Marianne Raigipcien Jean-Baptiste (born 26 April 1967) is an English actress. She is known for her role in the 1996 comedy-drama film '' Secrets & Lies'', for which she received acclaim and earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

and

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

in the same category. Baptiste is also known for her role as

Vivian Johnson Special Agent Vivian "Viv" Johnson is a fictional character played by British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste on the CBS TV drama ''Without a Trace''. Vivian is second in command of the FBI missing persons case squad in New York City. The squad ...

on the television series ''

Without a Trace ''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...

'' from 2002 to 2009, and has since starred in television shows such as '' Blindspot'' (2015–2016) and ''

Homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

'' (2018).

Early life

Jean-Baptiste was born in London to a mother from Antigua and a father from Saint Lucia, growing up in

Peckham Peckham () is a district in southeast London, within the London Borough of Southwark. It is south-east of Charing Cross. At the 2001 Census the Peckham ward had a population of 14,720. History "Peckham" is a Saxon place name meaning the vil ...

. Simon Hattenstone
"Marianne Jean-Baptiste: 'It's not a sob story - I could have stayed in the UK and fought it out
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', 15 June 2015. She attended St Saviour's and St Olave's secondary school. She was classically trained at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

in London and performed at the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

. She was nominated for a 1994

Ian Charleson Award The Ian Charleson Awards are theatrical awards that reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under age 30. The awards are named in memory of the renowned British actor Ian Charleson, and are run by the ''Sunday Times'' ne ...

for her performance in

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Measure For Measure ''Measure for Measure'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 and first performed in 1604, according to available records. It was published in the '' First Folio'' of 1623. The play's plot features its ...

'' with theatre company Cheek by Jowl.

Career

Jean-Baptiste gained international acclaim for the

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Des ...

-directed social drama '' Secrets & Lies'' (1996), receiving both

and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nominations for her performance, becoming the first black British actress to be nominated for an Academy Award and the second black Briton to be nominated, succeeding Jaye Davidson. She had previously collaborated with Leigh onstage in ''It's a Great Big Shame'' (1993). She caused controversy when she accused the film industry of racism, noting that leading actors had been asked to attend the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

, but despite her success, she was not invited. A writer and composer, Jean-Baptiste recorded an album of blues songs and composed the musical score for Leigh's 1997 film ''

Career Girls ''Career Girls'' is a 1997 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh which tells the story of two women, who reunite after six years apart. The film stars Katrin Cartlidge and Lynda Steadman. The women were originally thrown ...

''. In 1999, she performed in Paris in a French-language production by

Peter Brook Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Sha ...

of ''The Suit'' (), a one-act play by Barney Simon and Mothobi Mutloatse, based on the short story by

Can Themba Daniel Canodoise "Can" Themba (21 June 1924 – 8 September 1967) was a South African short-story writer. Early life Themba was born in Marabastad, near Pretoria, but wrote most of his work in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, South Africa. The town ...

. She was also acclaimed for her role as

Doreen Lawrence Doreen Delceita Lawrence, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, OBE (''née'' Graham; born 1952) is a British Jamaican campaigner and the mother of Stephen Lawrence, a black British teenager who was murdered in a racist attack in South East London in ...

in ''

The Murder of Stephen Lawrence ''The Murder of Stephen Lawrence'' is a British television true crime drama film, written and directed by Paul Greengrass, that first broadcast on ITV on 18 February 1999. It won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Single Drama. The film, based on the ...

'' (1999). Jean-Baptiste relocated for work reasons to the U.S. and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two daughters. She honed her American accent and starred in the American television series ''

'' as FBI agent

. More recently, the actress has appeared in such films as ''

Takers ''Takers'' (formerly known as ''Bone Deep'') is a 2010 American heist action thriller film directed by John Luessenhop from a story and screenplay written by Luessenhop, Gabriel Casseus, Peter Allen, and Avery Duff. It features Matt Dillon, Pau ...

'' (2010), '' Secrets in the Walls'' (2010) and '' Harry's Law'' (2012). She played Detroit police chief Karen Dean in ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Fer ...

'' (2014). She was praised for her stage performance in the 2013 National Theatre production of

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; ...

's play ''

The Amen Corner ''The Amen Corner'' is a three-act play by James Baldwin. It was Baldwin's first work for the stage following the success of his novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain''. The drama was first published in 1954, and inspired a short-lived 1983 Broadw ...

'', directed by Rufus Norris. As a friend of

Angela Bassett Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress. She had her breakthrough with her portrayal of singer Tina Turner in the biopic '' What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993), which garnered her a nomination for the Academy Award ...

, Jean-Baptiste attended

Women's Image Network Awards Women's Image Network (WIN) is a charity that produces The Women's Image Awards, "Advancing a gender-balanced world and increasing the value of women and girls by celebrating outstanding film and television." The awards show is produced during ...

and on Bassett's behalf picked up an award, reading Bassett's poetic acceptance speech for her winning role in the 2013 film ''

Betty & Coretta ''Betty & Coretta'' is a 2013 American drama film directed by Yves Simoneau and written by Shem Bitterman and Ron Hutchinson. The film stars Mary J. Blige, Angela Bassett, Gloria Reuben, Malik Yoba, Tyler Hynes and Benz Antoine. The film premie ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Other projects, contributions

*''

When Love Speaks ''When Love Speaks'' is a compilation album that features interpretations of William Shakespeare's sonnets – some spoken, some set to music – and excerpts from his plays by famous actors and musicians, released under EMI Classics in April ...

'' (2002,

EMI Classics EMI Classics was a record label founded by Thorn EMI in 1990 to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogues for internationally distributed classical music releases. After Thorn EMI demerged in 1996, its recorded mus ...

) – " Sonnet 15" ("When I consider everything that grows...")

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jean-Baptiste, Marianne 1967 births Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Black British actresses English expatriates in the United States English film actresses English people of Antigua and Barbuda descent English people of Saint Lucian descent English stage actresses English television actresses English voice actresses English women film directors British women television directors Living people Actresses from London People from Camberwell English Shakespearean actresses 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses