Lesley Sharp
{{Short description|English actress (born 1960)}}
{{about||the American medical anthropologist|Lesley A. Sharp}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Lesley Sharp
| image = Lesley Sharp in Carla 2003.jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Sharp in Carla 2003
| birthname = Karen Makinson
| birth_date = {{date of birth and age|1960|4|3}}
| birth_place = Manchester, England
| othername =
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1983–present
| spouse = {{marriage|Nicholas Gleaves|1994}}
| children = 2
| website =
| awards =
}}
Lesley Sharp (born 3 April 1960) is an English actress, She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her part in the film The Full Monty (1997), and for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress in 2002 for her role in Bob & Rose (2001).
Her credits include Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987), The Rachel Papers (1989), Naked (1993), Priest (1994), The Moonstone (1996), Great Expectations (1999), Daylight Robbery (1999), Clocking Off (2000–2001), From Hell (2001), Vera Drake (2004), Afterlife (2005–2006), Scott & Bailey (2011-2016), This Cop Life (2022), and The Full Monty (TV series) (2023).
Early life
Sharp was born in Manchester, England to Elsie Makinson and Norman Patient, a married tram driver. She was adopted at six weeks old. Her adoptive father, Jack, was a tax inspector, and she grew up in Merseyside.{{Cite web |title=Lesley Sharp: "I didn't want to be classified as a northern actress" |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/lesley-sharp-both-men-and-women-must-work-for-a-civilised-society/ |access-date=2023-01-13 |website=Radio Times |language=en}}
Sharp has stated that she started acting because, as a child, she felt "invisible" and did not "quite fit in".{{Cite web|author= McLean, Gareth |url= https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/sep/10/theatre1 |title= A truly visible woman |work=theguardian.com |date= 10 September 2005 |access-date= 21 July 2009}} She has said that her inspiration to act came from watching Dick Emery on television.Billen, Andrew; [https://archive.today/20080917102948/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article4625789.ece "Lesley Sharp shows she's married to the job in The Children"] The Times, 30 August 2008 (Retrieved: 21 July 2009)
Sharp attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the class of 1982.{{cite web|title= Lesley Sharp | url = http://www.gsmd.ac.uk/about_the_school/alumni/people_who_studied_at_guildhall/acting_alumni_include/lesley_sharp/ |publisher= Guildhall School |access-date= 8 November 2014 | archive-date = 21 August 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160821050544/http://www.gsmd.ac.uk/about_the_school/alumni/people_who_studied_at_guildhall/acting_alumni_include/lesley_sharp/ | url-status = dead }}
Career
Sharp's screen debut was in Alan Clarke's Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1986), playing Bob's wife, Michelle. Further film appearances included supporting roles in The Rachel Papers (1989), and Stephen Poliakoff's Close My Eyes, with Clive Owen and Alan Rickman. Sharp starred in Mike Leigh's Naked (1993), and the Jimmy McGovern-penned Priest (1994). She made appearances in Prime Suspect 4: The Lost Child (1995), and The Full Monty (1997).
She was offered lead roles in Common As Muck (1997), followed by Playing the Field (1998–2002), a drama about a female football team which ran for five series. Sharp had supporting parts in Great Expectations (1999), as Mrs Joe, and in Nature Boy (2000), as Martha Tyler, before landing the role of Trudy Graham in Paul Abbott's BAFTA-award-winning Clocking Off (2000–2003), Russell T. Davies then cast her opposite Alan Davies in Bob & Rose, which resulted in a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress nomination in 2002.{{cite web | url= http://awards.bafta.org/award/2002/television/actress |title= Television | Actress in 2002 |publisher= BAFTA |access-date= 8 November 2014}}
Further film roles in From Hell, starring Johnny Depp, and Cheeky (1993), which was directed by Naked co-star David Thewlis, preceded another television drama written by Russell T. Davies. She starred in The Second Coming (2003).
Sharp again worked with Mike Leigh in Vera Drake (2004), which was followed by the television drama Planespotting, The same year, she played the clairvoyant lead role of Alison Mundy opposite Andrew Lincoln's sceptical Robert Bridge in ITV's supernatural drama series Afterlife.
After a ten-year break from stagework, in October 2005 Sharp returned to the theatre as Emma in Sam Shepard's The God of Hell at the Donmar Warehouse. In 2008, she starred in the three-part Lucy Gannon-penned drama The Children. Later in 2008, she worked with Russell T. Davies for a third time when she played Sky Silvestry in the Doctor Who episode "Midnight". Davies later tipped Sharp to become the first woman to play the Doctor.Wallis, Sara; [http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/tv-film/tv-news/2008/12/19/writer-russell-t-davies-backs-lesley-sharp-to-be-first-female-doctor-who-86908-20981539/ "Writer Russell T. Davies backs Lesley Sharp to be first female Doctor Who"] Daily Record, 19 December 2008 (Retrieved: 21 July 2009)
In early 2009 Sharp played Petronella van Daan in the BBC's new version of The Diary of Anne Frank. She subsequently played Paddy Considine's wife in Channel 4's acclaimed drama series Red Riding. Sharp starred in a 2009 revival of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at the Vaudeville Theatre with Marc Warren and Diana Vickers,Michael Billington [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/oct/21/michael-billington-review "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice – Vaudeville"], The Guardian, 21 October 2009 which ran from October to the following January. Between 2011 and 2016, Sharp co-starred as Janet Scott in ITV1's crime drama series Scott & Bailey. In May 2012 she starred in the Sky1 comedy series Starlings as Jan Starling.{{cite web|url=http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/drama/scott-and-bailey/interviews/a-quick-chat-with-lesley-sharp/16285|title=A quick chat with Lesley Sharp|publisher=What's on TV|date=10 May 2012|access-date=11 May 2012}}
In 2015, Sharp played the part of Mary, the daughter of Petunia Howe, in the three-part BBC series Capital based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name.{{cite web | title= BBC One: Capital |url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06qrqlf| author=| publisher= BBC Online | access-date= 24 November 2015}}
She appeared in several episodes of the Netflix original Fate: The Winx Saga as Rosalind but was replaced in this role with Miranda Richardson after the first season.
In 2021 she took the lead role in Kae Tempest’s Philoctetes at the National Theatre.
In 2022 she narrated the police documentary This Cop Life.
Personal life
Sharp married Nicholas Gleaves in 1994, and they have two children.{{cite news |author=Peter Stanford |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-business/10656867/Lesley-Sharp-Adoption-gave-me-this-sense-I-dont-belong.html |title=Lesley Sharp: 'Adoption gave me this sense I don't belong |date=23 February 2014 |newspaper=The Telegraph}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable"
|+Film |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| rowspan="2" | 1987
| Michelle | |
| The Love Child
| Bernadette | |
| 1989
| Jenny | |
| 1991
| Jessica | |
| 1993
| Naked | Louise | |
| rowspan="2" | 1994
| Syrup | Miss James | Short |
| Priest
| Mrs. Unsworth | |
| 1997
| Jean | |
| 2001
| Kate Eddowes | |
| 2002
| Spyhole | Angela Miller | Short |
| 2003
| Cheeky | Kath | |
| 2004
| Jessica Barnes | |
| 2008
| Inkheart | Mortola | |
| 2009
| In Passing | Fay Travers | Short |
| 2012
| Peekaboo | Emily | Short |
| 2015
| The Holocaust: A Story of Remembrance | Narrator | Short |
| 2016
| Dusty & Me | Lil | |
| 2017
| All That You Love Will Be Carried Away | Alice | Short |
| 2018
| Spoon Fed | Ellie | Short |
| 2019
| Brighton | Doreen | |
| 2022
| Morwenna | |
| 2025
| Pillion | Peggy | |
| class="wikitable"
|+Television |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1983
| Tartuffe, or the Impostor | Mariane | TV film |
| 1987
| rowspan="3"|ScreenPlay | Valerie | "Road" |
| rowspan="2" | 1989
| Marion Parkin | "Night Voice" |
| Woman
| "Wedded" |
| rowspan="2" | 1991
| Josie | | 1 episode |
| Performance
| Dull Gret / Angie | "Top Girls" |
| 1992
| She-Play | | "First Night" |
| 1993
| Nights | Carol | |
| 1993–94
| Petra Dillon | Main (13 episodes) |
| rowspan="3" | 1994
| The All New Alexei Sayle Show | Various | 2 episodes |
| Stages
| Susan | "Speaking in Tongues" |
| Dandelion Dead
| Constance 'Connie' Martin, née Davies | Mini-series |
| rowspan="2" | 1995
| Anne Sutherland | "The Lost Child" |
| The Peter Principle
| Susan Harvey | "Pilot" |
| 1996
| Rosanna Spearman | TV film |
| rowspan="2" | 1997
| Christine Stranks | Main (6 episodes) |
| Lloyds Bank Channel 4 Film Challenge
| Pet Warmley | "Nurse Ajax" |
| 1998–2000
| Theresa Mullen | Main (20 episodes) |
| rowspan="2" | 1999
| Mrs. Joe | TV film |
| Daylight Robbery
| Carol Murphy | Main (4 episodes) |
| 2000
| Nature Boy | Martha | Mini-series |
| 2000–01
| Trudy Graham | Main (11 episodes) |
| 2001
| Rose Cooper | Main (6 episodes) |
| rowspan="2" | 2003
| Judith Roach | Mini-series |
| Carla
| Helen North | rowspan="5" | TV film |
| 2004
| Louisa Evans |
| rowspan="3" | 2005
| Planespotting | Lesley Coppin |
| Born with Two Mothers
| Laura Mayfield |
| Days of Darkness
| Jerri Nielsen |
| 2005–06
| Alison Mundy | Main (14 episodes) |
| 2005
| Our Hidden Lives | Edie Rutherford | rowspan="3" | TV film |
| rowspan="2" | 2006
| The True Voice of Murder | |
| The True Voice of Prostitution
| |
| rowspan="2" | 2008
| Sky Silvestry | "Midnight" |
| The Children
| Anne | Mini-series (3 episodes) |
| rowspan="5" | 2009
| Petronella van Daan | Mini-series (5 episodes) |
| Red Riding
| Joan Hunter | "1980" |
| Moving On
| Sylvie | "Butterfly Effect" |
| Cranford
| Mrs. Bell | Specials |
| Poirot
| Miss Martindale | "The Clocks" |
| 2010
| Whistle and I'll Come to You | Hetty | TV film |
| rowspan="2" | 2011
| Leah's Story | Narrator | Documentary |
| The Shadow Line
| Julie Bede | Mini-series (6 episodes) |
| 2011–16
| DC Janet Scott | Main (33 episodes) |
| rowspan="2" | 2011
| The Walton Sextuplets: Moving On | Narrator | TV film |
| Shirley
| Eliza Bassey | TV film |
| 2012
| Narrator | Mini-series (3 episodes) |
| 2012–13
| Jan | Main (16 episodes) |
| 2012
| Corfu: a Tale of Two Islands | Narrator | Documentary |
| rowspan="2" | 2013
| Homeboys | Eileen | TV film |
| Who Do You Think You Are?
| Herself | 1 episode (S10E4) |
| 2014
| Shirley | |
| rowspan="2" | 2015
| Capital | Mary | Mini-series (3 episodes) |
| Tom Daley: Diving for Gold
| Narrator | Documentary |
| 2016
| Paranoid | Lucy Cannonbury | Main (8 episodes) |
| 2017
| DC Margaret Oliver | Mini-series (3 episodes) |
| 2017–19
| Jen Pemberton | Main (12 episodes) |
| 2021
| Rosalind | 3 episodes |
| 2021–
| Hannah Laing | Main |
| rowspan="2" | 2021
| Help | Gaynor | TV film |
| Heaven Made
| Narrator | Documentary |
| 2023
| Jean | Mini-series |
| 2024
| Red Eye | Madeline | Drama |
=Theatre=
In October 2005, Sharp starred in her first theatre role for a decade in the play The God of Hell at the Donmar Warehouse, London.{{cite news | url= https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2005/oct/27/theatre.art1 | title = The God of Hell |last1= Billington |first1= Michael | newspaper = The Guardian | access-date = 8 November 2014}}
In 2008, she played the lead character in the play Harper Regan at Royal National Theatre.{{cite news | url= https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2008/apr/24/theatre | title = Harper Regan |last1= Billington |first1= Michael | newspaper = The Guardian | access-date = 8 November 2014}}
In 2014, she played the character Helen in the play A Taste of Honey at Royal National Theatre.
Awards and nominations
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
!Award !Category !Work !Result ! Ref. |
|---|
| 1988
|rowspan=2|Olivier Awards |A Family Affair |{{Nom}} | |
| 1992
|Uncle Vanya |{{Nom}} | |
| rowspan=2|1998
|rowspan=2|The Full Monty |{{Nom}} | |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards
|Outstanding Cast in a Film |{{Won}} | |
| rowspan=2|2002
|rowspan=2|Bob and Rose |{{Nom}} |
| rowspan=2|Royal Television Society
|rowspan=2|Best Female Actor |{{Nom}} | |
| 2006
|Afterlife |{{Won}} | |
References and notes
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160301074535/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba5858f3f Lesley Sharp] at the British Film Institute
- {{IMDb name|789093|Lesley Sharp}}
{{RTS Programme Award for Best Performance by a Female Actor}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Lesley}}
Category:20th-century English actresses
Category:21st-century English actresses
Category:Actresses from Liverpool
Category:Actresses from Manchester
Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Category:English film actresses
Category:English stage actresses
Category:English television actresses
Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners