Ruth Sheen

Ruth Sheen was a prolific British stage and screen actress who was best known for her work in several movies directed by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Mike Leigh. Sheen's screen acting career began in the late 1980s, when she started nabbing plum roles in both movies and TV shows. She landed recurring parts on British shows like "Downton Lagos" (BBC, 1992) and "Holding On" (BBC, 1997), as well as the female lead in Leigh's comedy-drama, "High Hopes" (1988). Sheen gained fame and recognition in her native country in 1995 after nabbing the role of Nurse Ethel Carr on the period drama, "Bramwell" (ITV, 1995-98). Sheen continued to appear in dozens of films and TV shows throughout the 2000s, most notably Mike Leigh's Oscar-nominated "Vera Drake" (2004) and the BBC adaptation of John Cleland's erotic novel, "Fanny Hill" (2007). In 2014 Sheen appeared in Mike Leigh's "Mr. Turner," a biographical drama about the eccentric British artist, J.M.W Turner. It was Sheen's sixth appearance in a Mike Leigh film in over 25 years, thus signaling that her working relationship with the famed director had shown no signs of slowing down.