Pamela Ferris (born 11 May 1948) is a Welsh actress. She starred in the British television series Connie (1985), The Darling Buds of May (1991–1993), Where the Heart Is (1997–2000), Rosemary & Thyme (2003–2006), and Call the Midwife (2012–2016; 2026). In film, she played Miss Trunchbull in Matilda (1996). For her role as Peggy Snow in Where the Heart Is, Ferris was nominated three times for Most Popular Actress at the National Television Awards.
Ferris portrayed Marge Dursley in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Miriam in Children of Men (2006), Mrs. Bevan in Nativity! (2009) and Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger (2012), voiced Mrs. Bennett / Aunty Betty in Ethel & Ernest (2016) and played Mrs. Faulkner in Tolkien (2019). In theatre, her performance as Phoebe Rice in The Entertainer at The Old Vic in London saw Ferris being nominated for the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role.
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Early life
Ferris was born on 11 May 1948 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany, to a Welsh mother and an English father who was serving in the Royal Air Force. After her parents returned to the United Kingdom, Ferris spent her childhood in the Aberkenfig area, near Bridgend in Wales. Her father, Fred Ferris, was a policeman, and her mother, Ann Perkins, worked in her family's bakery business.
