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IMDbPro

Joanna Lumley

  • Actress
  • Producer
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000413
Joanna Lumley at an event for British Academy Television Awards 2017 (2017)
In a profile pic-obsessed, filter-fixated world where online and reality blur, influencer Dorian Gray makes a deal. For his social star never to fade.
Play trailer1:53
The Picture of Dorian Gray (2021)
31 Videos
99+ Photos
Joanna Lumley was born on 1 May, 1946 in Kashmir, India, to British parents, Thya Beatrice Rose (Weir) and James Rutherford Lumley. Her father was a major in the Gurkha Rifles, and she spent most of her early childhood in the Far East where her father was posted.

An aspiring actress, she first came to fame as a model in London's swinging 1960s, where she was photographed by the greats, including her friend, the late Patrick Lichfield. She was designer Jean Muir's muse and house model for several years before carving a career as a freelance model where she became one of the top ten most-booked models of the 1960s.

Lumley's breakthrough role was as Purdey in The New Avengers (1976), a role for which over 800 girls auditioned. Purdey propelled Lumley to instant fame and created one of the "must-have" hairstyles of the 1970s -- the Purdey bob. Lumley became a pin-up figure for a generation of British males who grew up watching her as the high-kicking action girl.

Other roles followed, most notably as Sapphire in Sapphire & Steel (1979) opposite David McCallum -- a sci-fi precursor to The X-Files (1993) and an under-rated gem of a series which has gained a cult following in recent years, despite the fact it has only ever been shown ONCE on terrestrial TV. During the 1980s, Lumley returned to the theater, making notable appearances as "Hedda Gabler" and as "Elvira" in "Blithe Spirit" -- a role that seems tailor-made for her. Lumley also made appearances in several films, including Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), and a screen-stealing role in Shirley Valentine (1989).

It was her reinvention as a comic actress in Absolutely Fabulous (1992) that shot Lumley to wider international acclaim. Her role as Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous (1992) is regarded as one of the greatest female comic performances ever, earning Lumley a stream of awards, including several BAFTAs. Since Absolutely Fabulous (1992), Lumley has cemented her role as one of the UK's most-loved & respected actresses. She is rarely off UK TV screens and has also built a successful film career as a character/voice-over actress.

She recently teamed up with the writer/director Hugo Blick for the series of acclaimed monologues Up in Town (2002) which were critically regarded as the performance of a lifetime, and the recent Sensitive Skin (2005).

In 2007, she returned to the stage for the first time in over a decade in a production of Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard", directed by Sir Jonathan Miller.
BornMay 1, 1946
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornMay 1, 1946
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000413
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Won 4 BAFTA Awards

Photos214

Joanna Lumley in Sapphire & Steel (1979)
Joanna Lumley in Sapphire & Steel (1979)
Joanna Lumley in Sapphire & Steel (1979)
Joanna Lumley in Sapphire & Steel (1979)
Joanna Lumley and David McCallum in Sapphire & Steel (1979)
Joanna Lumley and David McCallum in Sapphire & Steel (1979)
Bette Midler and Joanna Lumley in Bette Midler: One Night Only (2014)
Bette Midler and Joanna Lumley in Bette Midler: One Night Only (2014)
Joanna Lumley in Bette Midler: One Night Only (2014)
Joanna Lumley in Sapphire & Steel (1979)
Joanna Lumley, Steven O'Shea, and Tamasin Bridge in Sapphire & Steel (1979)
Joanna Lumley in Sapphire & Steel (1979)

Known for

Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders in Absolutely Fabulous (1992)
Absolutely Fabulous
8.2
TV Series
  • Patsy
  • Booberella
Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
The Wolf of Wall Street
8.2
  • Aunt Emma
  • 2013
Corpse Bride (2005)
Corpse Bride
7.3
  • Maudeline Everglot(voice)
  • 2005
Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016)
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
5.4
  • Patsy
  • 2016

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Downboy Cartoon
    • Pre-production
  • The Inn at the Edge of the World
    • Pre-production
  • My Week with Maisy
    • Post-production
  • Lucy Punch, Paul Ready, Anna Maxwell Martin, Diane Morgan, and Philippa Dunne in Motherland (2016)
    Motherland
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray (2021)
    The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • Keeley Hawes in Finding Alice (2021)
    Finding Alice
  • Saturday Knight Takeaway (2021)
    Saturday Knight Takeaway
  • The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (2020)
    The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse
    • (voice)
  • Joanna Lumley, Hugh Skinner, and Danielle Macdonald in Falling for Figaro (2020)
    Falling for Figaro
  • The Sandman (2020)
    The Sandman
    • (voice)
  • Comic Relief: Bodyguard (2019)
    Comic Relief: Bodyguard
  • The Missing Crown Jewels
  • Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Hayman, Celia Imrie, and Joanna Lumley in Finding Your Feet (2017)
    Finding Your Feet
  • Paddington 2 (2017)
    Paddington 2
  • Adam Hills, James Wren, Mark Lyminster, Fergus March, and Marny Godden in The Man You're Not (2017)
    The Man You're Not
  • Simon Amstell, Martin Freeman, and Samantha Spiro in Carnage (2017)
    Carnage
    • (voice)
  • The Corridor (2016)
    The Corridor
  • Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016)
    Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie

Producer

  • Joanna Lumley's Great Cities of the World (2022)
    Joanna Lumley's Great Cities of the World
  • Joanna Lumley in Joanna Lumley's Home Sweet Home - Travels in My Own Land (2021)
    Joanna Lumley's Home Sweet Home - Travels in My Own Land
  • Joanna Lumley's Hidden Caribbean: Havana to Haiti (2020)
    Joanna Lumley's Hidden Caribbean: Havana to Haiti
  • Joanna Lumley's India (2017)
    Joanna Lumley's India
  • Joanna Lumley's Japan (2016)
    Joanna Lumley's Japan
  • Joanna Lumley's Trans-Siberian Adventure (2015)
    Joanna Lumley's Trans-Siberian Adventure
  • Joanna Lumley: The Search for Noah's Ark (2012)
    Joanna Lumley: The Search for Noah's Ark
  • Joanna Lumley in Joanna Lumley's Greek Odyssey (2011)
    Joanna Lumley's Greek Odyssey
  • Joanna Lumley's Nile (2010)
    Joanna Lumley's Nile
  • The Cazalets (2001)
    The Cazalets

Director

  • Poetry Off the Page
  • Little Crackers (2010)
    Little Crackers
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos31

Me Before You
Clip 1:07
Me Before You
Me Before You
Clip 0:58
Me Before You
A Rather English Marriage
Clip 2:23
A Rather English Marriage
Sensitive Skin
Clip 1:35
Sensitive Skin
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:03
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:24
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:53
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:25
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:38
Official Trailer
Trailer #2
Trailer 3:13
Trailer #2
Trailer #1
Trailer 2:32
Trailer #1
Teaser Trailer
Trailer 0:56
Teaser Trailer

Personal details

Edit
    • May 1, 1946
    • Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, British India [now India]
    • Stephen BarlowOctober 23, 1986 - present
  • Other works
    Book: "Girl Friday".
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Print Biographies
    • 7 Interviews
    • 13 Articles
    • 9 Pictorials
    • 23 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Is one of the most respected British actresses despite the fact she has had no acting training.
  • Quotes
    At boarding school I even kept mice in my underclothes drawer. It made me smell most attractive, as you can imagine.
    • Her upper-class British accent, one of the most recognizable in Britain

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