The Age of Innocence

Background:

British character actress Miriam Margolyes won a BAFTA Award for her supporting role of Mrs. Mingott in Martin Scorsese's “The Age of Innocence” (1993). She also picked up a LA Critics Circle Award for her role in “Little Dorrit” (1988), a Sony Radio Award for Best Actress On Radio for “The Queen and I” (1993), an Audiofile's Earphones Award for “A Christmas Carol” (2001) and a Theatregoer's Choice Award for the musical “Wicked” (2007). Margolyes is widely known for playing Professor Pomona Sprout on “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002). Other films she has acted in include “The Awakening” (1980), “The Apple” (1980), “Reds” (1981), “Yentl” (1983), “Little Shop of Horrors” (1986), “Pacific Heights” (1990), “The Butcher's Wife”(1991), “Romeo + Juliet” (1996), “Sunshine” (1999), “Magnolia” (1999), “End of Days” (1999), “Cats & Dogs” (2001), “Chasing Liberty” (2004), “Modigliani” (2004), “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers” (2004) and “A Closed Book” (2010). Her voice can be heard in several animated TV and film projects, including “Rugrats,” “Mulan” (1998), “Happy Feet” (2006), “Flushed Away” (2006) and “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole” (2010). Margolyes has also appeared in stage productions in the U.S, the U.K., and Australia. Margolyes was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by the Queen in the 2001.

Margolyes is openly gay and has been in a relationship since 1970. She is a spokesperson for Crossroads, a caregiver charity, and a supporter of a charity for deaf and blind people called Sense. As a Palestinian human rights activist, Margolyes is a member of the British based ENOUGH.

Margolyes owns homes in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia.

Oxford

Childhood and Family:

Miriam Margolyes was born on May 18, 1941, in Oxford, England. Her father, Joseph Margolyes, was a physician while her mother, Ruth, was a real estate investor. She was raised in a Jewish family and is of Belarusian origin. She enrolled at Oxford High School GDST and then at New Hall College, University of Cambridge. While in college, she was active in a comedy troupe called Cambridge Footlights.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Career:

After completing her education, Miriam Margolyes landed work with the BBC's radio repertory company. Before long, her voice could be heard in various TV commercials and radio spots. Margolyes had her first taste in front of the camera when she was cast as Rita in “Enter Solly Gold” (1965), an episode of the British show “Theatre 625.” It was followed by appearances in episodes of “ITV Play of the Week” (1967), “Boy Meets Girl” (1967), “Dixon of Dock Green” (1968), “ITV Playhouse” (1969), “Jackanory Playhouse” (1972), “Doctor in Charge” (1973), “Childhood” (1974) and “World of Laughter” (1974). She was also a storyteller on five episodes of “Jackanory” (1968), had an unaccredited role as a narrator on the British comedy feature “On the Game” (1974) and played Anna Vyrubova in “Tell the King the Sky Is Falling” (1974), an episode of the BBC TV miniseries “Fall of Eagles.”

Margolyes made her feature film acting debut in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1975), an American film directed by Raul daSilva that starred Roland Curram. The same year, she also appeared in the TV movie adaptation of Muriel Spark's “The Girls of Slender Means,” where she portrayed Jane Wright. She went on to appear in such movies as the adventure film “The Battle of Billy's Pond” (1976), the Norman Cohen directed comedy “Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers” (1977) and Thaddeus O'Sullivan's “On a Paving Stone Mounted” (1978, with Gabriel Byrne) as well as in episodes of the TV series “Kizzy” (2 episodes, 1976), “Plays for Britain” (1976), “Angels” (2 episodes, 1976), “Chalk and Cheese” (1977), “Play for Today” (1977) and the TV miniseries “The Glittering Prizes” (1976). She also appeared in the TV movies “Christmas Box” (1976) and “Spasms” (1977).

In 1980, Margolyes was cast as Dr. Kadira in “The Awakening,” a British horror film based on the 1903 novel “The Jewel of Seven Stars” by Bram Stoker. The film was directed by Mike Newell and starred Charlton Heston, Susannah York, Jill Townsend, Stephanie Zimbalist and Patrick Drury. She then appeared in the American movie “The Apple,” starring Catherine Mary Stewart and directed by Menahem Golan, and played Queenie on three episodes of the TV miniseries “The Lost Tribe” (also 1980). She next portrayed Maria in the ITV comedy series “Take a Letter Mr. Jones” (1981), which starred John Inman, had an unaccredited part in the critically acclaimed epic movie “Reds” (1981), which was co-written, produced, directed by and starred Warren Beatty, appeared in “Crystal Gazing” (1982), and supported Amanda York and Chrissie Cotterill in the Swedish movie “Scrubbers.” She was next cast in an episode of the BBC sitcom “The Black Adder” called “The Queen of Spain's Beard” (1983), played Sarah on the U.S. drama “Yentl” (1983), which was directed, co-produced, co-scripted by and starred Barbra Streisand, worked with Lenny Von Dohlen, Virginia Madsen, Maxwell Caulfield and Bud Cort in “Electric Dreams” (1984, directed by Steve Barron), was cast in Mike Hodges’ “Morons from Outer Space” (1985) and was reunited with director Mike Newell for the drama “The Good Father” (1985), starring Anthony Hopkins, Jim Broadbent and Harriet Walter. She then portrayed Mrs. Corney in a television series adaptation of Charles Dickens' “Oliver Twist” (BBC, 1985).

Margolyes remained busy throughout the 1980s. She appeared in the television shows “A Little Princess” (PBS, as Miss Amelia), “Black-Adder II,” “The Life and Loves of a She-Devil” and “Muzzy in Gondoland (all 1986) and was cast in Frank Oz's “Little Shop of Horrors” (also 1986), which was adapted from the off-Broadway musical comedy of the same name by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman. She next played roles in the movie “Body Contact” (1987, directed by Bernard Rose), the Golden Globe winning TV movie “Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story” (NBC, 1987), starring Farrah Fawcett, appeared in the BBC TV film “Blackadder's Christmas Carol” (1988) and in an episode of “Mr. Majeika” (1988). However, Margolyes did not receive critical and public notice until she was cast as spinster Flora Finching in the film adaptation of Charles Dickens' “Little Dorrit” (1988), which was written and directed by Christine Edzard. Costars of the film included Derek Jacobi, Joan Greenwood, Max Wall, Patricia Hayes, Alec Guinness and Simon Dormandy. The actress closed the decade portraying Mrs. Rajzman in the TV film biopic “Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story” (1989), which starred Ben Kingsley as Simon Wiesenthal, a famous Nazi Hunter.

Entering the 1990s, Margolyes was cast as the mother of Kevin Kline in the comedy film “I Love You to Death” (1990), which was helmed by Lawrence Kasdan, was featured in John Schlesinger's thriller “Pacific Heights” (1990), starring Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine and Michael Keaton, and teamed up with Derek Jacobi, Cyril Cusack, and Ruth Mitchell for the British drama “The Fool” (1990), which was produced and directed by Christine Edzard. The same year, she also acted in the TV films “The Finding” and “Orpheus Descending” and in an episode of “Screen Two” called “Old Flames.”

In 1991, Margolyes starred in the one woman show “Woomen, Lovely Woomen” on stage at the London's West End. She later took the show on tour internationally. She also appeared in the Demi Moore and Jeff Daniels romantic comedy “The Butcher's Wife,” and “Dead Again,” a psychological thriller directed by Kenneth Branagh. On television, she appeared in two episodes of the comedy series “Tonight at 8.30.” The next year, she starred as Frannie Escobar in the American TV series “Frannie's Turn.” Created by Chuck Lorre, the sitcom aired on CBS from September 13 to October 10, 1992. 1992 also saw the actress portray Audrey in the British movie adaptation of Shakespeare's “As You Like It” (directed by Christine Edzard) and Krupskaya on the HBO TV film “Stalin,” starring Robert Duvall as Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Margolyes was next cast as Mrs. Mingott in Martin Scorsese's “The Age of Innocence” (1993), an adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel of the same name. She was handed a BAFTA Film for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in the film. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder, the drama was met with primarily positive response from critics and was nominated for five Oscars. It won for Best Costume Design. The film also received recognition at various other galas, including the 1993 Venice Film Festival, the 1994 Golden Globe Awards and the 1994 BAFTA Awards, among others. Still in 1993, Margolyes appeared in the U.S. horror film “Ed and His Dead Mother,” provided the voice of Maiden from Mombassa in the animated film “The Princess and the Cobbler” and played the major role of Mrs. Hardcastle in Sir Peter Hall's staging of “She Stoops to Conquer.”

Next up for Margolyes, she played roles in such movies as “Immortal Beloved” (1994), “Cold Comfort Farm” (1995, TV), “Different for Girls” (1996), “Romeo + Juliet” (1996, as The Nurse), “The Place of Lions” (1997, TV), “Candy” (1998), “Left Luggage” (1998), István Szabó's “Sunshine” (1999) and Paul Thomas Anderson's “Magnolia” (1999). She also appeared in Peter Hyams' “End of Days” (starred Arnold Schwarzenegger) and “Dreaming of Joseph Lees” (1999). In addition, she appeared in the TV miniseries “The Phoenix and the Carpet” (1997), “Supply & Demand” (1998, as Edna) and “Vanity Fair” (1998, as Miss Crawley). Margolyes also did a string of voice work. She voiced Fly, the female sheepdog, in the Academy Award nominated “Babe” (1995) and in its 1998 sequel “Babe: Pig in the City,” Aunt Sponge and The Glowworm in “James and the Giant Peach” (1996), The Matchmaker in “Mulan” (1998) and Shirley Finster in an episode of “Rugrats.” She was one of the voices on the soundtrack for the award winning documentary “The Long Way Home” (1997) and was handed a 2000 Prix Jeunesse Best Children's Program award for her work on the animated short “The First Snow of Winter” (1998), in which she voiced the character Sean.

Entering the new millennium, Margolyes appeared in the films “House” (2000), “Not Afraid, Not Afraid” (2001), Lawrence Guterman's “Cats & Dogs” (2001, as Sophie the Castle Maid), “Alone” (2002) and “Plots with a View” (2002). It was not until she landed the role of Professor Pomona Sprout in the second Harry Potter movie, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002), that she gained widespread attention. Helmed by Chris Columbus, the film was very well received at the box office by grossing over $878 million worldwide. Meanwhile on TV, Margolyes guest starred in “Dharma & Greg” (2000), played Grandmama in three episodes of “Magic Grandad” (2001) and was cast as Catherine Dickens in “Dickens” (2002), a docudrama of the 19th-century author Charles Dickens.

Margolyes returned to the big screen in 2004 when she landed the role of Maria in “Chasing Liberty,” a romantic comedy directed by Andy Cadiff that starred Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode. She was then cast as Gertrude Stein in Mick Davis' “Modigliani,” starring Andy Garcia. The same year, she also appeared in Stephen Hopkins' “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers” (opposite Geoffrey Rush and Charlize Theron) Charles Dance's “Ladies in Lavender” (starred Judi Dench), István Szabó's “Being Julia” (as Dolly de Vries) and “Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage” (TV movie). Margolyes next worked on the TV film “Wallis & Edward” (2005), provided the voice of Rita's grandma in the animated movie “Flushed Away” (2006), which starred the voices of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen and Jean Reno, and was cast in the Oscar winner for Best Animated feature, “Happy Feet” (2006), where she voiced Mrs. Astrakhan. She also portrayed Aunt Vee in the Robert Davi directed film “The Dukes” (2007) and Mrs. Kowalski in Robert B. Weide's “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People” (2008). From 2005 to 2008, she also guest starred in “Inconceivable,” “Jam & Jerusalem” and “Kingdom.” In 2009, her voice could be heard in episodes of “The Sarah Jane Adventures.”

In 2010, Margolyes played the supporting role of Mrs. Kilbride in the thriller “A Closed Book,” opposite Tom Conti and Daryl Hannah, and provided the voice of Mrs. Plithiver on the animated movie “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.” In addition, she appeared in episodes of “Coming of Age” and “The Adventures of Merlin.” Her voice will be heard in the upcoming animated feature “Sir Billi” and she will reprise the role of Pomona Sprout in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” which is slated to be released on July 15, 2011.

Margolyes has worked extensively on stage. She was cast as Miss Prism in “The Importance of Being Earnest” (BAM Harvey Theatre, New York), Madame Morrible in “Wicked” (Apollo Victoria, London and Gershwin Theatre, New York), in “Canterbury Tales” (Bristol Old Vic), and Helen Hanff in “84 Charing Cross Road,” to name just a few stage productions.

Awards:

• Theatregoer's Choice: Best Supporting Actress in a Musical, “Madam Morrible in ‘Wicked,’” 2007

• Audiofile's Earphones: “A Christmas Carol,” 2001

• Prix Jeunesse: Best Children's Programme (0-6 fiction), “The First Snow of Winter,” 2000

• The Talkies Performer Of The Year: “Oliver Twist,” 1997

• BAFTA: Best Actress in a Supporting Role, “The Age of Innocence,” 1994

• Sony Radio: Best Actress On Radio, “The Queen and I,” 1993

• LA Critics Circle: Best Supporting Actress, “Little Dorrit” (shared with Geneviève Bujold), 1989