Miranda Richardson

Richardson was born in Southport, Lancashire. She recalls "a cinema about 50 yards from my house. So Saturday mornings were spent with The ABC Minors: the Saturday cinema club with the theme song set to the tune of Blaze Away by Abe Holzmann, a red ball bouncing over the lyrics so you could sing along. As I got older, I would go to the cinema by myself to watch matinees of westerns and historical Technicolor dramas."{{Cite web|date=2021-02-04|title=Miranda Richardson's teenage obsessions: 'I rescued a kestrel and became fascinated by birds of prey'|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/feb/04/miranda-richardsons-teenage-obsessions-i-rescued-a-kestrel-and-became-fascinated-by-birds-of-prey|access-date=2021-02-05|website=The Guardian|language=en}}

Richardson enrolled at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School,{{Cite web|url=http://www.oldvic.ac.uk/past_graduates.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090925101657/http://www.oldvic.ac.uk/past_graduates.html|url-status=dead|title=Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Past Graduates|archive-date=25 September 2009}} where she studied alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Jenny Seagrove, having started out with juvenile performances in Cinderella and Lord Arthur Savile's Crime at the Southport Dramatic Club.

Richardson joined the Manchester Library Theatre in 1979 as an assistant stage manager, followed by a number of appearances in repertory theatre. Her London stage debut was in Moving at the Queen's Theatre in 1981. She found recognition in the West End for a series of stage performances, ultimately receiving an Olivier Award nomination for her performance in A Lie of the Mind,{{Cite web

|url = http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/olivier_awards/view/item98522/

|title = The Society of London Theatre, Olivier Winners 1987

|publisher = Officiallondontheatre.co.uk

|access-date = 3 May 2010

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120213150348/http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/olivier_awards/view/item98522/

|archive-date = 13 February 2012

|url-status = dead

|df = dmy-all

}} and, in 1996, she appeared in the single-actor theatrical adaptation of Orlando at the Edinburgh Festival. She returned to the London stage in May 2009 to play the lead role in Wallace Shawn's new play, Grasses of a Thousand Colours at the Royal Court Theatre.{{Cite web

|url = http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/textonly/productions_play_detail_future.asp?PlayID=542

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200921003853/https://royalcourttheatre.com/textonly/productions_play_detail_future.asp?PlayID=542

|url-status = dead

|archive-date = 21 September 2020

|title = Royal Court Theatre website

|publisher = Royalcourttheatre.com

|access-date = 3 May 2010

}} Richardson has said that she prefers new works rather than the classics because of the history which goes with them.{{Cite web|last=Cochrane|first=Kira|author-link=Kira Cochrane|date=2013-04-20|title=Miranda Richardson: 'I hate our sneering attitude to success'|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/apr/20/miranda-richardson-hate-sneering-attitude|access-date=2021-06-27|website=The Guardian|language=en}}

{{BLP sources|date=December 2024}}

In 1985, Richardson made her film debut as Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom, in the biographical drama Dance with a Stranger. Around the same time, Richardson played a comedic Queen Elizabeth I, aka Queenie, in the British television comedy Blackadder II.

Following Dance with a Stranger, Richardson turned down numerous parts in which her character was unstable or disreputable, including the Glenn Close role in Fatal Attraction. In this period, she appeared in Empire of the Sun (1987). In an episode of the TV series The Storyteller ("The Three Ravens", 1988), she played a witch. Meanwhile, she returned in guest roles in one episode each in Blackadder the Third (1987) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989). She returned to play Queenie in the Christmas special Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) and, later, a special edition for the millennium Blackadder: Back and Forth.

Other television roles include Pamela Flitton in A Dance to the Music of Time (1997), Miss Gilchrist in St. Ives (1998), Bettina the interior decorator in Absolutely Fabulous, Queen Elspeth, Snow White's stepmother, in Snow White: The Fairest of Them All (2001), and Queen Mary in The Lost Prince (2003).

File:Miranda Richardson 2 Met Opera 2010 Shankbone.jpg's 2010–2011 Season Opening Night of Das Rheingold]]

Richardson has appeared in supporting roles in film, including Vanessa Bell in The Hours, Lady Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow and Patsy Carpenter in The Evening Star. She also won acclaim for her performances in The Crying Game and Enchanted April, for which she won a Golden Globe. She received Academy Award nominations for her performances in Damage and Tom & Viv.

Her film credits also include Kansas City (1996), The Apostle (1997) and Wah-Wah (2005). She voiced Mrs Tweedy, the main antagonist, in the stop-motion animated film, Chicken Run (2000). In 2002, she performed a triple role in the thriller Spider.

Richardson also appeared as Queen Rosalind of Denmark in The Prince and Me and as the ballet mistress Madame Giry in the film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical The Phantom of the Opera (2004). In 2005, she appeared in the role of Rita Skeeter, the toxic Daily Prophet journalist in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She also did the voice for Corky in The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky (2005), an Australian animated series for children. In 2006, she appeared in Gideon's Daughter. She played Mrs Claus in the film Fred Claus (2007).

Richardson appeared in the BBC sitcom, The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle.

In 2008, Richardson was cast in a leading role in the original AMC pilot, Rubicon. She plays Katherine Rhumor, a New York socialite who finds herself drawn into the central intrigue of a think tank after the death of her husband.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/trio-sneaking-up-amc-pilot-123861/ |title=Trio sneaking up on AMC pilot|magazine=Hollywood Reporter |access-date=1 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102221941/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i5a49077a0f8280a0cdca918a8d359cf4 |archive-date=2 January 2009 }}

Additionally, she played Labour politician Barbara Castle in the British film Made in Dagenham.{{cite news|last=Singh |first=Anita |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/cannes-film-festival/5335785/Sally-Hawkins-to-star-in-strike-film-We-Want-Sex.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/cannes-film-festival/5335785/Sally-Hawkins-to-star-in-strike-film-We-Want-Sex.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Sally Hawkins to star in strike film We Want Sex |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=16 May 2009 |access-date=7 March 2010}}{{cbignore}}

In 2014, Richardson was cast as Queen Ulla in Maleficent, where she was to play the titular character's aunt, but her role was cut from the film during post-production.{{cite web|last=Bibbiani|first=William|title=Maleficent: Director Robert Stromberg on True Love and Reshoots|url=https://www.mandatory.com/culture/695289-maleficent-director-robert-stromberg-on-true-love-and-reshoots|work=Mandatory|access-date=1 January 2022|date=27 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602060843/http://www.craveonline.com/film/interviews/695289-maleficent-director-robert-stromberg-on-true-love-and-reshoots|archive-date=2 June 2014}} In 2015, she played Sybil Birling in Helen Edmundson's BBC One adaptation of J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/inspector-calls|title=BBC – David Thewlis to lead cast of BBC One's adaptation of JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls |work=BBC Media Centre |date=30 January 2015 |access-date=19 January 2023}} Richardson reprised her role as the voice of Mrs Tweedy in the 2023 film, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.{{Cite web |last=Ritman |first=Alex |date=2023-09-05 |title=Mrs. Tweedy Returns for More Fowl Play in 'Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget' Teaser |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/chicken-run-dawn-of-the-nugget-teaser-trailer-1235581978/ |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=The Hollywood Reporter}}

In 2015, she was cast as Emily Brent in BBC One's three-part adaptation of Dame Agatha Christie's 1939 novel "And Then There Were None."{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06v2v52 | title=BBC One - and then There Were None }}

Richardson's hobbies include dog walking, gardening and falconry. In 2013, she began learning the cello.{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-12-29/miranda-richardson-on-her-role-in-bbc1s-period-comedy-mapp-and-lucia|title=Miranda Richardson discusses her new role as Miss Elizabeth Mapp|work=Radio Times|publisher=Immediate Media Company|last=Duncan|first=Andrew|date=29 December 2014|access-date=3 October 2015}}

{{Main article|List of Miranda Richardson performances}}

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|title = Awards for Miranda Richardson

|list =

{{BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress 1985–2009}}

{{Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress}}

{{GoldenGlobeBestActressMotionPictureMusicalComedy 1981–2000}}

{{GoldenGlobeSupportingActressTV 1990–2009}}

{{London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year}}

{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress}}

{{National Board of Review Award for Best Actress}}

{{RTS Programme Award for Best Performance}}

{{San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress}}

{{TFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress}}

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Category:1958 births

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:21st-century English actresses

Category:Actresses from Southport

Category:Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

Category:Audiobook narrators

Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners

Category:Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award winners

Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (television) winners

Category:English film actresses

Category:English radio actresses

Category:English stage actresses

Category:English television actresses

Category:English voice actresses

Category:Living people