Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress. Known for her performances on stage and screen, her accolades include a Tony Award and two Laurence Olivier Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, five British Academy Television Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
She has acted in eight of Mike Leigh's films, including Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010) and Mr. Turner (2014). For her role in the Paul Thomas Anderson romance drama Phantom Thread (2017) she was nominated for an Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has also acted in the films Dance with a Stranger (1985), High Season (1987), Maleficent (2014), Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022) and Queer (2024).
On television, she acted in Emmerdale Farm (1975–1976) and Cranford (2007). She garnered five British Academy Television Award nominations for her roles in River (2015), Mum (2016–19), Sherwood (2022–24) and The Crown (2022–23). She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon in the Netflix historical drama series The Crown. A prolific stage performer, she has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress twice for Ghosts (2014) and Oedipus (2025). Manville also won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the latter when she reprised her performance on Broadway (2026).
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Early life and education
Manville was born, on 12 March 1956, in Brighton, East Sussex, the daughter of Norma (known as Jean) Edwards, a former ballet dancer, and Ron Manville, a taxi driver. She was brought up in nearby Hove, the youngest of three daughters. Training as a soprano singer from age 8, she was twice under-18 champion of Sussex. She began acting as a teenager, appearing in television series such as King Cinder. At age 15, she gained a place at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.
Career
After turning down teacher Arlene Phillips's invitation to join her new dance troupe Hot Gossip, she was taught improvisation by Italia Conti teacher Julia Carey. She made her professional stage debut in the 1972 West End musical I and Albert directed by John Schlesinger. She paid for her first flat by landing a part in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale Farm (1975–76), in which she appeared in 80 episodes.
Manville built a career as a distinctive theatre actress; from 1978 she appeared in new plays at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Warehouse and Royal Court Theatre. She met Mike Leigh in 1979, when he was looking for RSC actors who could improvise.
In the 1980s, her work for the Royal Court included Andrea Dunbar's Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1981), Caryl Churchill's Top Girls (1982) and Serious Money (1987). She also starred in the Top Girls Off-Broadway production in the US in 1983. For the RSC, she starred in As You Like It (1985) and Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1985–86).
She made her film debut in 1985 with Dance with a Stranger, directed by Mike Newell, and telling the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain. She also appeared in Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987) directed by Stephen Frears, and High Season (1987). Back on the stage, she starred in The Cherry Orchard at the Aldwych Theatre in 1989, directed by Sam Mendes, and in Three Sisters at the Royal Court in 1990.
In 1994, Manville starred in the first series of the BBC sitcom Ain't Misbehavin'. For her work in the 2000 miniseries Other People's Children, and the 2002 TV film Bodily Harm, she received nominations for Best Female Actor at the Royal Television Society Awards.
Her extensive television credits include prominent roles in the dramas Holding On (1997), Real Women (1998–99), The Cazalets (2001), North & South (2004) and Cranford (2007). She also starred in Cards on the Table, a 2006 feature-length episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot.
Since 2005, Manville has starred in several National Theatre productions, including His Dark Materials (2005), The Alchemist (2006), and Her Naked Skin (2008). She also starred in The Old Vic productions of All About My Mother (2007) and Six Degrees of Separation (2010). In 2009, she played Margaret Thatcher in the Channel 4 drama The Queen.
Personal life
Manville's first boyfriend was actor and former Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan, whom she met at stage school while attending Italia Conti.
Her first husband was actor Gary Oldman. The pair split in 1989, three months after their son, Alfie (b. 1988), was born. Her second marriage was to actor Joe Dixon, whom she divorced in 2004. In 2007, Manville was living with her son in East Grinstead, West Sussex. Since 2019 Manville has lived on her own in west London.
Manville's sister Brenda, nine years her senior, died of a brain tumour. Her sister's husband and two daughters died of Huntington's disease.
In 2020, she delivered a monologue for the Equity Benevolent Fund to support fellow actors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Manville was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours for services to drama, and promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to drama and charity.
In February 2024, she was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, selecting "Over the Rainbow" recorded by Eva Cassidy, a botanical encyclopaedia and a bed with linen, duvet and pillows as her chosen favourite record, book and luxury item respectively.
