Celebrity Biographies
brenda blethyn
She is short, and is characterized by a slightly shrill voice. But wow, what a great actress she is, and how easily she embodies run-of-the-mill middle-aged characters. She is the woman from the street, the typical mother, neighbor, housewife… Inevitably, you believe her.
Brenda Anne Bottle, artistically known as Brenda Blethyn, was born on February 20, 1946 in Ramsgate, in the county of Kent, in England. She was the youngest child in a household with nine siblings, a working-class Catholic family. Her love for movies would take her soon, because the fun that her parents used to organize for her was to go weekly to see movies. But in reality nothing suggested that acting was going to be her professional dedication, and that making plays soon became a hobby. Brenda studied vocational training, and her knowledge of shorthand and bookkeeping led her to work in a bank. But her acting bug had gotten the better of her, and she finally decided to study at the Guildford School of Acting, which would allow her to debut on the London scene in 1976,
She was first seen on a screen, the small one, in 1980, in Grown-Ups , within the BBC2 Playhouse programme; she directed a certain Mike Leigh , a decisive filmmaker in her career. And she followed TV roles, interspersed with stage performances of hers, for a decade, though of course, going from 34 to 44, Brenda didn’t seem destined to break out. But her case is completely atypical: for her, her maturity would be the decisive moment to attract attention and be seen as the ideal actress for roles of middle-aged women.
1990 marked the debut in the cinema of the Blethyn.The Curse of the Witches was an adaptation of a Roald Dahl play , but it did not have the power ofdark glass andInside the Labyrinth , also Jim Henson productions . But in the end, something had to have the actress that she caught the attention of Robert Redford , who called her for a small role inThe river of life (1992), in what was his first Hollywood experience, so to speak, there was athen not so popular Brad Pitt , who seemed like the young version of Redford. Then he went back to what he used to, small roles on TV and theater.
And suddenly, the miracle! In 1996, a Mike Leigh film became a sensation in English social cinema, due to its drawing of the everyday characters of a family, which faces its small big problems and the discovery of an unexpected relative.Secrets and Lies put Brenda on the map when she was… 50 years old! It is never too late to succeed, the hard-working actress must have thought, thanks to that film she was the best actress at Cannes, and she won a Bafta award and a Golden Globe, as well as being nominated for an Oscar.
From that moment the opportunities increase, although secondary characters prevail due to their age and physique. However, it is quite important in La noche de las chicas (1998), although the film has less repercussions than Secrets ; it is not the case of the nostalgicLittle Voice (1998), where her composition of a mother ‘maruja’ who lives in ‘the clouds’, whose daughter has a great talent for singing, leads her to be nominated for an Oscar for the second time, as a supporting actress. She stars as Hollywood gossip maven Louella Parsons inRKO 281 (1999), or points toThe story of Anne Frank (2001), about the famous teenager from the newspaper murdered by the Nazis. In between, a leading role in the comedyEl jardín de la alegría (2000), where she is a widow who plants marijuana in her garden to survive. The actress chooses what falls, not always very stimulating, almost always in small independent films likeLovely & Amazing (2001) andSA Funeral Homes (2002). Nicolas Cage will direct her in his behind-the-camera debut in the rather forgettableSonny (2002).
Her film career languished somewhat, although another actor-director, Kevin Spacey , signed her for the biopic.Beyond the Sea (2004). Joe Wright can see that he appreciated her good work, because after calling her toPride and Prejudice (2005) –adaptation of the work of Jane Austen , where she was the frivolous Mrs. Bennett, who seeks to marry her daughters at all costs with good parties–, she recounted on her two years later in the wonderfulAtonement , which brought the work Ian McEwan to the cinema.
InLondon River (2009), the actress has composed a leading role that fits her like a glove, and that truly borders: that of a mother anguished by the disappearance of her daughter, in the context of the attacks in London on July 7, 2005. The film brought her co-star, Sotigui Kouyaté , an award in Berlin, but it is true that she could well have accompanied him in the honours. She also just hosted The Calling , where she plays a nun.