Lesley Manville

Lesley Ann Manville Bio

Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is a British actress known for her extensive work on stage and screen. She has received critical acclaim for her performances in films directed by Mike Leigh and for her portrayal of Princess Margaret in the Netflix series The Crown. Her accolades include two Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and multiple BAFTA awards across her distinguished career spanning more than five decades.

Early Life and Background

Manville was born on 12 March 1956 in Brighton, East Sussex, England. Her mother, Norma (known as Jean) Edwards, was a former ballet dancer, and her father, Ron Manville, worked as a taxi driver. She was raised in nearby Hove, the youngest of three daughters. From the age of eight, Manville trained as a soprano singer and twice became the under-18 champion of Sussex in competitions.

She began acting as a teenager, appearing in television series such as King Cinder. At age 15, she gained admission to the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, where she trained in performing arts. During her time at stage school, she met actor and former Blue Peter presenter Peter Duncan, who became her first boyfriend.

Path to Acting

After turning down an invitation from Arlene Phillips to join her dance troupe Hot Gossip, Manville was taught improvisation by Italia Conti teacher Julia Carey. She made her professional stage debut in 1972 in the West End musical I and Albert, directed by John Schlesinger. To support herself financially, she landed a role in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale Farm, appearing in 80 episodes between 1975 and 1976.

From 1978, Manville built her reputation as a distinctive theatre actress, appearing in new plays at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Warehouse and Royal Court Theatre. It was during this period that she met Mike Leigh in 1979, when he was searching for RSC actors skilled in improvisation. This meeting marked the beginning of a long professional relationship that would define much of her career.

Lesley Ann Manville Career

Early Career (1970s–1990s)

Throughout the 1980s, Manville continued establishing herself in theatre while expanding into film and television. Her Royal Court work included Andrea Dunbar’s Rita, Sue and Bob Too in 1981 and Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls in 1982. She starred in the Off-Broadway production of Top Girls in 1983 and appeared in numerous stage productions, including As You Like It and Les Liaisons Dangereuses with the RSC.

She made her film debut in 1985 with Dance with a Stranger, directed by Mike Newell, portraying the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in Britain. She continued appearing in films such as Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and High Season. Her television work during this period included roles in the BBC sitcom Ain’t Misbehavin’ in 1994 and performances in dramas such as Holding On and Real Women.

Breakthrough (2000s–2010s)

Manville appeared in eight Mike Leigh films across her career, 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). Her performance in Another Year earned her the London Film Critics’ Circle Award for British Actress of the Year and the National Board of Review Award for Best Actress, along with multiple other nominations.

Her stage career flourished as well. In 2011, she starred in Mike Leigh’s play Grief at the Royal National Theatre, earning her a Best Actress Olivier Award nomination. She won the 2014 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Helene Alving in the revival of Ibsen’s Ghosts, also receiving the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress for the same role.

Notable Works and Milestones

Manville achieved international recognition for her performance as Cyril Woodcock in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2017 period film Phantom Thread, starring alongside Daniel Day-Lewis. She received Academy Award and BAFTA Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress for this role. In 2020, she played the intimidating matriarch of an off-the-grid family in the neo-western thriller Let Him Go, opposite Diane Lane and Kevin Costner.

Her television work includes prominent roles in River (2015), the BBC sitcom Mum (2016–2019), and the period drama series Harlots (2017). She was cast as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, for the final two seasons of The Crown, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for this performance.

In 2022, Manville starred as the titular character in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, receiving a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

Lesley Ann Manville Award Nominations

Manville has received numerous award nominations throughout her career. Her most notable nominations include the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Phantom Thread (2018), the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same film, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2023). She has also received five BAFTA Television Award nominations for her work in River, Mum, Sherwood, and The Crown.

Lesley Ann Manville Awards Won

Manville has won major awards across theatre and film. Her theatre accolades include two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actress for Ghosts (2014) and Oedipus (2025). She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play when she reprised her Oedipus performance on Broadway in 2026. She has received several honorary appointments, including being appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2015 and promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2021 for services to drama and charity.

Family

Manville has one son, Alfie Oldman, born in 1988, from her marriage to actor Gary Oldman. She married Oldman in 1987 and they separated in 1989, three months after their son’s birth. She later married actor Joe Dixon in 2000, and they divorced in 2004. Her sister Brenda, who was nine years her senior, died of a brain tumour, and her sister’s husband and two daughters later died of Huntington’s disease.

Personal Life

Manville resided in East Grinstead, West Sussex, with her son in 2007. Since 2019, she has lived on her own in West London. In 2020, she delivered a monologue for the Equity Benevolent Fund to support fellow actors during the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2024, she appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, selecting Eva Cassidy’s recording of Over the Rainbow as her favourite record, a botanical encyclopaedia as her book, and bedding as her luxury item.