Norton may refer to:

Places[link]

Norton meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a very common place name. Places named Norton include:

United Kingdom[link]

England[link]

• Norton, County Durham
• Norton, Gloucestershire
• Norton, Kent
• Norton, Northamptonshire
• Norton, Nottinghamshire
• Norton, Runcorn, Cheshire
• Norton, Suffolk
• Norton, Dudley, West Midlands
• Norton, Worcester, Worcestershire
• Norton, Doncaster, South Yorkshire
• Norton, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
• Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset
• Norton Malreward, Somerset
• Norton-on-Derwent, North Yorkshire
• Norton Radstock, Somerset
• Norton Sub Hamdon, Somerset
• Norton St Philip, Somerset
• Norton le Moors, Staffordshire
• Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
• Brize Norton, Oxfordshire

Wales[link]

• Norton, Powys
• Norton, Swansea

United States[link]

• Norton, Yolo County, California
• Norton, Kansas
• Norton, Massachusetts
  • Norton Center, Massachusetts
• Norton, Ohio
• Norton, Texas
• Norton, Vermont
• Norton, Virginia
• Norton, Wisconsin
• Norton Air Force Base, California
• Norton Sound, an inlet of the Bering Sea

Canada[link]

• Norton, New Brunswick, Canada
• Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan, rural municipality

Zimbabwe[link]

• Norton, Zimbabwe

People[link]

Family name

Given name

• Norton Garfinkle

Fictional characters

• Norton, fantasy book character from Incarnations of Immortality
• Ed Norton, TV series character from The Honeymooners
• Samuel Norton, film character from The Shawshank Redemption
• Norton Nork, simpleton created by Sandy Becker

Computing[link]

• Peter Norton Computing, a computing company bought out by Symantec, which maintained Norton as a brand
  • Norton Commander, a DOS file manager
  • Norton Ghost, a hard drive disk imaging utility
  • Norton Partition Magic, hard drive partition manager
  • Norton Utilities, a collection of software utilities
  • Norton AntiVirus, virus protection
  • Norton Internet Security, virus protection and firewall
  • Norton 360, PC security and maintenance suite

Companies[link]

• Norton Motorcycle Company, a British motorcycle manufacturer
• Norton Abrasives
• Norton Healthcare, a healthcare system in Louisville, Kentucky
• Norton Records, a record label
• W. W. Norton & Company, an American book publishing corporation
• Peter Norton Computing (see Computing above)

Other[link]

• Norton (grape), a variety of grape also known as Cynthiana
• Norton Priory, Runcorn, Cheshire, England
• Norton's theorem, a theorem used in electronics to model electrical networks
• Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, a series of lectures held annually at Harvard University
• Norton tradition, an archaeological culture from the North American Arctic

Or see[link]

• Naughton

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Anna Paquin
at the 25th Annual Paley Television Festival, ArcLight Cinemas, Los Angeles, 13 April 2009
Born	Anna Helene Paquin (1982-07-24) 24 July 1982 (age 29) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1993–present
Spouse	Stephen Moyer (2010–present)

Anna Helene Paquin (/ˈpækwɪn/; born 24 July 1982) is a Canadian-born New Zealand actress. Paquin's first critically successful film was The Piano, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1993 at the age of 11 – the second youngest winner in history.^[1] Her acting career took off almost half a decade later when she appeared in a string of successful films including She's All That, Almost Famous and the X-Men franchise.

Paquin has received critical acclaim for her role as Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO series True Blood, for which she won the 2008 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama.

Early life[link]

Paquin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the daughter of Mary Paquin (née Brophy), an English teacher and native of Wellington, New Zealand, and Brian Paquin, a high school physical education teacher, native Canadian. Paquin is the youngest of three children; she has two older siblings: a brother, Andrew, a director, born in 1977, and a sister, Katya, born in 1980,^[2][3] who is the partner of Green Party co-leader Russel Norman.^[4] Paquin's family moved to New Zealand when she was four. She attended the Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School until she was eight or nine.^[5] Her musical childhood hobbies in New Zealand included playing the viola, cello, and piano. She also participated in gymnastics, ballet, swimming and downhill skiing, though she did not have any hobbies related to acting.^[6][7]

While in New Zealand, Paquin attended Hutt Intermediate School from 1994–95. Having begun her secondary education in Wellington at Wellington Girls' College, she completed her high school diploma at Windward School in Los Angeles, where she moved with her mother following her parents' divorce in 1995.^[8] She graduated from Windward School in June 2000 and completed the school's community service requirement by working in an LA soup kitchen and at a special education center. She studied at Columbia University for one year, but has since been on a leave of absence to continue her acting career.

Career[link]

Child actress[link]

It was in New Zealand in 1991 that Paquin became an actress by chance. Director Jane Campion was looking for a little girl to play a key role in The Piano, set to film in New Zealand, and a newspaper advertisement was run announcing an open audition. Paquin's sister read the ad and went to try out with a friend; Paquin herself tagged along because she had nothing better to do. When Campion met Paquin—whose only acting experience had been as a skunk in a school play—she was very impressed with the nine-year-old's performance of the monologue about Flora's father, and she was chosen from among the 5000 candidates.^[7]

When The Piano was released in 1993 it was lauded by critics, won prizes at a number of film festivals, and eventually became a popular movie among a wide audience. Paquin's debut performance in the film earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age of eleven, making her the second-youngest Oscar winner in history after Tatum O'Neal.^[7] The Piano was made as a small independent movie and wasn't expected to be widely known, and Paquin and her family did not plan to continue in the acting circles.^[6] However, she was invited to the William Morris Agency, and she kept receiving offers for new roles. She systematically refused them, but she did appear in three commercials for the phone company MCI (now Verizon) in 1994.^[9] She later made a series of television commercials for Manitoba Telecom Systems in her birth city of Winnipeg.^[10] She also appeared as a voice in an audio book entitled The Magnificent Nose in 1994.

In 1996, she appeared in two movies. The first role was as young Jane in Jane Eyre. The other was a lead part in Fly Away Home playing a young girl who, after her mother dies, moves in with her father and finds solace in taking care of orphaned goslings.^[11]

As a teenager, she had roles in films including A Walk on the Moon, Amistad, Hurlyburly, She's All That and Almost Famous.

[edit] X-Men and beyond

Paquin returned to worldwide prominence with her role as the mutant superheroine Rogue in the Marvel Comics movie X-Men in 2000,^[1] its sequel X2 in 2003, and its third instalment, X-Men: The Last Stand, in 2006.

Paquin in 2006

In the fall of 2006, she completed filming Blue State. She was the executive-producer of the film, the film having been made by Paquin Films, a production company formed by both her and her brother, Andrew Paquin.^[12] In November 2006, she completed the film Margaret, which was released in 2011.

In 2007, Paquin received an Emmy Award^[13] nomination for Supporting Actress In A Miniseries Or A Movie for her role as Elaine Goodale in HBO's made-for-TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, based on Dee Brown's best-seller. She also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations in similar categories.

In 2008, Paquin appeared as waitress Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO series True Blood, her first role in a TV series. The show is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, set in the fictional town of Bon Temps, LA. Paquin won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series for her role in the show, and also won a Satellite Award in a similar category. She was also nominated for the same category in the 2009 Golden Globe Awards. The second season of True Blood premiered in the US in June 2009. Season three premiered in June 2010, and season 4 in June 2011.

In 2009, Paquin played Irena Sendler, a Polish woman hailed as a heroine of the Holocaust, in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, a CBS TV film biographical film based on the book Mother of the Children of the Holocaust: The Irena Sendler Story, by Anna Mieszkowska. The film was made in Latvia, and was a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation for the network.^[14] Paquin's performance earned her a 2010 nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Film.

Paquin's film The Romantics, a romantic comedy with Josh Duhamel and Katie Holmes, was released in the US at selected theatres in September 2010.

Paquin was cast in a cameo role in Scream 4, which was released on April 15, 2011.^[15]

Her next film is Straight A's, co-starring Ryan Phillippe, due for release in 2012.

Theatrical career[link]

Paquin made her stage debut in 2001 in a production of The Glory of Living at the MCC Theater in New York City. She won a 2001–2002 Theatre World Award for her performance.^[16] She has since appeared in a number of other plays, but only once outside the USA, when she appeared on the West End stage in London in a production of This is Our Youth in 2002.

Personal life[link]

Paquin with husband and True Blood costar Stephen Moyer, 2009

On 5 August 2009, it was announced that Paquin was engaged to her True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer, whom she had been dating since filming the series pilot in 2007.^[17][18] On 21 August 2010, Paquin and Moyer married at a private residence in Malibu, California.^[19] Through her marriage to Moyer, Paquin has a step-son, Billy, born in 2000, and a step-daughter, Lilac, born in 2002.^[20] Paquin and Moyer reside in Venice, Los Angeles.^[21] On 17 April 2012, it was announced they are expecting their first child together, due in the fall.^[22]

On 1 April 2010, Paquin came out as bisexual in a public service announcement for the Give a Damn campaign as part of the True Colors Fund, an advocacy group organised by Cyndi Lauper dedicated to LGBT equality.^[23] The True Colors Fund was created to “inspire and engage everyone, especially straight people, to become active participants in the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender equality” ^[24]. The video features Anna Paquin stating, "I'm Anna Paquin. I'm bisexual, and I give a damn". ^[25] When asked about her participation in the video, Paquin responded by saying, "It wasn't like it was a big secret, it was just a cause I cared about and privately supported, but not one that I had ever had an opportunity to speak out about in a way that would be useful. Obviously I know that one person's voice doesn't necessarily do that much, but I just wanted to do my bit." ^[26] Anna also supports other charities and foundations such as the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. ^[27]

Filmography[link]

Theatre credits[link]

• The Glory of Living; MCC Theater, New York, 2001 – Lisa (Won Theatre World Award (Outstanding Actress) in 2002 for the role)
• This is Our Youth; Garrick Theatre, London, 2002 – Jessica Goldman (nominated for Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Actress) for the role)
• Manuscript (Reading); Falmouth Academy, New York, 2003 – Elizabeth Hawkins
• Drug Buddy (Reading); Manhattan Theater Club, 2003 – Wendy
• Roulette; Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York, 2004 – Jenny
• The Distance From Here; MCC Theater, New York, 2004 – Shari (Won Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Cast Ensemble) in 2004)
• The 24 Hour Plays, South Of The Border; MCC Theater, 2004 – Maylene
• After Ashley; Vineyard Theatre, New York, 2005 – Julie Bell
• Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead; (Reading); Westside Theatre, New York, 2005 – Marcy
• The 24 Hour Plays, The Blizzard; MCC Theater, 2006 – Jenny

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anna Paquin

• Anna Paquin at the Internet Movie Database
• Anna Paquin at Emmys.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2009)

Graham Norton
Norton in May 2010
Birth name	Graham William Walker
Born	(1963-04-04) 4 April 1963 (age 49) Clondalkin, Dublin, Ireland
Medium	Television, radio, stand-up
Nationality	Irish
Years active	1992–present
Genres	Observational comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday life, pop culture, current events, celebrities, sex
Notable works and roles	So Graham Norton V Graham Norton The Graham Norton Effect Graham Norton's Bigger Picture The Graham Norton Show

Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton, (born 4 April 1963)^[1] is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist. He is the host of comedy chat programme The Graham Norton Show on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US. Hot Press has described him as "the 21st century's answer to Terry Wogan", with both men sharing an Irish background and the common link of being a BBC Radio 2 presenter and the BBC television commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest.^[2] Norton has won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Entertainment Performance on five occassions.

Early life and career[link]

Norton was born in Clondalkin, a suburb of Dublin, but grew up in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland to a Protestant family. He was educated at Bandon Grammar School, in County Cork and then University College Cork but did not complete his studies.

In 1992 his stand-up comedy drag act in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a tea-towel clad Mother Teresa of Calcutta made the press when Scottish Television's religious affairs department mistakenly thought he represented the real Mother Teresa.^[3]

His first appearances in broadcasting were in his spot as a regular comedian and panellist on the BBC Radio 4 show Loose Ends, when the show ran on Saturday mornings, in the early 1990s. His rise to fame began as one of the early successes of Channel 5, when he won an award for his performance as the stand-in host of a late-night TV talk show usually presented by Jack Docherty.^[4][5] This was followed by a comic quiz show on Channel 5 called Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment, which was not well received as a programme, but did further enhance Norton's individual reputation as a comic and TV host. In 1996, Norton co-hosted the late-night quiz show Carnal Knowledge on ITV with Maria McErlane.

In 1996, Norton played the part of Father Noel Furlong in three episodes ("Hell", "Flight Into Terror", "The Mainland") of the Channel 4 series Father Ted. Father Noel Furlong was often seen taking charge of a small youth folk-group.

Channel 4[link]

After this early success, Norton moved to Channel 4 to host his own chat shows including So Graham Norton and V Graham Norton. As a performer who is not only openly gay,^[6] but also camp and flamboyant, it was here that Norton's act was fully honed as a cheeky, innuendo-laden joker.

In 2003, he was the subject of controversy when, on his show on Channel 4, he made a comedic reference to the recent death of Bee Gees singer Maurice Gibb. The Independent Television Commission investigated after complaints about this insensitivity were forwarded to it and eventually Channel 4 had to make two apologies: one in the form of a caption slide before the show, another from Norton in person.

Also in 2003, he was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. (Though Norton is Irish, the bulk of his television career has been in the UK.)

In the summer of 2004, Norton moved across the Atlantic to start a new venture in American television. The Graham Norton Effect debuted on 24 June 2004 on Comedy Central, and was also broadcast in the UK on BBC Three. In the midst of controversy surrounding Janet Jackson's Super Bowl performance, Norton was wary of moving into the market.^[7]

BBC[link]

Norton at 2009 BAFTA awards

In 2005, Norton moved to the BBC and began hosting the Saturday evening reality TV series Strictly Dance Fever on BBC One, as well as a new comedy chat show, Graham Norton's Bigger Picture. He also read stories some nights on the BBC children's channel CBeebies as part of Bedtime Hour.

In 2006, Norton hosted the BBC One series How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? in which Andrew Lloyd Webber tried to find a lead actress for his West End version of The Sound of Music. Norton has subsequently presented the 3 follow-up series: Any Dream Will Do in 2007, in which a group of males competed to win the role of Joseph in the West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; I'd Do Anything in 2008, in which Andrew Lloyd Webber seeks to find the part of Nancy and Oliver for Sir Cameron Mackintosh's production of Lionel Bart's Oliver!; and Over the Rainbow in 2010, following a similar format to find a new Dorothy for a Wizard of Oz West end Production.

Norton hosted various other shows for the BBC during this time, including When Will I Be Famous? (2007), The One and Only (2008) and Totally Saturday (2009). Since 2007, Norton has also been a regular host of The British Academy Television Awards. On 7 July 2007, Norton presented at Live Earth and undertook a trip to Ethiopia with the Born Free Foundation to highlight the plight of the Ethiopian wolf – the rarest canid in the world. In the same year, he was the subject of an episode of the BBC1 genealogy documentary Who Do You Think You Are?.

Norton's chat show, The Graham Norton Show, began on 22 February 2007 on BBC Two. Although in a format that he had not been involved in for 4 years, it is very similar to his previous Channel 4 shows. On 6 October 2009, the show moved to BBC One, in a new one-hour format.

In May 2010, he stood in for Chris Evans' breakfast show on BBC Radio 2. Later that month, it was confirmed that he would be replacing Jonathan Ross's Saturday morning slot on the same station.

In December 2011, the panel show Would You Rather...? with Graham Norton premiered on BBC America in the time slot immediately following The Graham Norton Show. Recorded in New York, it is one of BBC America's earliest efforts at producing original programming, and is also the first panel game the channel has shown, either of British or American origin.

In January 2012, he called on listeners to his Radio 2 show to help find his car hours after it was stolen. He called it "The Great Car Hunt" and told listeners to “Keep your eyes out for it. It was filthy by the way."

Eurovision[link]

Norton with Josh Dubovie at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

Norton hosted the first annual Eurovision Dance Contest alongside Claudia Winkleman which was held on 1 September 2007 in London, England. The format was based on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing and the EBU's Eurovision Song Contest. Norton and Winkleman also hosted the 2008 Contest in Glasgow, Scotland.

In October 2008, it was confirmed by the BBC that Norton would replace Terry Wogan as the BBC's presenter for the UK heats of the Eurovision Song Contest, in a show to be called Your Country Needs You.

On 5 December 2008 it was announced that Norton would also take over from Wogan as the presenter of the main Eurovision Song Contest.^[8] The 54th Eurovision Song Contest was held in the Olimpiyskiy (Olympic) Stadium, Moscow on 16 May 2009.

Norton's jokes during his debut received some positive reviews from the British media. The Guardian noted his comments on Iceland's entry, which finished in second place, had "rooted around in a cupboard and found an old bridesmaid dress from 1987" and the Armenian singers, who finished in tenth place, were sporting traditional dress, "which would be true if you come from the village where Liberace is the mayor."^[9] The Times noted his highlighting of the arrest of thirty gay rights protesters in Moscow – "heavy-handed policing has really marred what has been a fantastic Eurovision."^[9]

His comment “The bad news is you’re about to watch Albania. She’s only 17 so please bear that in mind. Where was her mother? Why didn’t she step in and say no?” which was made just before Albanian singer Kejsi Tola was set to take the stage dubbed an insult by many, sent ripples of outrage through not only Albania, but also the Albanian population in Britain. He then announced that Albania should get no points and that he didn't care what anybody else thought. There was a petition circling the net calling for a formal apology from Norton. The petition, which called his comment “very rude and insulting,” had drawn over 1,000 signatures. He never responded.^[10]

In 2011, he snarked that if Jedward's entry into the competition that year won, the twins would never sleep again. In the end, they were eighth. Earlier in that year's televote, he joked "Quick, someone take a picture", when The British entry that year went temporarily in the lead early on after high votes from Russia(4), Bulgaria(12) and Italy(10). In the end, the song dropped down the 11th, earning 100 points. Very annoyed, Norton claimed 'We were better than Jedward'.

In 2012, Norton joked about the Spanish singer Pastora Soler and the economic situation of Spain. This statements unleashed many bad reviews on the internet. Norton joked about Rona Nishliu (the singer of Albania) too. He said that Rona was a singer that "she shout a lot".

Other[link]

In July 2000 Graham was one of three judges of the Miss Lesbian Beauty Contest 2000 held at The Talk of London, Drury Lane. The contest was won by 42 year old Carol Hutchins who wowed the audience with her sit-down comedy routine from a wheelchair. Graham described Carol as a "very bright, funny lady."

Graham Norton played Mr. Puckov in the 2006 American comedy spoof film Another Gay Movie. In 2007, Norton played Taylor in the romantic comedy film I Could Never Be Your Woman.

Norton was involved in a high-publicity advertising campaign for the UK National Lottery as an animated unicorn, the stooge to a character based on Lady Luck (played by Fay Ripley). He has also advertised McVitie's biscuits.

In 2007, Norton featured in Girls Aloud and Sugababes' Comic Relief video for the single "Walk This Way."

In January 2009, Norton made his West End stage debut in a revival of La Cage Aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre.

Since 2009, Norton has been the host of the comedy game-show Most Popular on US cable television channel WE tv.^[11]

Norton currently writes an advice column in The Daily Telegraph newspaper. In October 2010, these columns were made into a book entitled Ask Graham, published by John Blake Publishing.

Personal life[link]

Norton with a dog in 2006, supporting Crusaid.

Norton has stated that he felt "out of place" growing up in Ireland; his family are Protestant yet the Republic of Ireland is overwhelmingly Catholic. Norton took part in the TV programme, Who Do You Think You Are?, to trace his ancestry. It was discovered that his family were originally planters sent over from England to take over Irish land. Some members of his family had fought for the British Monarchy during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and taken part in a massacre of Catholics in Carnew Castle. Another member of his family was later killed in battle by the United Irishmen. Norton said he was comforted to find out that his family had resided in Ireland for generations.^[12]

In 1989 while living in London, Norton was mugged, beaten and stabbed by a group of attackers on the street. He says he lost half his blood and nearly died, and he was hospitalised for two and a half weeks.^[13][14]

Norton is openly gay.^[6][15][16]

Norton owns a holiday home in Ahakista, County Cork, which is near to where he grew up, in Bandon. The house has a private beach and overlooks Dunmanus Bay.

TV appearances[link]

Main presenting credits[link]

• Carnal Knowledge (TV series, co-presenter) (1996, 27 one hour shows)
• Bring Me the Head of Light Entertainment
• So Graham Norton (1998–2002)
• V Graham Norton (2002–2003)
• NY Graham Norton (2004)
• The Graham Norton Effect (2004–2005)
• Graham Norton's Bigger Picture (2005–2006)
• Strictly Dance Fever (2005–2006)
• BBC/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical theater talent searches (2006–present)
  • How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? (2006)
  • Any Dream Will Do (2007)
  • I'd Do Anything (2008)
  • Over the Rainbow (2010)
• The Big Finish (2006–)
• When Will I Be Famous? (2007)
• The Graham Norton Show (2007–present)
• The British Academy Television Awards (2007)
• Live Earth (2007)
• Eurovision Dance Contest (2007)
• The One and Only (2008)
• Eurovision Dance Contest (2008)
• Eurovision: Your Country Needs You (2009–present)
• Eurovision Song Contest (UK commentator, 2009–present)
• Totally Saturday (2009)
• Most Popular (2009–present)
• Would You Rather...? with Graham Norton (BBC America, 2011–present)

Other television credits[link]

Radio[link]

• Just a Minute

Sitting in for Steve Wright August 2009 BBC Radio 2

Sitting in for Chris Evans May /July 2010 BBC Radio 2

On 2 October 2010, he began his weekly BBC Radio 2 Saturday show taking over from Jonathan Ross. The show airs from 10.00am-1.00pm and combines a mixture of music, chat and celebrity guests.

2011/12 Radio 2 Saturday mornings

Filmography[link]

Stand-Up videos[link]

• Live At The Roundhouse (19 November 2001)

Awards[link]

• 1999 : Gaytime Award for Gay Entertainer of the Year
• 2000 : BAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance – So Graham Norton
• 2001 : BAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance - So Graham Norton
• 2001 : RTS Television Award for Best Presenter – So Graham Norton
• 2001 : TRIC Award TV Personality of the Year
• 2002 : BAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Perfromance - So Graham Norton
• 2011 : BAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance – The Graham Norton Show ^[17]
• 2012 : BAFTA Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance - The Graham Norton Show

References[link]

External links[link]

• Graham Norton Radio 2 at BBC Programmes
• The Graham Norton Show at BBC Programmes
• Graham Norton at the Internet Movie Database
• Graham Norton at the British Film Institute's Screenonline

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (December 2009)

Miriam Margolyes
Miriam Margolyes reading at an event for the charity Sense, 2006
Born	(1941-05-18) 18 May 1941 (age 71) Oxford, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1965–present

Miriam Margolyes, OBE (born 18 May 1941)^[1] is an English actress and voice artist. Her earliest roles were in theatre and after several supporting roles in film and television she won a BAFTA Award for her role in The Age of Innocence (1993).

Early life[link]

Margolyes was born in Oxford, England, the daughter of Ruth (née Walters), a property investor, and Joseph Margolyes, a physician from Glasgow.^[1][2] She grew up in a Jewish family,^[3][4] a descendant of immigrants from Belarus. She attended the local Oxford High School,^[1] at which she also opened the new buildings in March 2011, and later Newnham College, Cambridge where she read English.^[5] There, she began acting in her twenties, and also appeared in productions of the comedy troupe Cambridge Footlights.^[6]

Acting career[link]

With her distinctive voice, Margolyes first gained recognition for her work as a voice artist. She recorded a soft-porn audio called Sexy Sonia: Leaves from my Schoolgirl Notebook.^[7] She performed most of the supporting female characters in the dubbed Japanese action TV series, Monkey. She also worked with the theatre company Gay Sweatshop and provided voiceovers in the Japanese TV series The Water Margin.

Margolyes' first major role in a film was as Elephant Ethel in Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977). In the 1980s, she made appearances in Blackadder opposite Rowan Atkinson: these roles include the Spanish Infanta in The Black Adder, Lady Whiteadder in Blackadder II and Queen Victoria in Blackadder's Christmas Carol. In 1986, she was cast as one of the major supporting characters in the BBC adaptation of the Fay Weldon novel The Life and Loves of a She-Devil. She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Flora Finching in the 1988 movie Little Dorrit.^{[citation needed]} On American television, she headlined the short-lived 1992 CBS sitcom Frannie's Turn. In 1993 she won a Best Supporting Actress, BAFTA for her role as Mrs Mingott in Martin Scorsese's The Age Of Innocence.

Margolyes came to the notice of younger audiences through two roles in 1996. The first was her comic take on the role of The Nurse in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. The second when she starred as Aunt Sponge in James And The Giant Peach; she also provided the voice of the Glow Worm in the same movie. Around this time, she voiced the female rabbit character in the animated commercials for Cadbury's Caramel bars^[8] and provided the voice of Fly the dog in the animated film Babe.^[9] She played Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002.

She was one of the original cast of the London production of the musical Wicked in 2006, playing Madame Morrible opposite Idina Menzel, a role she also played on Broadway in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, she appeared in a new production of Endgame by Samuel Beckett at the Duchess Theatre in London's West End.^{[citation needed]} She (along with Simon Callow) voiced one of the Blathereen creatures in the Doctor Who spin off The Sarah Jane Adventures in a story from the third season called The Gift.^{[citation needed]}

In 2010, she appeared in the British Television situation comedy Coming of Age, playing Doreen, a delinquent pensioner with a penchant for kissing strangers and blowing up ducks. In the 2010 film Legend of the Guardians, she voices Mrs. Plithiver. Margolyes reprised her role as Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. She appears in the ITV series Doc Martin.

Other work[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2011)

Margolyes is a supporter of Sense (the National Deafblind and Rubella Association) and was the host at the first Sense Creative Writing Awards, held at the Dickens Museum in London in December 2006, where she read a number of works written by talented deafblind people.^[1][10]

In 2011, Margolyes recorded a narrative for the album The Devil's Brides by klezmer musician-ethnographer Yale Strom (ARC Music).^[11]

Personal life[link]

Margolyes is openly gay^[12] and has been with her Australian partner Heather^[9] for over 40 years.^[1] She described herself as "gay" rather than as lesbian and mentioned her relationships with women on several occasions when she appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in September 2008.^[13] She is a campaigner for a respite care charity, Crossroads.^[14]

She appeared on the British television quiz University Challenge in 1963, whilst at Cambridge University. As part of a BBC documentary University Challenge: The Story so Far she claimed that during her appearance, she swore after getting a question wrong, although the actual word was bleeped out of the recording.^[15][16]

She would like to become an Australian citizen.^[14]

Margolyes regularly attends the annual Dickens Universe scholarly conference, held each summer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.^{[citation needed]}

Margolyes is a Palestinian human rights activist, having been a member of the British-based ENOUGH! coalition that seeks to end the "Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank."^[17]

Margolyes lives in Tuscany, Italy and Robertson, New South Wales.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]