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
2.2
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: 6.59
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
Movies
Movie credits linked with Brenda Blethyn.
as Elsie
Dragonfly
2025 • Movie
as Herself / Vera
Vera, Farewell Pet
2025 • Movie
as Grossmama (voice)
Charlotte
2022 • Movie
as Narrator
Raymond Briggs: Snowmen, Bogeymen and Milkmen
2018 • Movie
as Ethel Briggs (voice)
Ethel & Ernest
2016 • Movie
as Emily Smith
Two Men in Town
2014 • Movie
as Martha
Mary and Martha
2013 • Movie
as Headmistress
My Angel
2011 • Movie
as Sister Ignatious
The Calling
2010 • Movie
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Super Duper Super Sleuths
2010 • Movie
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too
2009 • Movie
as Elisabeth
London River
2009 • Movie
as Mother
Dead Man Running
2009 • Movie
as Jean
Clubland
2007 • Movie
as Grace Turner
Atonement
2007 • Movie
as Wendy Ainscow
Mysterious Creatures
2006 • Movie
as Mrs. Bennet
Pride & Prejudice
2005 • Movie
as Joan
On a Clear Day
2005 • Movie
as Mama Heffalump (voice)
Pooh's Heffalump Movie
2005 • Movie
as Polly Cassotto
Beyond the Sea
2004 • Movie
as Annette
A Way of Life
2004 • Movie
as Nesta Pett
Piccadilly Jim
2004 • Movie
as Self (archive footage)
The Best of So Graham Norton
2004 • Movie
as Jess Copplestone
Belonging
2004 • Movie
Series
Series
Series credits linked with Brenda Blethyn.
as Older Emma Harle • 8 eps
A Woman of Substance
2026 • Series
as Kate Abbott • 12 eps
Kate & Koji
2020 • Series
as Nina • 1 eps
Playhouse Presents
2012 • Series
as DCI Vera Stanhope • 56 eps
Vera
2011 • Series
as Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa • 4 eps
War and Peace
2007 • Series
as Self • 1 eps
The Graham Norton Show
2007 • Series
as Self - Guest • 1 eps
The One Show
2006 • Series
as Angela Kimble • 1 eps
The New Adventures of Old Christine
2006 • Series
as Hazel Delany • 6 eps
Between The Sheets
2003 • Series
as Self • 1 eps
V Graham Norton
2002 • Series
as Auguste Rottgen-van Pels • 2 eps
Anne Frank: The Whole Story
2001 • Series
as Linnie Malcolm • 1 eps
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999 • Series
as Self - Guest • 1 eps
So Graham Norton
1998 • Series
as Self • 2 eps
The Frank Skinner Show
1995 • Series
as Miriam Dervish • 22 eps
Outside Edge
1994 • Series
as Margaret Amir • 4 eps
The Buddha of Suburbia
1993 • Series
as Self • 1 eps
GMTV
1993 • Series
as self • 1 eps
HBO First Look
1992 • Series
1 eps
Maigret
1992 • Series
as Shirley Frame • 6 eps
All Good Things
1991 • Series
as Gwen • 1 eps
Screen One
1989 • Series
as Ticki Tocquet • 6 eps
Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story
1989 • Series
as Self • 1 eps
This Morning
1988 • Series
as Storyteller's Wife • 1 eps
The Storyteller
1988 • Series