JULIE WALTERS
Name: Julia Mary Walters
Born: 22 February 1950 Smethwick, West Midlands, England
Julie Walters (born 22 February 1950) is an Academy Award nominated, Golden
Globe- and BAFTA-award winning English actress and novelist.
Born as Julia Mary Walters, the daughter of Mary Bridget O'Brien, a postal clerk
of Irish Catholic extraction, and Thomas Walters, a builder and decorator,
Walters originally trained as a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,
Birmingham, before studying English and Drama at Manchester Metropolitan
University and pursuing a performance career. In an interview with Alison Oddey,
Walters said about her early schooling: "I was never going to be academic, so [my
mother] suggested that I try teaching or nursing [...] I'd been asked to leave
school, so I thought I'd better do it."
Walters first achieved fame as the occasional partner of comedienne Victoria
Wood, whom she had met in Manchester. First working together in the 1978 theatre
revue In At The Death and then the TV version of Wood's play Talent. They went
on to appear in their own Granada Television series Wood and Walters in 1982.
They have continued to perform together frequently over the years. The Bafta
winning BBC follow up Victoria Wood As Seen On TV featured one of Walters' best-known
roles, Mrs Overall in Wood's spoof soap opera, Acorn Antiques. She also appeared
as Petula Gordino in Wood's sitcom dinnerladies.
Before making her London stage debut in Educating Rita, Walters had worked in
regional theatre (including the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool), stand-up comedy
and cabaret. Her first serious acting role on TV was in the classic Boys from
the Blackstuff in 1982, and she broke into films with her Academy Award
nominated, BAFTA Best Actress award-winning and Golden Globe Award Best Actress
- Motion Picture Musical/Comedy award- winning performance opposite Michael
Caine in Educating Rita (1983), a role she had created on the West End stage. In
1991 she starred opposite Liza Minnelli in "Stepping Out" and had a one off
television special "Julie Walters and Friends" which featured writing
contributions from Victoria Wood and Alan Bennett.
Walters has won numerous other acting awards, and was appointed Officer of the
Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1999 and Commander of the Order of the
British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours for her services to drama. In
2001, she won a Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Arthur Miller's
All My Sons. She received her second Oscar nomination and won a BAFTA for her
supporting role as the ballet teacher in Billy Elliot (2000). She often plays
older women, and, in 2002, she won the BAFTA Television Best Actress award for
her performance as Paul Reiser's mother in My Beautiful Son.
Walters also played Molly Weasley in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001),
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban (2004) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
In 2004 Walters starred as a widow determined to make some good come out of her
husband's death from cancer in Calendar Girls, which also starred Helen Mirren
and Ciarán Hinds; in 2005, Walters again starred as inspirational real-life
figure, Marie Stubbs, in the ITV1 drama Head of the Class.
In 2006, she came fourth in ITV's poll of the public's 50 Greatest Stars, coming
four placed above frequent co-star Victoria Wood. Also in 2006, she played the
main role in an ITV drama Driving Lessons alongside Rupert Grint (who played her
son Ron in the Harry Potter series), and later a leading role in the BBC's
adaptation of Phillip Pullman's novel The Ruby in the Smoke. In the summer of
2006, she published her first novel, Maggie's Tree. Walters starred in ASDA
Christmas 2007 TV advertising campaign. She also currently appears alongside
Patrick Stewart in UK Nintendo DS Brain Training television advertisements, and
in a recent Smoke Alarm Public Information Film.
Name: Julia Mary Walters
Born: 22 February 1950 Smethwick, West Midlands, England
Julie Walters (born 22 February 1950) is an Academy Award nominated, Golden
Globe- and BAFTA-award winning English actress and novelist.
Born as Julia Mary Walters, the daughter of Mary Bridget O'Brien, a postal clerk
of Irish Catholic extraction, and Thomas Walters, a builder and decorator,
Walters originally trained as a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital,
Birmingham, before studying English and Drama at Manchester Metropolitan
University and pursuing a performance career. In an interview with Alison Oddey,
Walters said about her early schooling: "I was never going to be academic, so [my
mother] suggested that I try teaching or nursing [...] I'd been asked to leave
school, so I thought I'd better do it."
Walters first achieved fame as the occasional partner of comedienne Victoria
Wood, whom she had met in Manchester. First working together in the 1978 theatre
revue In At The Death and then the TV version of Wood's play Talent. They went
on to appear in their own Granada Television series Wood and Walters in 1982.
They have continued to perform together frequently over the years. The Bafta
winning BBC follow up Victoria Wood As Seen On TV featured one of Walters' best-known
roles, Mrs Overall in Wood's spoof soap opera, Acorn Antiques. She also appeared
as Petula Gordino in Wood's sitcom dinnerladies.
Before making her London stage debut in Educating Rita, Walters had worked in
regional theatre (including the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool), stand-up comedy
and cabaret. Her first serious acting role on TV was in the classic Boys from
the Blackstuff in 1982, and she broke into films with her Academy Award
nominated, BAFTA Best Actress award-winning and Golden Globe Award Best Actress
- Motion Picture Musical/Comedy award- winning performance opposite Michael
Caine in Educating Rita (1983), a role she had created on the West End stage. In
1991 she starred opposite Liza Minnelli in "Stepping Out" and had a one off
television special "Julie Walters and Friends" which featured writing
contributions from Victoria Wood and Alan Bennett.
Walters has won numerous other acting awards, and was appointed Officer of the
Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1999 and Commander of the Order of the
British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours for her services to drama. In
2001, she won a Laurence Olivier Award for her performance in Arthur Miller's
All My Sons. She received her second Oscar nomination and won a BAFTA for her
supporting role as the ballet teacher in Billy Elliot (2000). She often plays
older women, and, in 2002, she won the BAFTA Television Best Actress award for
her performance as Paul Reiser's mother in My Beautiful Son.
Walters also played Molly Weasley in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001),
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban (2004) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
In 2004 Walters starred as a widow determined to make some good come out of her
husband's death from cancer in Calendar Girls, which also starred Helen Mirren
and Ciarán Hinds; in 2005, Walters again starred as inspirational real-life
figure, Marie Stubbs, in the ITV1 drama Head of the Class.
In 2006, she came fourth in ITV's poll of the public's 50 Greatest Stars, coming
four placed above frequent co-star Victoria Wood. Also in 2006, she played the
main role in an ITV drama Driving Lessons alongside Rupert Grint (who played her
son Ron in the Harry Potter series), and later a leading role in the BBC's
adaptation of Phillip Pullman's novel The Ruby in the Smoke. In the summer of
2006, she published her first novel, Maggie's Tree. Walters starred in ASDA
Christmas 2007 TV advertising campaign. She also currently appears alongside
Patrick Stewart in UK Nintendo DS Brain Training television advertisements, and
in a recent Smoke Alarm Public Information Film.