This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2024) |
Jane Horrocks | |
---|---|
Born | Barbara Jane Horrocks 18 January 1964 Rawtenstall, Lancashire, England |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1986–present |
Notable work |
|
Television |
|
Partner | Nick Vivian (until 2017) |
Children | 2 |
Barbara Jane Horrocks (born 18 January 1964) [1] is a British actress. She portrayed the roles of Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous . She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in the stage play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice , and received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for the role in the film version of Little Voice.
She is also known for her appearances in films, including The Dressmaker (1988), The Witches (1990), Second Best (1993), Life is Sweet (1990), Chicken Run (2000), Corpse Bride (2005), Sunshine on Leith (2013), Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016), as well as the television series Fifi and the Flowertots (2005–2010), Little Princess (2006–2020), and the Sky One sitcom Trollied , as Julie Cook (2011–2015).
Horrocks was born in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, the daughter of Barbara (née Ashworth), a hospital worker, and John Horrocks, a sales representative.[ citation needed ] [2] She was the youngest of three children.
She attended Balladen County Primary School and Fearns county secondary school. She trained at Oldham College, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with Imogen Stubbs and Ralph Fiennes, [3] and began her career with the Royal Shakespeare Company. [4]
Horrocks has appeared on stage in Ask for the Moon (Hampstead, 1986), A Collier's Friday Night (Greenwich, 1987), Valued Friends (Hampstead, 1989), and The Debutante Ball (Hampstead, 1989). She appeared in Catherine Cookson's The Fifteen Streets, alongside Sean Bean and Owen Teale in 1989; Our Own Kind (Bush, 1991); Deadly Advice (Fletcher, 1993); Cabaret (Donmar Warehouse 1994); Macbeth (Greenwich Theatre, 1995); and Absurd Person Singular (Garrick Theatre, 2007).
While working on Road , a play directed by Jim Cartwright, Horrocks warmed up by doing singing impressions of Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey and Ethel Merman. Cartwright was so impressed with her mimicry he wrote The Rise and Fall of Little Voice for her.[ citation needed ] She was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress at the 1993 Laurence Olivier Awards for her performance in the 1992 West End production, directed by her then-boyfriend Sam Mendes.[ citation needed ]
Her last West End appearance was in Sweet Panic, the 2003 Stephen Poliakoff drama in which she portrayed a neurotic mother locked in a battle of wills with her disturbed son's psychologist.[ citation needed ] She starred in Richard Jones's critically acclaimed production of The Good Soul of Szechuan at the Young Vic in 2008. [5] She was reunited with Jones in a new musical production of Annie Get Your Gun , which opened at the Young Vic in October 2009. [6] At London's Young Vic, in 2016's If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Horrocks revisited the songs of her youth to sing versions of tracks by the likes of Joy Division, The Smiths, Buzzcocks, and The Human League. [7]
In October 2014, Horrocks played Ella Khan in the London revival of East Is East at Trafalgar Studios as part of Jamie Lloyd's Trafalgar Transformed season. [8] In 2024, Horrocks joined the cast of the British premiere production of play Nachtland at the Young Vic theatre, directed by Patrick Marber. [9]
In August 2024, Horrocks starred as Meg in Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party at the Ustinov Studio. [10]
She drew critical notice for her performance in the film Life Is Sweet (1990), followed by her award-winning performance in the West End playThe Rise and Fall of Little Voice in which she sang all the songs. Horrocks became well known on screen for her role as Bubble and Katy Grin in the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992–2016).
She reprised her stage role in the 1998 screen adaptation, Little Voice , which earned nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy at the 56th Golden Globe Awards, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 52nd British Academy Film Awards, the Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy at the 3rd Golden Satellite Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Motion Picture at the 5th Screen Actors Guild Awards, and the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress.[ citation needed ]
For 10 years, Horrocks appeared with Prunella Scales in commercials for the UK supermarket chain Tesco. [11] She narrated BBC Two's television series The Speaker in April 2009.
In 2009, Horrocks took the lead in the BBC TV production Gracie! , a drama portraying the life of Gracie Fields during World War II and her relationship with the Italian-born director Monty Banks (played by Tom Hollander). [12]
Other television credits include Absolutely Fabulous, Victoria Wood - We'd Quite Like to Apologise, Bad Girl, Boon, Heartland, Hunting Venus, La Nonna, Leaving Home, Never Mind the Horrocks , Nightlife, Wyrd Sisters , Foxbusters , Jericho , Red Dwarf , Some Kind of Life, Suffer the Little Children, The Storyteller , The Garden, Fifi & the Flowertots , Little Princess (the voice of the princess) and Welcome to the Times.[ citation needed ]
She was the subject of an episode of the genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? in 2006. That year, she played the title role of Ros Pritchard in The Amazing Mrs Pritchard , a drama about a woman elected prime minister.
On Tuesday 14 January 2014, Horrocks appeared as a contestant on The Great Sport Relief Bake Off on BBC Two— the celebrity version of The Great British Bake Off —hosted by Jo Brand and broadcast to help raise money for the charity Sport Relief. The other contestants were TV and radio presenter Kirsty Young, choreographer Jason Gardiner, and Olympic athlete Greg Rutherford.
On 9 May 2015, she gave a reading at VE Day 70: A Party to Remember in Horse Guards Parade, London that was broadcast live on BBC1. [13]
In 2015, she supplied the voice of the Tubby Phone in the reboot of the popular British children's television series Teletubbies . In 2021, she began starring in the Sky comedy series Bloods . [14]
Horrocks' voiceovers have been used on the films Chicken Run , Christmas Carol: The Movie , Corpse Bride , Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties , and Tinker Bell . She also did the voiceover of Fenchurch on radio and in the audio adaptation of Douglas Adams' science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for BBC Radio 4. She has voiced Donner in all three Robbie the Reindeer films in aid of Comic Relief.
In 2000, Horrocks made the CD Further Adventures of Little Voice, again singing in the style of favourite divas.[ citation needed ] The recording includes duets with Ewan McGregor, Robbie Williams and Dean Martin. Horrocks collaborated once more with Robbie Williams the following year, for a cover of the Bobby Darin song "Things" on Williams' album Swing When You're Winning .
This section needs additional citations for verification .(April 2024) |
Horrocks has two children with her former partner, playwright Nick Vivian. They were together for 21 years, parting ways in 2017. She currently lives in Brighton. [15]
She was previously in a relationship with director Sam Mendes. She was in a relationship with the singer and actor Ian Dury, about whom she devised the 2022 drama, Love Pants: Ian Dury & Jane Horrocks, for BBC Radio 4, based on her own diary entries and his love letters to her during their one-year relationship in the 1980s, when she was 23. The two remained friends until his death in 2000. [16] [17] [15] Horrocks' mother, Barbara, died in 2021. Her father died in 2013.[ citation needed ]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1987 | First Sight | Natalie | Episode: "Leaving Home" (1.3) |
Screenplay | Louise | Episode: "The Road" (2.13) | |
1988 | The Storyteller | Anja | Episode: "The True Bride" (1.9) |
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Pippa Bond | Episode: "No Crying He Makes" (2.7) | |
1989 | The Jim Henson Hour | Anja | Episode: "Musicians" (1.8) |
Victoria Wood | Cathy Warburton | Episode: "We'd Quite Like to Apologise" (1.4) | |
Smith & Jones | Episode: "The Unprepared Version" (5.6) | ||
1990 | Boon | Trisha Downey | Episode: "Best Left Buried" (5.11) |
1991 | Screen One | Gail | Episode: "Alive and Kicking" (3.7) |
Performance | Episode: "Nona" (1.2) | ||
1992 | Red Dwarf | Nirvanah Crane | Episode: "Holoship" (5.1) |
Screenplay | Maggie Hunt | Episode: "Bad Girl" (7.3) | |
Performance | Episode: "Roots" (2.3) | ||
1992–2012 | Absolutely Fabulous | Bubble (also played Katy Grin, Lola and radio voice) | 33 episodes |
1995 | Performance | Doll Tearsheet | Episode: "Henry IV" (5.5) |
1995–1998 | Crapston Villas | Flossie | 20 episodes (all episodes) |
1996 | Tales from the Crypt | Cammy | Episode: "Cold War" (7.6) |
Never Mind the Horrocks | Various roles | ||
1997 | Wyrd Sisters | Magrat Garlick (voice) | Television mini-series |
The Blobs | Various (voice) | 26 Episodes (all episodes) (S4C, Scottish Television, Siriol, DC Thomson, Taytel and Ragdoll Limited (live-action shoot)) | |
1997–1999 | The Forgotten Toys | Various roles (voice) | |
1999 | Foxbusters | Jeffries (voice) | 26 Episodes (all episodes) |
1999–2000 | Watership Down | Hannah | 14 episodes |
2000 | Mirrorball | Yitta Hilberstam | Television pilot |
Spot the Dog | Narrator | 26 Episodes were re-narrated over the originals that were done by Paul Nicholas. | |
2001 | Little Big Mouth | Krystan (voice) | |
2002 | Linda Green | Teresa Franklin | Episode: "Teresa" (2.2) |
2003–2004 | Wide-Eye | Flea (voice) Baby Komodo (voice) Natterjack Toads (voices) | 26 episodes (All episodes) |
2004 | Monkey Trousers | Various roles | |
2005 | Jericho | Sadie Swettenham | Episode: "To Murder and Create" (1.3) |
2005–2010 | Fifi and the Flowertots | Fifi Forget-Me-Not and Primrose (UK/US voice) | 40 episodes |
2006 | The Street | Angela Quinn | Episodes: "The Accident" (1.1) "Stan" (1.2) |
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard | Ros Pritchard | 6 episodes (all episodes) | |
2006–2020 | Little Princess | Little Princess (voice) | |
2011 | Coming Up | Felicity | Episode: "Magic" (6.5) |
Phineas and Ferb | Eliza (voice) | Episode: "My Fair Goalie" (3.11) | |
This is Jinsy | Mrs. Stenton | Episode: "Vel" (1.6) | |
Little Crackers | Hairdresser | Episode: "Jane Horrocks' Little Cracker: Barbara" (2.3) | |
Pixie Hollow Games | Fairy Mary (voice) | Television special | |
2011–2013, 2015 | Trollied | Julie Cook | 37 episodes |
2012 | Get Your House in Order | Narrator (voice) | Episode: "Stuart" (1.3) |
True Love | Sandra | Episode: "Sandra" (1.4) | |
2014 | Lily's Driftwood Bay | Wee Rabbit | |
2015 | Inside No. 9 | Liz | "Cold Comfort" (2.4) |
Long Live the Royals | Queen Elenor (voice) | UK version only | |
2015–2018 | Teletubbies | Tubby Phone (voice) | Darrall MacQueen, DHX Media and CBeebies |
2019-present | The Rubbish World of Dave Spud | Gran Spud (voice) | Except "Two Toots Spud", "An Honest Face" and "Night School" |
2020 | The Singapore Grip | Sylvia Blackett | TV series |
2021 | Hugo the Jungle Animal | Baby Hugo | Episode: "Baby Hugo" |
2021–2022 | Bloods | Wendy | Main role |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1989 | The Fifteen Streets | Christine Bracken | |
Heartland | Pam | ||
1991 | Came Out, It Rained, Went Back in Again | Learner Lesbian | |
1993 | Cabaret | Sally Bowles | |
1994 | Self Catering | Marilyn | |
Suffer the Little Children | Deborah Hayes | ||
1995 | Some Kind of Life | Alison | |
1996 | Nightlife | Helen | |
1999 | Hunting Venus | Cassandra | |
The Flint Street Nativity | Zoe | ||
2009 | Gracie! | Gracie Fields | |
2010 | The Road to Coronation Street | Margaret Morris |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | Butter | Beggar | Television |
1995 | Combination Skin | (voice) | Short film |
1999 | Hooves of Fire | Donner (voice) | Television |
2002 | Legend of the Lost Tribe | Donner / Arctic Fox (voice) | |
Last Rumba in Rochdale | Gran (voice) | Short film | |
2004 | Wheeling Dealing | Authentic Newsreader | |
2006 | Voices from the Underworld | Herself (voice) | Video Short |
2007 | Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind | Donner (voice) | Television |
2011 | The Itch of the Golden Nit | (voice) | Short film |
Miranda Jane Richardson is an English actress who has worked in film, television and theatre.
Dame Judith Olivia Dench is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actors, she is noted for her versatility, having appeared in films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her numerous roles on the stage. Dench has garnered various accolades throughout a career that spans seven decades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, six British Academy Film Awards, and seven Olivier Awards.
James Broadbent is an English actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 1972, he came to prominence as a character actor for his many roles in film and television. He has received various accolades including an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, an International Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award.
Samantha Jane Morton is an English actress. She is known for her work in independent film with dark and tragic themes, in particular period dramas. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the BAFTA Fellowship, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award and nominations for two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Joan Allen is an American actress. Known for her work on stage and screen, she has received a Tony Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.
Brenda Blethyn is an English actress. Known for her character work and versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, and a Cannes Film Festival Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and two Primetime Emmys. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama in 2003.
Jennifer "Gemma" Jones is an English actress. Appearing on both stage and screen, her film appearances include Sense and Sensibility (1995), the Bridget Jones series (2001–2025), the Harry Potter series (2002–2011), You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), and Ammonite (2020).
David Wheeler, better known as David Thewlis, is an English actor and filmmaker. He has appeared in a variety of genres in both film and television. He has received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and nominations for two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Clare Julia "Keeley" Hawes is an English actress. After beginning her career in a number of literary adaptations, including Our Mutual Friend (1998) and Tipping the Velvet (2002), Hawes rose to fame for her portrayal of Zoe Reynolds in the BBC series Spooks (2002–2004), followed by her co-lead performance as DI Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes (2008–2010). She is also known for her roles in Jed Mercurio's Line of Duty as DI Lindsay Denton (2014–2016) and in BBC One drama Bodyguard (2018), in which she played Home Secretary Julia Montague.
Dame Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton began her career in repertory theatre in 1976 and appeared in various theatre productions in the United Kingdom. Over her career, she has received several awards including a British Academy Film Award, and four Laurence Olivier Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award, three British Academy Television Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and three Emmy Awards.
Andrea Bowen is an American actress. She began her career appearing on Broadway musicals such as Les Misérables and The Sound of Music. In 2004, she began playing the role of Julie Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, a role she played on a regular basis until 2008. She later appeared on a recurring basis until the show ended in 2012. Bowen later went on to star in a number of Lifetime television movies.
Sarah Caroline Sinclair, known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.
Little Voice is a 1998 British musical film written and directed by Mark Herman and made in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The film starred Jane Horrocks, Michael Caine, Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent and Ewan McGregor.
Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, and many others. Her most notable television role was as Dr. Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995). Other TV and film credits include Always and Everyone (1999–2002), The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995), The Closer You Get (2000), Agatha Christie's Marple, Midsomer Murders (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), In Love with Alma Cogan (2011), Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015), ChickLit, The Ghoul, The Virtues (2019), Death in Paradise (2021), and The Tower (2023). She has been nominated at IFTA for her performance in Too Good to be True (2003).
Olivia Haigh Williams is a British actress who appears in British and American films and television. Williams studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for two years followed by three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first significant screen role was as Jane Fairfax in the British television film Emma (1996), based on Jane Austen's novel.
Nicola Jane Walker is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks, DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten (2015–2021) and Hannah Stern in The Split (2018–2024). She has also worked in theatre, radio and film. She won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and was twice nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax.
Ruth Wilson is an English actress. She has played the eponymous protagonist in Jane Eyre (2006), Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama Luther, Alison Lockhart in the Showtime drama The Affair (2014–2018), and the eponymous character in Mrs Wilson (2018). From 2019 to 2022, she portrayed Marisa Coulter in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials, and for this role she won the 2020 BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress. Her film credits include The Lone Ranger (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and Dark River (2017).
Bríd Brennan is an Irish actress who is known for her film, TV and theatre work. She originated the role of Agnes in the Brian Friel play Dancing at Lughnasa, for which she won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She is also a three-time Olivier Award nominee; for Rutherford and Son (1995), The Little Foxes (2002) and The Ferryman (2018).
Oluwunmi Mosaku is a Nigerian-born British actress. She is known for her roles as Joy in the BBC Two miniseries Moses Jones (2009) and Holly Lawson in the ITV series Vera (2011–2012). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Gloria Taylor in the TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy (2016). In 2019, she starred in the fifth series of Luther. In 2020, she starred as Ruby Baptiste in HBO's Lovecraft Country, and starting in 2021, starred as Hunter B-15 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Loki, and reprised the role in the 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine.
Claire Elizabeth Foy is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix drama series The Crown (2016–2023), for which she received various accolades such as a Golden Globe and two Primetime Emmy Awards.