- Turned down a recurring role in Desperate Housewives (2004).
- Won the Olivier Award as Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in "Sweeney Todd" (2013).
- She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1991 (1990 season) for Best Actress in a Musical for "Into the Woods".
- She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2016 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to drama. She is an actress in London, England.
- Gave birth to her only child at age 37, a daughter, Bessie Carter, on October 25, 1993. Child's father is her husband, Jim Carter.
- She was nominated for a 1997 Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards for Best Actress in a Musical of the 1996 season for her performance in "Guys and Dolls".
- Appears with her husband Jim Carter in Cranford (2007).
- Met husband-to-be Jim Carter when they both appeared in the revival of the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls" at the National Theatre, London, in 1982.
- Has a beautiful singing voice, heard in the film Peter's Friends (1992).
- Her talent agent is the mother of Freddie Highmore.
- Became an Associate Member of RADA.
- Daughter of Joseph (1933-2010) and Bridie (née McNicholas) Staunton (1934-2004). Both were born and raised in County Mayo, Ireland and immigrated to London with their families after the Second World War.
- She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1986 (1985 season) for Best Performance in a Supporting a Role for "A Chorus of Disapproval" and "The Corn is Green".
- An only child, she attended La Sainte Union Convent, a convent school in the north of London.
- Graduated from RADA.
- Played an educational bureaucrat in two films in 2007: Freedom Writers (2007) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
- She was awarded the 1985 London Critics Circle Theatre Award (Drama Theatre Award) for Best Supporting Actress for her performances in A Chorus of Disapproval and The Corn is Green.
- She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2006 Queen's New Year Honours List for her services to drama.
- At 14, she played Polly Peachum in a school production of the musical "The Beggar's Opera".
- One of 112 invitees to join AMPAS in 2005.
- Has just begun filming her role as "Dolores Jane Umbridge" in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007). (February 2006)
- She won the "Coppa Volpi" award for her performance in Vera Drake (2004) at the 2004 Venice Film Festvial. The movie "Vera Drake" also won the "Gold Lion" award for the best movie at the same event.
- Offered a role in Bewitched (2005).
- February - May 2017: appearing as "Martha" in the West End revival of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" at the Harold Pinter Theatre, which also features Conleth Hill ("George"), Imogen Poots ("Honey") and Luke Treadaway ("Nick").
- She co stared with Bill Patterson and Iain Cuthbertson in an 18 minute short called The Pen which was screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1995.
- Born on exactly the same date as Kimberly Beck (of "Massacre @ Central High" fame).
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