Juliet Anne Virginia Stevenson, (born 30 October 1956) is an English actress 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), '' Infamous'' (2006), ' (2015), ''

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, includin ...

'' (2023), and '' Reawakening'' (2024). In theatre, she has starred in numerous Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre productions, including Olivier Award nominated roles in ''

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. It was published in the First Folio of 1623. The play centers on the despotic and puritan Angelo (Measure for ...

'' (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 ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...

'' (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. When Stevenson was nine, she attended Berkshire's Hurst Lodge School in Ascot, and she was later educated at the independent St Catherine's School in Bramley, near

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

, Surrey, and at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central London ...

(RADA). 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. She started her stage career 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 BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

, she is known as a stage actress. Significant stage roles include her performances as Isabella in ''

'', Madame de Tourvel in '' Les Liaisons Dangereuses'', Anna in the UK premiere of '' Burn This'' in 1990 and Paulina in '' Death and the Maiden'' at the Royal Court theatre and the West End (1991–92). For the last she was awarded the 1992 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress. In the 1987 TV film '' Life Story'', Stevenson played the part of scientist Rosalind Franklin, for which she won a Cable Ace award. 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. The film makers and Stevenson were criticised as Wakefield's professionalism was already seriously in doubt. Juliet Stevenson 2011

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. She performs as a book reader, and has recorded all of

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

'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. In 2024, she played Mary, the mother of a returning missing child in the British psychological thriller film '' Reawakening'', alongside Erin Doherty and Jared Harris.

Personal life

Stevenson married her long-time partner, British anthropologist

Hugh Brody Hugh Brody (born 1943) is a British anthropologist, writer, director and lecturer. Education In the 1950s he worked as an accountant in Sheffield before passing the entrance examinations for the University of Oxford. He studied at Trinity Coll ...

, in 2021. They have a daughter and a son and live in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, but she also has an apartment in New York. She is an atheist but considers herself a spiritual and superstitious person. In 1992, she appeared in a political broadcast for the Labour Party. In 2008, she campaigned on behalf of refugee women with a reading at the Young Vic of ''Motherland'', in protest against conditions at Yarl's Wood immigration detention centre. Directed by Stevenson, with a script written by Natasha Walter, ''Motherland'' was described in ''The Guardian'' as "an intelligent and shocking piece of theatre", with Anthony Barnett characterising it as "skilful and engrossing, a mixture of drama and performance, witness and testimony, music and reporting." Stevenson 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. She is also an Amnesty Ambassador, and is patron of two other charities: Young Roots, a charity for young refugees; and Antenatal Results and Choices, which supports parents who have had a diagnosis of fetal anomaly. On 12 September 2016, Stevenson, as well as Cate Blanchett, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Peter Capaldi, Douglas Booth, Neil Gaiman,

Keira Knightley Keira Christina Knightley ( ; born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters, particularly Historical drama, period dramas, she has received List of awards and no ...

, Jesse Eisenberg, Kit Harington and Stanley Tucci, featured in a video from the United Nations' refugee agency

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

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. Stevenson's friends and frequent collaborators include director Robert Icke, comedian and feminist broadcaster Deborah Frances-White, poet Aviva Dautch and concert pianist Lucy Parham. Stevenson is also a painter and has talked about how her art has helped her through difficult moments such as the COVID-19 lockdown and the death of her stepson. Stevenson regularly attends protests in support of the people of Palestine. On 30 November 2024 she spoke at the National March for Palestine in London, highlighting the difference in the way the plight of the Palestinian people is portrayed in comparison to other people, and saying: "As artists we cannot remain silent in the face of such gross violations. Violations of human rights and of international law. Violations of the truth and of every human instinct."

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Audio recordings

A partial list of Stevenson's audio recordings: * '' Man and Superman'', BBC Audiobooks, 1998 (Broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

in 1996). Production featured Juliet Stevenson, Ralph Fiennes and Judi Dench. It also included an interview with the director, Peter Hall * ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'', Penguin Audiobooks, 1997 * ''The Plague Tales'', BDD, c. 1997 * ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 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 ...

, BBC Radio Collection, 1999 (with

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage roles in ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1992), ''Don't Fool wi ...

) * '' When Love Speaks'' (2002, EMI Classics) – " Sonnet 128" ("How oft, when thou, my music ...") * '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (2004

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

) * ''The Thirteenth Tale'' by Diane Setterfield, Unabridged, Orion audiobook (2006) * ''

Northanger Abbey ''Northanger Abbey'' ( ) is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic fiction, Gothic novels written by the English author Jane Austen. Although the title page is dated 1818 and the novel was published posthumously in 1817 with ''Persuasio ...

'' by

. Unabridged, Naxos audiobook, 7 CDs (2006) * ''Persuasion'' by

. Unabridged, Naxos audiobook, 7 CDs (2007) * ''Mansfield Park'' by

. Unabridged, Naxos audiobook, 14 CDs (2007) * ''Emma'' by

. Unabridged, Naxos audiobook, 13 CDs (2007) * '' Sense and Sensibility'' by

, 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

. David Tennant (narrator), Juliet Stevenson (narrator), Anton Lesser (narrator), Alex Jennings (Narrator) * ''Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek'' & ''My Cousin Rachel'' (Daphne du Maurier Collection) 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) * '' The Signature of All Things'' by Elizabeth Gilbert (2013) * The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing (2010) * ''The Paying Guests'' by Sarah Waters. Unabridged (2014) * ''Apple Tree Yard'' by Louise Doughty, unabridged (2014) * ''Belgravia'' by Julian Fellowes, (2016) * '' A Room of One's Own'' by Virginia Wolf (2011) * ''Miss Marple’s Final Cases'' by Agatha Christie (2022) * Stevenson's speaking voice is heard in the historical symposium which opens and closes the production of '' The Handmaid's Tale'' at

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

in 2024.

Honours

In the 1999 Queens Birthday Honours, Stevenson was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE). She is a patron of the London International Festival of Theatre."Meet The Team"
, ''LIFT''. Retrieved 9 August 2016.

Awards and nominations

Film

Television

Theatre

References

External links

Juliet Stevenson
at the British Film Institute *
Juliet Stevenson: The Power of Story Telling
in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, Juliet 1956 births 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses AACTA Award winners Actors from Braintree District Actresses from Essex Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Audiobook narrators Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English atheists English film actresses English radio actresses English Shakespearean actresses English stage actresses English television actresses English voice actresses Laurence Olivier Award winners Living people People educated at Hurst Lodge School People educated at St Catherine's School, Bramley People from Kelvedon Royal Shakespeare Company members