Miriam Margolyes

Birthday: 18 May 1941, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Height: 155 cm

A veteran of stage and screen, award-winning actress Miriam Margolyes has achieved success on both sides of the Atlantic. Winner of the BAFTA Best Supporting Actress award in 1993 for The Age of Innocence (1993) she also received Best Supporting Actress at the 1989 LA Critics Circle Awards for her role in Little Dorrit (1987) and a Sony Radio Award for Best Actress on "Radio" in 1993. She was the voice of Fly the dog in Babe (1995).Major credits during her long and celebrated career include Yentl (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), I Love You to Death (1990), End of Days (1999), Sunshine (1999), Cold Comfort Farm (1995), Cats & Dogs (2001), Magnolia (1999) and she was Prof. Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).Most recently Margolyes appeared in Stephen Hopkins' The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), Modigliani (2004), István Szabó's Being Julia (2004) and Ladies in Lavender (2004) (with Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench), which is opening at the NY Tribeca Festival on April 23rd.Most memorable TV credits include Screen Two: Old Flames (1990), Freud (1984), The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (1986), The Black Adder (1982), The Girls of Slender Means (1975), _Oliver Twist (1982) (TV)_, The History Man (1981), Vanity Fair (2004) , Supply & Demand (1997). She was Franny in the CBS sitcom Frannie's Turn (1992) and starred recently in the Miss Marple episode, "Murder at the Vicarage".Stage credits include "The Vagina Monologues", Sir Peter Hall's Los Angeles production of "Romeo & Juliet", "She Stoops to Conquer" and "Orpheus Descending" (all for Sir Peter Hall), "The Killing of Sister George", "The Threepenny Opera" (Tony Richardson), Michael Lindsay-Hogg's "The White Devil" at The Old Vic, the Bristol Old Vic production of "The Canterbury Tales" and her own award-winning, one-woman show, "Dickens' Woman". In the 2002 Queen's New Years Honours List, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British) Empire for her services to Drama. Hide

I used to sleep around and be silly because I thought I was an ugly, fat little person and couldn't Show more I used to sleep around and be silly because I thought I was an ugly, fat little person and couldn't believe that anyone would want me. So I did it to prove I could get someone. Hide

I'm not the sort of woman men boast of having slept with. I'm not the sort of woman men boast of having slept with.

[on her mother] She took centre-stage in our lives. She was the star. And when I hear pieces of musi Show more [on her mother] She took centre-stage in our lives. She was the star. And when I hear pieces of music that my mother liked, I weep. I think it's true that the people you've loved in your life never leave you, because seeds of that love always remain flowering somewhere. Hide

Nowadays people say that you must let children be what they are, but when I was growing up the paren Show more Nowadays people say that you must let children be what they are, but when I was growing up the parents defined the child. And my parents had a definite vision of how they wanted me to be. Hide

I don't think that I've achieved what I hoped because I've never been at the National Theatre, I've Show more I don't think that I've achieved what I hoped because I've never been at the National Theatre, I've never been at the Royal Shakespeare Company. I feel infuriated that I haven't achieved what I'd hoped. Hide

I think it's very likely that because Dickens [Charles Dickens] was able to depict - in a way that I Show more I think it's very likely that because Dickens [Charles Dickens] was able to depict - in a way that I don't think had ever been done before - people's real lives, it had an enormous response among the poor. So he was the last great artist whose work was appreciated by everybody. People at the very top and the very bottom loved Dickens. Queen Victoria asked him to come and read for her and people in the street would clap him as he went. And he very much needed that contact with real people. It mattered to him. He felt, I think, that he was a man of the people. And he was. Hide

As you certainly know, Queen Victoria did not believe in lesbianism. So that was why it was never a Show more As you certainly know, Queen Victoria did not believe in lesbianism. So that was why it was never a criminal offense, in the way homosexuality was, because she thought it was impossible. Hide

Early patterns are very important. They are the paradigm for relationships, since they are the earli Show more Early patterns are very important. They are the paradigm for relationships, since they are the earliest ones you observe. I am a clone of my mother, whereas my partner is like my father in that she's a thoughtful person, a scholar, who is extremely quiet, not demonstrative. Hide

I'm an actress and I am a scholar of English literature. And I never know which part of that is more Show more I'm an actress and I am a scholar of English literature. And I never know which part of that is more important to me. I think it obviously must be the acting part because otherwise I would have become an academic, which I didn't do. But I've always had a love of English literature and particularly of Charles Dickens. Hide

Miriam Margolyes's FILMOGRAPHY

as Actor (306)

Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears

The Black Adder - Season 1

Tales of the Unexpected - Season 6

Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries - Season 3

101 Dalmatian Street - Season 1

Trollied - Season 2

American Dad - Season 11

American Dad - Season 21

Doc Martin - Season 3

Mulan (1998)

The Last Leg - Season 11

Family Guy - Season 8

Call the Midwife - Season 7

Doc Martin - Season 9

The Guilt Trip

Tales of the Unexpected - Season 1

American Dad - Season 10

Marple - Season 4

Flushed Away

The Last Leg - Season 16

Bucket - Season 1

Modigliani

Merlin - Season 2

Dharma and Greg - Season 4

Rake - Season 5

Doctor Who - Season 3

Miriam Margolyes'S roles

Gertrude Stein

The Matchmaker

Margaret Thatcher

Professor Pomona Sprout

Mother Mildred, Sister Mildred

Mabel

Aunt Sponge

Grandma Rosy

Herself - Guest

Fly