Cast & creator
Imelda Staunton
Best known for Midsomer Murders, The Graham Norton Show, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton (born January 9, 1956) is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in 1976 and appeared in various theatre productions in the United Kingdom. Staunton has performed in a variety of plays and musicals in London throughout her career, winning four Laurence Olivier Awards; three for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her roles in the musicals Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, and Gypsy, and one for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Play for her work in both A Chorus of Disapproval and The Corn is Green. Her other stage appearances include The Beggar's Opera, The Wizard of Oz, Uncle Vanya, Guys and Dolls, Entertaining Mr Sloane, and Good People. She has been nominated for 13 Olivier Awards. On film, Staunton starred in Antonia and Jane; in several supporting roles in Kenneth Branagh's comedy Peter's Friends, his adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing; Ang Lee's adaptation of Sense and Sensibility; and the costume romantic comedy Shakespeare in Love. She drew critical acclaim for her performance in the title role in Mike Leigh's Vera Drake, for which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup for Best Actress, in addition to being nominated for Best Actress by the Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. She later gained a wider audience for her portrayal as Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films The Order of the Phoenix and The Deathly Hallows - Part 1. She continued supporting roles in Nanny McPhee, reunited with Leigh in Another Year, and the film continuation of Downton Abbey. She portrayed human rights activist Hefina Headon in the historical film Pride, and starred in the British comedy Finding Your Feet. She also provided voice acting roles for the films Chicken Run, Arthur Christmas, and Paddington. On television, Staunton starred in the sitcoms Up the Garden Path and Is it Legal?. Her performance in My Family and Other Animals earned her a nomination for the International Emmy Award for Best Actress, while her roles in Return to Cranford and The Girl earned her BAFTA TV Award nominations for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. For the latter, she was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. She portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the final two seasons of The Crown.
Also known as: Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton
98
film credits
49
television credits
147
1944–2026 · acting roles
6.8
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (147)
Showing 147 of 147 credits
Midsomer Murders
Christine Cooper
1997
The Graham Norton Show
Self
2007
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Self
2005
Doctor Who
Interface (voice)
2005
The One Show
Self
2006
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Nominee
1944
The Crown
Queen Elizabeth II
2016
Screen Two
The Producer
1985
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
Self
2022
Natural World
Narrator
1983
Tales from the Crypt
Sarah
1989
Playhouse
Mary Price
1974
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Dolores Umbridge
2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Dolores Umbridge
2010
The Oscars
Self
1953
Alice in Wonderland
Talking Flowers (voice)
2010
Performance
Jenny Beales
1991
ScreenPlay
Jane Hartman
1986ScreenPlay
Stephanie
1986
The Singing Detective
Staff Nurse White
1986
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
Polly Flinders
1987
Little Britain
Mrs. Mead
2003
Trying
Penny
2020
The Play on One
Cheryl Newman
1988
Chicken Run
Bunty (voice)
2000
Paddington 2
Aunt Lucy (voice)
2017
Lily's Driftwood Bay
Rowena Rabbit (voice)
2014
Paddington in Peru
Aunt Lucy (voice)
2024
Sense and Sensibility
Charlotte Jennings Palmer
1995
Maleficent
Knotgrass
2014
Nanny McPhee
Mrs. Blatherwick
2005
Paddington
Aunt Lucy (voice)
2014
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Knotgrass
2019
Freedom Writers
Margaret Campbell
2007
Arthur Christmas
Mrs Santa (voice)
2011
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!
Queen Victoria (voice)
2012
Cranford
Miss Pole
2007
Downton Abbey
Maud Bagshaw
2019The Michael Ball Show
Self
2010
A Bit of Fry & Laurie
1989
Fingersmith
Mrs. Sucksby
2005
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Bunty (voice)
2023
Downton Abbey: A New Era
Maud Bagshaw
2022
Shakespeare in Love
Nurse
1998
The Awakening
Maud Hill
2011
David Copperfield
Mrs. Micawber
1999
Frank Stubbs Promotes
Susan
1993
Psychoville
Grace Andrews
2009
ShakespeaRe-Told
2005
Big & Small
Twiba / Ruby (voice)
2008Big & Small
Twiba (voice)
2008
Much Ado About Nothing
Margaret
1993
Tommy & Tuppence
Aunt Ada
2026
Cambridge Spies
The Queen
2003
A Confession
Karen Edwards
2019
Ladies in Charge
Edith
1986
Taking Woodstock
Sonia Teichberg
2009
Another Year
Janet
2010
Strange
Reverend Mary Truegood
2003
Pride
Hefina
2014
The Story of Musicals
Self – Narrator (voice)
2012Look at the State We're In!
Councillor Johnson
1995
Alan Bennett's Talking Heads
Irene Ruddock
2020
The Canterville Ghost
Mrs Umney (voice)
2023
If You See God, Tell Him
Muriel Spry
1993
Citizen X
Mrs. Burakov
1995
Vera Drake
Vera Drake
2004
Is It Legal?
1995Thompson
Self
1988
Amulet
Sister Claire
2020
Flesh and Blood
Mary Bennett
2020
Finding Your Feet
Sandra Abbott
2017
Shadow Man
Ambassador Cochran
2006Up the Garden Path
1990Untitled Roald Dahl Series
& Sons
Isabel
2026
Twelfth Night
Maria
1996
I'll Be There
Dr. Bridget
2003
The Girl
Alma Reville Hitchcock
2012
Murder
DCI Billie Dory
2002
Peter's Friends
Mary Charleston
1992
Crush
Janine
2002
My Family and Other Animals
Mother
2005
A Bunch of Amateurs
Mary
2008
The Far Traveller
Narrator
2020
Harry Potter: A History Of Magic
Narrator
2017
Blackball
Bridget
2003
Remember Me?
Lorna
1997
Testimony
Narrator (voice)
2025
Bright Young Things
Lady Brown
2003The Gruffalo and Me: The Remarkable Julia Donaldson
reader
2020
White Other
Lynne McDermott
2010
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends
Self
2022
Rat
Conchita Flynn
2000
The Snow Queen
Ivy / Angorra
1995
Don't Leave Me This Way
Bridget Bennet
1993Live! Girls! Present Dogtown
2006
The Wind in the Willows
Barge Lady
2006
Antonia and Jane
Jane Hartman
1990
Three and Out
Rosemary Cassidy
2008Pride: The True Story
Herself
2015
National Theatre Live: Follies
Sally Durant Plummer
2017
London: The Modern Babylon
Spoken Quotations (voice)
2012
The Adventures of Toad
Voice
1996
How About You...
Hazel Nightingale
2007
Comrades
Betsy Loveless
1987
The Ugly Duckling
Scruffy (voice)
1997
That Day We Sang
Enid
2014
Where Have I Been All Your Life?
Angela
2007
Jack and the Beanstalk
Dilly (voice)
1999
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Mrs. Lovett
2012
The Adventures of Mole
Voice
1995
National Theatre Live: Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Martha
2017
Thirties in Colour: Countdown to War
Self - Narrator
2021
The Snow Queen's Revenge
Elspeth / Rowena (voice)
1996
The Wind in the Willows
Mother Squirrel
1995
The Englishman's Wife
Stephanie
1990
The Virgin of Liverpool
Sylvia Conlon
2003
Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings
Mrs. Cottisloe
2000
The Heat of the Day
Louie
1989The Magical World of Julia Donaldson
Self - Readings
2020
Roots
Jenny Beales
1992
Deadly Advice
Beth Greenwood
1994
Another Life
Ethel Graydon
2001Ready
Naomi
2002Victoria Wood - That Musical We Made
Self
2014
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
Self
2007Adapting Austen
Self
2009
A Masculine Ending
Bridget Bennet
1992
Guilty Hearts
Naomi
2007
Bill Douglas: Intent on Getting the Image
Herself
2006
Clay
Mary Doonan
2008
Jim Carter: Lonnie Donegan and Me
Self
2016
They Never Slept
The Producer
1991
National Theatre Live: Mrs. Warren's Profession
Mrs Peggy Warren
2025
Mole's Christmas
(voices)
1994
Victorian Britain on Film
Narrator
2021A Confession As Told By ITV News
Imelda Staunton - Self / Karen Edwards
2019
Psychoville Halloween Special
Grace Andrews
2010
Mouse and Mole at Christmas Time
Shrew (voice)
2013
Gypsy
Rose
2015West the Road
Sense and Sensibility: 25th Anniversary Reunion
Self
2021
Yellowbacks
Cheryl Newman
1990
Little Bird
First Officer Simpkins
2017
Easy Money
Mary Price
1982