Known for her vibrant, intelligent portrayals of women who run the gamut from cold-blooded killers to long-suffering wives, Miranda Richardson is one of the British cinema's foremost purveyors of elegant, energetic dysfunction.
Born in Southport, Lancashire, on March 3, 1958, Richardson began acting in school plays and left school at the age of 17 to study drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatres School. Following her graduation, she acted in repertory theatre, becoming affiliated with Manchester's Liberty Theatre in 1979. Obtaining her Equity card, Richardson performed in a number of regional productions before moving on to the London stage in 1981. While performing on the stage, she also began acting on television and then in film. Her first big break came when she was cast as the real-life Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be executed for murder in Britain, in Mike Newell's Dance with a Stranger (1985). Her astonishing performance as a woman destroyed by her dependence on her loutish lover (played by Rupert Everett) earned wide critical acclaim, but Richardson remained fairly unknown outside of Britain.
In 1987, having turned down the opportunity to play the role that went to Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, the actress appeared in her first American outing, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun. Richardson's portrayal of a doctor's wife interned in a Japanese prison camp provided what little sensual heat there was to be found in the film, but it was not until five years later that American audiences finally took notice of her.
In 1992, Richardson had substantial roles in both Damage and The Crying Game. Playing the long-suffering wife of a philandering MP (Jeremy Irons) in the former and a murderous IRA operative in the latter, she impressed both critics and audiences with the spellbinding range and depth of her performances. Her work in both films received a number of honors, including a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her work in Damage and a BAFTA award in the same category for her portrayal of The Crying Game's Jude. In addition, Richardson won a Golden Globe for her work in another film that year, Mike Newell's Enchanted April, in which she played one of a group of British women who find liberation in the hills of Tuscany.
Richardson received her second Oscar nomination and third BAFTA nomination two years later, for her vivid, full-blooded performance in Tom and Viv, in which she played the aristocratic, unstable wife of T.S. Eliot. She subsequently did starring work in films of widely varying quality, turning in particularly memorable performances in Robert Altman's Kansas City (1996) and Robert Duvall's The Apostle (1997). In the first, she demonstrated great wit as a politician's drug-addicted wife, while in the second, she made her small role as a radio station secretary one of the film's most memorable features.
Following a turn in David Hare's The Designated Mourner (which was filmed in 1997 as the actors were also performing in its original production on the London stage) and a delightfully nasty stint as the evil queen in Merlin (1998), Richardson could be seen in a number of projects in 1999. Two of these were particularly high-profile, the first being Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, in which Richardson did time in a bodice and fright wig to portray a mysterious woman of questionable intention. The second, George Hickenlooper's The Big Brass Ring, was a political drama that featured the actress as the wife of a gubernatorial candidate (William Hurt) whose campaign is severely threatened by his past indiscretions.
Richardson ushered in the new millenium with a role in the remake of the classic British crime-thriller Get Carter and by lending her voice to the claymation family film Chicken Run. In 2002, she wowed critics both with her performance in The Hours as well as in David Cronenberg's Spider, a film that had Richardson playing three different characters opposite Ralph Fiennes.
After a handful of small films in 2003, the actress returned to the megaplexes as the Queen of Denmark in 2004's The Prince & Me. Then played the role Rita Skeeter in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, in November 2005. She returned to the big screen yet again around November 2007 with the role of Mrs. Claus in Fred Claus (2007), co-starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti.
Miranda Richardson: "A face like the English sky" |
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| Non-acting careers: | None, Miranda Richardson studied acting in a Theater School and had been working on stage even before she had her film debut. She also does voice acting for childrens shows like El Sueño de Una Noche de San Juan and does voice storytelling for the Horrid Henry series audio books.
| | Big break: | Dance with a Stranger (1985)
| | Defining characters: | Ruth Ellis (Dance with a Stranger), Ingrid Fleming (Damage), Queenie (Blackadder II), Queen Mab (Hallmark TV Movie: Merlin), Queen of Hearts (Hallmark TV Movie: Alice in Wonderland), Queen Elspeth (Hallmark TV Movie: Queen Elspeth)
| | Best movies: | Damage, The Crying Game, Spider, Dance with a Stranger | | Best TV: | Blackadder II, Merlin (1998)
| | Stage credits: | - Jane Gladwin, Moving, Queen's Theatre, London, 1980-1981
- The Life of Einstein, Lancaster, England, 1984
- Edmond, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1985
- A Lie of the Mind, Royal Court Theatre, 1987
- The Changeling, National Theatre, London, 1988
- Mountain Language, National Theatre, 1988
- Etta Jenks, Royal Court Theatre, 1990
- The Designated Mourner, Royal National Theater, 1996
- Aunt Dan and Lemon, London, 1999
- All My Sons
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- Educating Rita
| | Endorsements: | | | Uncredited appearances: | - Reflections on the Fourth Film: Harry Potter (2006)
- Premio Donostia a Willem Dafoe (2005) Vivienne Haigh-Wood
- The 100 Greatest TV Characters (2001) Queen Elizabeth I
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Mike Myers (1998)
| Other notable appearances/credits:
Clips of Miranda Richardson from Wah-Wah, Snow White: The Fairest of Them All, Merlin and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Soundtrack used: Nobody's Home by Avril Lavigne
Special Thanks to VampireWytch for this FANMADE video.
No Copyright Infrigment intended.
| Television Appearances | 1984
| Paula McGill Amory, A Woman of Substance, syndicated
| 1984
| Lola, "Sorrel and Son," Masterpiece Theatre, PBS
| | 1986 | Queen Elizabeth I, The Blackadder II, BBC, then Arts and Entertainment | | 1990 | Sidonie Reiger, Die Kinder, BBC, then aired on Mystery!, PBS | | 1992 | Queen Isabella, The True Adventures of Christopher Columbus | 1997
| Pamela Flitton, A Dance to the Music of Time
| 1998
| Mab, the Queen of Darkness, and the Lady of the Lake, Merlin, NBC
| | 2004 | Britain's Best Sitcom | | 2005 | Stella, Gideon's Daughter | | 2007 | Helena de Wend, The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle |
| TV Movies | | 1986 | Gina, The Dream Lover | | 1986 | The Demon Lover | | 1987 | Daphne Heccomb, The Death of the Heart, Granada 1986, then broadcast on Masterpiece Theatre, PBS | 1986
1988 | Penny Newhouse, After Pilkington, BBC,
Arts and Entertainment | | 1988 | Julia Perry, Sweet As You Are | | 1989 | Queen Elizabeth I/Asphyxia XIX, Blackadder's Christmas Carol, Artsand Entertainment | | 1989 | Early Bird, Ball-Trap on the Cote Sauvage | | 1991 | Sandra, Mr. Wakefield's Crusade 1991 | | 1993 | Anna, Old Times, syndicated 1993 | | 1994 | Charlie Maguire, Fatherland, HBO 1994 | | 1998 | Dr. Sarah Blakeney, The Scold's Bridle, BBC America 1998 | | 1998 | Henrietta Blough-Pendleton, Ted & Ralph 1998 | | 1999 | Queen of Hearts and Society Woman, Alice in Wonderland, NBC 1999 | | 1999 | Dinah Pellarin, The Big Brass Ring, Showtime 1999 | | 2000 | Voice of Mary Magdalene, The Miracle Maker, ABC 2000 | | 2001 | Queen Elspeth, Snow White (also known as Blanche-Neige and Snow White: The Fairest of Them All), ABC 2001 | | 2002 | The Hard Word | | 2003 | Queen Mary, The Lost Prince, BBC 2003 | | 2006 | The Lady of the Lake, Merlins Apprentice 2006 |
| Miniseries | | 1984 | Paula McGill Amory, A Woman of Substance, syndicated | | 1984 | Lola, "Sorrel and Son," Masterpiece Theatre, PBS | | 1997 | Pamela Flitton, A Dance to the Music of Time | | 1998 | Mab, the Queen of Darkness, and the Lady of the Lake, Merlin, NBC |
| Specials | | 1990 | Hilde Wangel, The Master Builder, Arts and Entertainment | | 1993 | The 50th Annual Golden Globe Awards, TBS | | 1999 | Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Primetime Special, NBC | | 2000 | Interviewee, Poultry in Motion: The Making of Chicken Run, NBC | | 2000 | Narrator, The James Bond Story, AMC | | 2000 | The Hatching of `Chicken Run' (also known as HBO's the Hatchingof `Chicken Run' | | 2001 | Lady Elizabeth/Queen Elizabeth, Blackadder: Back & Forth, PBS, | | 2003 | Narrator, Harmony in Hanoi | | 2008 | Herself: Blackadder Rides Again Christmas Special |
| Episodic | | 1981 | Gudrun, "From Here to Maternity," Agony | | 1987 | Amy Hardwood, "Amy and Amiability," Blackadder III | 1988
| Witch, "The Three Ravens," The Storyteller (also known as Jim Henson's The Storyteller), HBO | | 1989 | "The Untouchable Version," Alias Smith & Jones | | 1989 | "The Unprepared Version," Alias Smith & Jones | | 1989 | "The Undiscovered Version," Alias Smith & Jones | | 1989 | Nurse Mary, "Plan E: General Hospital," Blackadder Goes Forth | | 1990 | Bride's mother, "Les Dogs," The Comic Strip Presents | | 1993 | Miss Straughheim, "Space Virgins from Planet Sex," The Comic Strip Presents | | 1993 | Mario Antoinette, "Demonella," The Comic Strip Presents | | 1993 | Stella Elsbeth, "Jealousy," The Comic Strip Presents | | 1993 | Host, Saturday Night Live | | 1993 | The Arsenio Hall Show | | 1994 | Bettina, "New Best Friend," Absolutely Fabulous | | 1994 | Narrator, "Brave New Babies," Equinox | | 2002 | Shooting Stars | 2003
| Hermione, "Comic Relief Special: Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azerbaijan," French and Saunders, BBC | | 2003 | V Graham Norton, Channel 4 | | 2007 | Herself, A Taste of My Life |
| | Top awards: | Best Supporting Actress for Spider, Damage, The Crying Game & Tom & Viv
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