Lesley Manville

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).