align="center" |{{cite web | url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1987/film/actress-in-a-leading-role | title=BAFTA Awards }}

! scope="row" | 1987

| Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture

| 44th Golden Globe Awards

| {{nom}}

| align="center" |{{cite web | url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/cathy-tyson | title=Cathy Tyson }}

! scope="row" | 2002

| Night and Day

| Best Actress

| The British Soap Awards

| {{nom}}

| align="center" |{{cite web|last=Welsh|first=James|url=https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a7412/british-soap-awards-2002-nominations/|title=British Soap Awards 2002: Nominations|work=Digital Spy|publisher=Hearst Communications|date=16 May 2002|accessdate=30 April 2019}}

! scope="row" rowspan="2" |2022

| Help

| Best Supporting Actress

| 2022 British Academy Television Awards

| {{won}}

| align="center" |

|JoJo & Gran Gran

| Performer

|British Academy Children's Awards 2022

| {{nominated}}

| align="center" |{{cite web | url=https://www.bafta.org/cyp2022-Winners | title=BAFTA's Children & Young People Awards 2022 - Winners | date=27 November 2022 }}