Juliet Stevenson

Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, CBE (born 30 October 1956) is an English actor of stage and screen. She is known for her role in the film Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Her other film appearances include Emma (1996), Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Mona Lisa Smile (2003), Being Julia (2004), and Infamous (2006).

Juliet Stevenson
in Dustbin Baby (2008)
Born	30 October 1956 Kelvedon, Essex, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present
Partner(s)	Hugh Brody (1993–present)
Children	2

Stevenson has starred in numerous Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre productions, including Olivier Award nominated roles in Measure for Measure (1984), Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1986), and Yerma (1987). For her role as Paulina in Death and the Maiden (1991–92), she won the 1992 Olivier Award for Best Actress. Her fifth Olivier nomination was for her work in the 2009 revival of Duet for One. She has also received three nominations for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress: for A Doll's House (1992), The Politician's Wife (1995) and Accused (2010). Other stage roles include The Heretic (2011) and Happy Days (2014).

Early life

Stevenson was born in Kelvedon, Essex, England, the daughter of Virginia Ruth (née Marshall), a teacher, and Michael Guy Stevenson, an army officer. Stevenson's father was assigned a new posting every two and a half years.[1] When Stevenson was nine, she attended Berkshire's Hurst Lodge School,[2] and she was later educated at the independent St Catherine's School in Bramley, near Guildford in Surrey, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).[3] Stevenson was part of the 'new wave’ of actors to emerge from the Academy. Others included Jonathan Pryce, Bruce Payne, Alan Rickman, Anton Lesser, Kenneth Branagh, Imelda Staunton and Fiona Shaw. This led to a stage career starting in 1978 with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Career

Although she has gained fame through her television and film work, and has often undertaken roles for BBC Radio, she is known as a stage actress. Significant stage roles include her performances as Isabella in Measure for Measure, Madame de Tourvel in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, as Anna in the UK premiere of Burn This in 1990, and as Paulina in Death and the Maiden at the Royal Court theatre and the West End (1991–92). For the latter, she was awarded the 1992 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress.[4]

In the 1987 TV film Life Story, Stevenson played the part of scientist Rosalind Franklin, for which she won a Cable Ace award.[5] She played the leading role in the Anthony Minghella film Truly, Madly, Deeply (1991) and her roles in The Secret Rapture (1993), Emma (1996), Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Mona Lisa Smile (2003). She has more recently starred in Pierrepoint (2006), Infamous (2006) as Diana Vreeland and Breaking and Entering (2006) as Rosemary, the therapist. In 2003, she played the mother of an autistic child in the television film Hear the Silence, a film promoting the now debunked claims of Andrew Wakefield that the MMR vaccine was responsible for autism in children.[6] The film makers and Stevenson were criticised as Wakefield's professionalism was already seriously in doubt.[6][7]

Stevenson speaking at the 2011 Latitude Festival.

In 2009, she starred in ITV's A Place of Execution. The role won her the Best Actress Dagger at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards.[8] She performs as a book reader, and has recorded all of Jane Austen's novels as unabridged audiobooks, as well as a number of other novels, such as Lady Windermere's Fan, Hedda Gabler, Stories from Shakespeare, and To the Lighthouse. She received lifetime achievement prize at Women In Film And TV awards.[9]

Personal life

Stevenson has lived with her partner, British anthropologist Hugh Brody, since 1993. The couple live in Highgate, North London. They have two children, both born in Camden, London: Rosalind Hannah Brody (born 1994) and Gabriel Jonathan Brody (born late 2000/early 2001).[10]

She is an atheist but considers herself a spiritual and superstitious person.[11][12]

In 1992 she appeared in a political broadcast for the Labour Party.[13][14]

In 2008 she campaigned on behalf of refugee women[15] with a reading of 'Motherland' at the Young Vic. She is patron of the UK registered charity LAM Action, which provides support, information and encouragement to patients with Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) and their families, and raises funds to advance research into LAM.[16]

On 12 September 2016, Stevenson, as well as Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Capaldi, Douglas Booth, Neil Gaiman, Keira Knightley, Jesse Eisenberg, Kit Harington and Stanley Tucci, featured in a video from the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR to help raise awareness of the global refugee crisis. The video, titled "What They Took With Them", has the actors reading a poem written by Jenifer Toksvig and inspired by primary accounts of refugees, and is part of UNHCR's #WithRefugees campaign, which also includes a petition to governments to expand asylum to provide further shelter, integrating job opportunities and education.[17][18]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Drowning by Numbers	Cissie Colpitts 2
1990	Ladder of Swords	Alice Howard
1990	The March	Clare Fitzgerald
1990	Truly, Madly, Deeply	Nina
1993	The Trial	Fräulein Bürstner
1993	The Secret Rapture	Isobel Coleridge
1996	Emma	Augusta Hawkins Elton
1997	Treasure Island	Jane (voice)	Video
2001	Play	Second Woman	Short film
2001	Christmas Carol: The Movie	Mrs. Cratchit / Mother Gimlet (voice)
2001	The Search for John Gissing	Gwenyth Moore
2002	Food of Love	Pamela Porterfield
2002	Bend It Like Beckham	Paula Paxton
2002	Nicholas Nickleby	Mrs. Squeers
2003	Mona Lisa Smile	Amanda Armstrong
2004	Being Julia	Evie
2005	Red Mercury	Sofia Warburton
2005	Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman	Anne Fletcher
2006	Infamous	Diana Vreeland
2006	In Search of Mozart	Narrator
2006	Breaking and Entering	Rosemary McCloud
2007	And When Did You Last See Your Father?	Kim Morrison
2008	A Previous Engagement	Julia Reynolds
2008	The Secret of Moonacre	Miss Heliotrope
2009	Quietus	Jayne	Short film
2009	In Search of Beethoven	Narrator
2009	Desert Flower	Lucinda
2009	Triage	Amy
2012	In Search of Haydn	Narrator
2013	Penelope	Penny	Short film
2013	Diana	Sonia
2014	The Letters	Mother Teresa
2014	In Search of Chopin	Narrator
2014	The Portrait	Laura Burrell	Short film
2015	Departure	Beatrice
2016	Let Me Go	Helga	Post-production
2016	Love Is Thicker Than Water	Ethel
2018	London Unplugged	Jayne

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	The Mallens	Barbara Mallen	6
1981	Maybury	Joanna Langston	"A Fall from Grace", "What I Mean Is...", "Ten Green Bottles"
1983	Bazaar and Rummage	Fliss	TV film
1984	Crown Court	Catherine Lloyd	"Dirty Washing: Part 1"
1984	Freud	Elizabeth von Reitberg	"The Secret of Dreams"
1984	Pericles, Prince of Tyre	Thaisa	TV film
1986	The Theban Plays by Sophocles	Antigone	"Oedipus at Colonus", "Antigone"
1987	Life Story	Rosalind Franklin
1988	Screenplay	Ruth	"Out of Love"
1988	Screen Two	Hilda Carline	"Stanley Spencer"
1988	This is David Lander	Penny Foster	"The Nicholson Story"
1989	Living with Dinosaurs	Vicky	TV film
1990	The Jim Henson Hour	Vicky	"Living with Dinosaurs"
1991	4 Play	Margaret	"In the Border Country"
1991	Screen Two	Lucy	"Aimée"
1992	Performance	Nora Helmer	"A Doll's House"
1993	The World of Eric Carle	Narrator (voice)	TV series short
1993	The Legends of Treasure Island	Jane (voice)	Main role
1993	Who Dealt?[19]	The Wife	Short story in the form of a monologue by Ring Lardner.
1994	Verdi	Giuseppina Strepponi (voice)	TV film
1995	The Politician's Wife	Flora Matlock	"Stand by Him", "Echo Chamber", "Body Politic"
1997	Screen Two	Jean	"Stone, Scissors, Paper"
1998	Cider with Rosie	Annie Lee	TV film
1999	Trial by Fire	Helen West	TV film
2002	The Road from Coorain	Eve	TV film
2003	Hear the Silence	Christine Shields	TV film
2005	The Snow Queen	Gerda's Mother	TV film
2007	Agatha Christie's Marple	Gwenda Vaughn	"Ordeal by Innocence"
2008	10 Days to War	Elizabeth Wilmshurst	"A Simple Private Matter"
2008	Place of Execution	Catherine Heathcote	TV miniseries
2008	Dustbin Baby	Marion	TV film
2010	Law & Order: UK	Rachel Callaghan	"Denial"
2010	Accused	Helen Ryland	"Helen's Story"
2011	Lewis	Diana Ellerby	"Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things"
2011	The Hour	Lady Elms	Recurring role
2012	White Heat	Charlotte	TV miniseries
2013–14	The Village	Clem Allingham	Main role
2013–15	Atlantis	The Oracle	Main role
2014	On Angel Wings	Mary	TV short
2015	X Company	Mayor Marie Bellaire	"Walk with the Devil"
2015	The Enfield Haunting	Betty Grosse	TV miniseries
2015	Artsnight	Contributor	"Richard Wilson on Samuel Beckett"
2016	One of Us	Louise Elliot	TV miniseries
2017	1066: A Year to Conquer England	Narrator	Docudrama
2019	Queens of Mystery	Narrator	TV series

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	The Tempest	Spirit	Royal Shakespeare Company
1978	Antony and Cleopatra	Iras / Octavia	Royal Shakespeare Company
1978	Measure for Measure	Whore / Nun	Royal Shakespeare Company
1978	The Churchill Play	Caroline Thompson
1978	Hippolytus	Aphrodite / Artemis
1978	Lovers and Kings
1978	The Taming of the Shrew	Widow / Curtis
1978	The White Guard	Yeliena
1978	Once in a Lifetime	Miss Chasen
1980	Henry IV	Lady Percy	Royal Shakespeare Company
1981	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Hippolyta / Titania
1981	The Witch of Edmonton	Susan
1981	Money	Clara Douglas
1983	Other Worlds	Emma / Betsy	Royal Court Theatre, London
1984	Measure for Measure	Isabella	Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Theatre
1984	Breaking the Silence	Polya	Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit Theatre, London
1985	Troilus and Cressida	Cressida	Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Theatre
1985	As You Like It	Rosalind	Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Theatre
1986	Les Liaisons dangereuses	Madame de Tourvel	Royal Shakespeare Company, The Pit Theatre
1987	Yerma	Yerma	National Theatre, London
1988–90	The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus	Kyllene	Theatre of Delphi/National Theatre, London
1989	Hedda Gabler	Hedda	National Theatre, London
1989	On the Verge	Fanny	Sadler's Wells Theatre, London
1990	Burn This	Anna	Hampstead Theatre, London
1991–92	Death and the Maiden	Paulina	Theatre Upstairs, Duke of York Theatre, London
1993	Scenes from an Execution	Galactia	Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles
1995	The Duchess of Malfi		Greenwich Theatre/Wyndham's Theatre, London
1997	The Caucasian Chalk Circle		Royal National Theatre, London
1999	Private Lives	Amanda	The National Theatre
2000	The Country		Royal Court Theatre
2004	We Happy Few		Gielgud Theatre, London
2005	The Alice Trilogy		Royal Court Theatre
2006	The Seagull	Irina Arkadina	The National Theatre
2009	Duet for One		London
2011	The Heretic		Royal Court Theatre
2014–15	Happy Days	Winnie	Young Vic
2016–17 2018	Mary Stuart	Mary Stuart/Elizabeth I	Almeida Theatre & Duke of York's Theatre
2017	Hamlet	Gertrude	Almeida Theatre & Harold Pinter Theatre
2019	The Doctor	The Doctor	Almeida Theatre

Audio recordings

A partial list of Stevenson's audio recordings:

• Man and Superman, BBC Audiobooks, 1998 (Broadcast on BBC-4 in 1996). Production featured Juliet Stevenson, Ralph Fiennes and Judi Dench. It also included an interview with the director, Sir Peter Hall
• Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Penguin Audiobooks, 1997
• The Plague Tales, BDD, c. 1997
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare, BBC Radio Collection, 1999 (with Michael Sheen)
• When Love Speaks (2002, EMI Classics) – "Sonnet 128" ("How oft, when thou, my music...")
• The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, Unabridged, Orion audiobook (2006)
• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Unabridged, Naxos audiobook, 7 CDs (2006)
• Persuasion by Jane Austen. Unabridged, Naxos audiobook, 7 CDs (2007)
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. Unabridged, Naxos audiobook, 14 CDs (2007)
• Emma by Jane Austen. Unabridged, Naxos audiobook, 13 CDs (2007)
• Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Naxos audiobook, Unabridged (2007)
• Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Abridged, CSA Word Classic, 4 CDs (2007)
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë,
• I, Coriander, by Sally Gardner,
• The King's General, by Daphne du Maurier,
• An Unequal Marriage, by Emma Tennant,
• From Shakespeare with Love, by William Shakespeare, David Tennant (Narrator), Juliet Stevenson (Narrator), Anton Lesser (Narrator), Alex Jennings (Narrator)
• Daphne du Maurier Collection: Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek & My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier, Juliet Stevenson (Narrator), Daniel Massey (Narrator), Michael Maloney (Narrator)
• A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
• The London Tapes by Juliet Stevenson
• Ancient and Modern by Sue Gee (2004)
• Alentejo Blue by Monica Ali, abridged (2006)
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, unabridged. (2009)
• Middlemarch by George Eliot. Unabridged. Naxos Audiobooks (2011).
• Goldfish Girl by Peter Souter (2011).
• Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (2012)[20]
• The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (2013).
• The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. Unabridged (2014)
• Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty, unabridged (2014)
• Belgravia by Julian Fellowes, (2016)[21]

Honours

In the 1999 Queens Birthday Honours, Stevenson was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

She is a patron of the London International Festival of Theatre.[22]

Awards and nominations

Film

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1992	British Academy Film Award[23]	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Truly, Madly, Deeply	Nominated

Television

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1993	British Academy Television Award[23]	Actress	A Doll's House	Nominated
1996	British Academy Television Award[23]	Actress	The Politician's Wife	Nominated
2011	British Academy Television Award[23]	Leading Actress	Accused	Nominated
2019	Primetime Emmy Award[24]	Outstanding Narrator	Queens of Mystery (Episode: "Murder in the Dark: First Chapter")	Nominated

Theatre

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
1983	Critics’ Circle Theatre Award[25]	Best Actress	Measure for Measure	Won
1984	Laurence Olivier Award[26]	Actress of the Year in a Revival		Nominated
1986	Laurence Olivier Award[27]	Best Actress	As You Like It, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Troilus and Cressida	Nominated
1987	Laurence Olivier Award[28]	Best Actress	Yerma	Nominated
1992	Laurence Olivier Award[29]	Best Actress	Death and the Maiden	Won
2010	Laurence Olivier Award[30]	Best Actress	Duet for One	Nominated
2019	Critics’ Circle Theatre Award[31]	Best Actress	The Doctor	Won
	Evening Standard Theatre Award[32]	Best Actress		Nominated
2020	Laurence Olivier Award[33]	Best Actress		Nominated

References

1. "My Secret Life: Juliet Stevenson". Archived from the original on 25 February 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
2. Sierz, Aleks (7 November 2005). "Why Juliet Dreads the Boards". The Daily Telegraph. UK. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
3. According to Who's Who on Television (1982 edition)
4. Archived 11 June 2009 at Archive.today
5. Awards for Juliet Stevenson at IMDb
6. "Juliet Stevenson: 'I would love a completely different life?'". The Daily Telegraph. 18 February 2008. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
7. Aaronovitch, David (14 December 2003). "A travesty of truth". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
8. Flood, Alison (22 October 2009). "British readers vote Harlan Coben their favourite crime writer". London: guardian.co.uk (Guardian News & Media). Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
9. "Juliet Stevenson receives lifetime achievement prize at Women In Film And TV awards". news.sky.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
10. "Births England and Wales Births 1984–2006". Findmypast.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
11. Dodd, Celia (14 March 2008). "Actress Juliet Stevenson reveals that her toughest role is being an older mother". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
12. Sign Up (25 July 2008). "National Secular Society – Coming out as atheist – Billy Connolly, Juliet Stevenson and Peter O'Toole". Secularism.org.uk. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
13. "Transcript of Labour Party video". Psr.keele.ac.uk. 5 May 2011. Archived from the original on 25 September 2006. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
14. Labour Party video on YouTube
15. "Juliet Stevenson: 'I would love a completely different life?'". The Daily Telegraph. London. 18 February 2008. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
16. "LAM Action". Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
17. "2016 Stories – #WithRefugees". Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
18. "What They Took With Them – #WithRefugees". 7 September 2016. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
19. "Who Dealt? at IMDB". Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
20. "Mary Poppins". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
21. Julian Fellowes's Belgravia. 27 June 2017. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
22. "Meet The Team" Archived 11 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine, LIFT. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
23. "BAFTA Awards search Juliet Stevenson". BAFTA site. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
24. "Outstanding Narrator Nominees / Winners 2019". Television Academy. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
25. "Just announced! Full list of 2019 Critics' Circle Awards winners and production photos | Critics' Circle Theatre Awards". 11 February 2020. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
26. "Olivier Winners 1984". Olivier Awards. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
27. "Olivier Winners 1986". Olivier Awards. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
28. "Olivier Winners 1987". Olivier Awards. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
29. "Olivier winners 1992". Olivier Awards. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
30. "Olivier Awards Winners 2010 -Official London Theatre". Olivier Awards. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
31. "2019 Results | Critics' Circle Theatre Awards". 11 February 2020. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
32. Paskett, Zoe (25 November 2019). "The 2019 Evening Standard Theatre Awards winners in full". www.standard.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
33. "Olivier Awards 2020 with Mastercard - Theatre's Biggest Night". Olivier Awards. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2021.

External links

• Juliet Stevenson at the British Film Institute
• Juliet Stevenson at IMDb
• Juliet Stevenson: The Power of Story Telling in The Guardian