Biography for
Miriam Margolyes More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

18 May 1941, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Height

5' (1.52 m)

Mini Biography

A veteran of stage and screen, award-winning actress Miriam Margolyes has achieved success on both sides of the Atlantic. Winner of the BAFTA Best Supporting Actress award in 1993 for The Age of Innocence (1993) she also received Best Supporting Actress at the 1989 LA Critics Circle Awards for her role in Little Dorrit (1988) and a Sony Radio Award for Best Actress on "Radio" in 1993. She was the voice of Fly the dog in Babe (1995).

Major credits during her long and celebrated career include Yentl (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), I Love You to Death (1990), End of Days (1999), Sunshine (1999), Cold Comfort Farm (1995) (TV), Cats & Dogs (2001), Magnolia (1999) and she was Prof. Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).

Most recently Margolyes appeared in Stephen Hopkins' The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), Modigliani (2004), István Szabó's Being Julia (2004) and Ladies in Lavender. (2004) (with Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench), which is opening at the NY Tribeca Festival on April 23rd.

Most memorable TV credits include "Screen Two: Old Flames (#6.1)" (1990), "Freud" (1984), "The Life and Loves of a She-Devil" (1986), "The Black Adder" (1982), The Girls of Slender Means (1975) (TV), _Oliver Twist (1982) (TV)_, "The History Man" (1981), Vanity Fair (2004) , Supply & Demand (1997) (TV). She was Franny in the CBS sitcom "Frannie's Turn" (1992) and starred recently in the Miss Marple episode, "Murder at the Vicarage".

Stage credits include "The Vagina Monologues", Sir Peter Hall's Los Angeles production of "Romeo & Juliet", "She Stoops to Conquer" and "Orpheus Descending" (all for Sir Peter Hall), "The Killing of Sister George", "The Threepenny Opera" (Tony Richardson), Michael Lindsay-Hogg's "The White Devil" at The Old Vic, the Bristol Old Vic production of "The Canterbury Tales" and her own award-winning, one-woman show, "Dickens' Woman". In the 2002 Queen's New Years Honours List, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British) Empire for her services to Drama.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Paul Coates

Trivia

She was awarded O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2002 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to drama.

Works and has homes in the US, UK and Australia.

Is of Belarussian-Jewish descent.

In the Independent on Sunday [UK] 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - Margolyes came no. 93, down from last year's no. 29.

Attended Oxford High School GDST.

Personal Quotes

I'm not the sort of woman men boast of having slept with.

Where Are They Now

(July 2004) Sydney, Australia

(2005) Doing The Importance of Being Earnest on Broadway.

(2005) Rehersing for a tour of Importance of Being Earnest with Lynn Redgrave. The tour stops in LA and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

(December 2006) Playing Madame Morrible in the London production of Wicked.

(April 2008) Appearing in the Broadway production of "Wicked".