Acting credits
95
Prolific
Very extensive acting filmography.
Actor
Brenda Blethyn
Acting
Career Snapshot
ExplainedThese indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.
TMDB popularity
2.7
Moderate attention
TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.
Movies: 60Series: 35Crew credits: 1
TMDB ID: 4154
IMDb ID: nm0000950
Known for: Acting
Born: February 20, 1946
Age: 80
Place of birth: Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK
Gender: Female
Adult content flag: No
Career span: 1944 - 2026
Years active: 83
Average TMDB rating: 6.62
Wikidata: Q229952
Other jobs
Writer (1)
Biography
Brenda Anne Blethyn is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one. In addition, she has won a BAFTA, an Empire Award and a Golden Lion, and has earned a Theater World Award and both a Critics' Circle Theatre Award and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for her theatrical work. Born into a working class home in Ramsgate, Kent, Blethyn pursued an administrative career until her early 30s before enrolling in the Guildford School of Acting after the dissolution of her marriage in 1973. She subsequently joined the Royal National Theatre and received credits for her performances in Troilus and Cressida (1976) and Mysteries (1979). In 1981, Blethyn earned her first critical acclaim for Steaming. In 1980, Blethyn made her television debut in Mike Leigh's film Grown-Ups; then, after a modest number of guest spots in several productions, in the mid-1980s she garnered leading roles in the short-living sitcoms Chance in a Million and The Labours of Erica. Having followed her big screen debut with smaller supporting roles in films such as The Witches (1990) and A River Runs Through It (1992), she made her real cinema breakthrough with her role in the 1996 dramedy Secrets & Lies, for which she received rave reviews. Blethyn has since appeared in an eclectic range of films, including independent comedies such as Saving Grace (2000), Plots with a View (2002) and Clubland (2007), music-themed films like Little Voice (1998) and Beyond the Sea (2004) and big-budget dramas such as Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007). In addition, Blethyn has appeared in television productions including The Buddha of Suburbia (1993), Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), Belonging (2004) and War and Peace (2007). Her most recent leading role in TV drama is the title role in Vera (2011), playing Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope.
Photos
Movies
Movie credits linked with Brenda Blethyn.
Dragonfly
as Elsie
2025 Movie
Vera, Farewell Pet
as Herself / Vera
2025 Movie
Charlotte
as Grossmama (voice)
2022 Movie
Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen and Milkmen
as Narrator
2018 Movie
Ethel & Ernest
as Ethel Briggs (voice)
2016 Movie
Two Men in Town
as Emily Smith
2014 Movie
Mary and Martha
as Martha
2013 Movie
My Angel
as Headmistress
2011 Movie
The Calling
as Sister Ignatious
2010 Movie
My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Duper Super Sleuths
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
2010 Movie
Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
2009 Movie
London River
as Elisabeth
2009 Movie
Dead Man Running
as Mother
2009 Movie
Clubland
as Jean
2007 Movie
Atonement
as Grace Turner
2007 Movie
Mysterious Creatures
as Wendy Ainscow
2006 Movie
Pride & Prejudice
as Mrs. Bennet
2005 Movie
On a Clear Day
as Joan
2005 Movie
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
2005 Movie
Beyond the Sea
as Polly Cassotto
2004 Movie
A Way of Life
as Annette
2004 Movie
Piccadilly Jim
as Nesta Pett
2004 Movie
The Best of So Graham Norton
as Self (archive footage)
2004 Movie
Belonging
as Jess Copplestone
2004 Movie
Series
Series credits linked with Brenda Blethyn.
A Woman of Substance
as Older Emma Harte • 8 eps
2026 Series
Kate & Koji
as Kate Abbott • 12 eps
2020 Series
Playhouse Presents
as Nina • 1 eps
2012 Series
Vera
as DCI Vera Stanhope • 56 eps
2011 Series
War and Peace
as Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa • 4 eps
2007 Series
The Graham Norton Show
as Self • 1 eps
2007 Series
The One Show
as Self - Guest • 1 eps
2006 Series
The New Adventures of Old Christine
as Angela Kimble • 1 eps
2006 Series
Between The Sheets
as Hazel Delany • 6 eps
2003 Series
V Graham Norton
as Self • 1 eps
2002 Series
Anne Frank: The Whole Story
as Auguste Rottgen-van Pels • 2 eps
2001 Series
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
as Linnie Malcolm • 1 eps
1999 Series
So Graham Norton
as Self - Guest • 1 eps
1998 Series
The Frank Skinner Show
as Self • 2 eps
1995 Series
Outside Edge
as Miriam Dervish • 22 eps
1994 Series
The Buddha of Suburbia
as Margaret Amir • 4 eps
1993 Series
GMTV
as Self • 1 eps
1993 Series
HBO First Look
as self • 1 eps
1992 Series
Maigret
1 eps
1992 Series
All Good Things
as Shirley Frame • 6 eps
1991 Series
Screen One
as Gwen • 1 eps
1989 Series
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story
as Ticki Tocquet • 6 eps
1989 Series
This Morning
as Self • 1 eps
1988 Series
The Storyteller
as Storyteller's Wife • 1 eps
1988 Series