Brenda Blethyn was born in Ramsgate and trained at Guildford, where she is now a member of the Board of Governors. She worked with the Bubble Theatre and Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, before joining the Royal National Theatre in 1975.

Theatre includes: Habeas Corpus (Donmar Warehouse); Wildest Dreams (RSC); The Beaux Stratagem, Dalliance, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bedroom Farce, Troilus and Cressida, Tales from the Vienna Woods, The Guardsman, Fruits of Enlightenment, The Double Dealer, The Passion, Madras House, Force of Habit (all for the RNT); Tamburlaine, Born Yesterday, A Doll’s House (Manchester Royal Exchange); Absent Friends (Manhattan Theatre Club); Crimes of the Heart (Bush Theatre); The Dramatic Attitudes of Miss Fanny Kemble (Nuffield, Southampton).

Film includes: Sonny, Blizzard, Plots with a View, Lovely and Amazing, Saving Grace, RKO 281, Daddy and Them, Little Voice, Girls’ Night, Night Train, In the Winter Dark, Music from Another Room, Secrets and Lies,  A River Runs Through It, Witches, Anne Frank, Mona, Outside Edge, The Bullion Boys, All Good Things, Buddha of Suburbia,  The Imitation Game, That Uncertain Feeling, Yes Minister, Sheppey, Alas Smith and Jones, Henry VI, King Lear, The Shawl, Labours of Erica, Chance in a Million, Rumpole, Bedroom Farce, Death of an Expert Witness, Tales of the Unexpected, The Storyteller, The Richest Woman in the World.

Brenda Blethyn is currently starring as Mrs. Warren in Mrs. Warren's Profession at the Strand Theatre. The production is directed by Peter Hall.