SAMANTHA MORTON Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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SAMANTHA MORTON

Name: Samantha Morton                                                                 
Born: 13 May 1977 Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England                               
                                                                                     
Samantha Morton (born May 13, 1977) is an Academy Award-nominated English             
actress.                                                                             
                                                                                     
Morton was born in Nottingham, England, the daughter of Pamela, a factory worker,     
and Peter Morton. Her parents divorced in 1979. She attended West                     
Bridgford Comprehensive School and spent part of her childhood in care.               
                                                                                     
Morton has a daughter, Esme (born in 2000), with actor Charlie Creed-Miles.           
Morton is engaged to filmmaker Harry Holm, son of actor Ian Holm. At age 30, she     
gave birth to her second child. Daughter, Edie, was born January 4, 2008 in           
London weighing 7 lbs, 8 oz.                                                         
                                                                                     
Morton began her career as a child actor. At 13 she joined the Central Junior         
Television Workshop. At 16 she moved to London and appeared in plays at the           
Royal Court Theatre, also securing an early break as a guest star in an episode       
of Cracker. Although she applied to institutions such as RADA, she received no       
further formal training. She eventually starred in television productions             
like Jane Eyre and The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling.                             
                                                                                     
Starring roles in Band of Gold (1995), and the film Under the Skin in 1997,           
raised her profile in the UK. The latter impressed Woody Allen so much he cast       
her in his film Sweet and Lowdown for which she would receive a nomination for       
the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1999. In 2002 she won the           
British Independent Film Award for Best Actress for her work in Morvern Callar,       
followed by a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for In America       
in 2003.                                                                             
                                                                                     
Morton played the Moors Murderess Myra Hindley in a television film Longford (2006). 
Set between 1967 and 1997, the film depicts the relationship between the             
infamous child killer and Lord Longford, the politician who spent years               
campaigning for her release. Morton was severely criticised by the relatives of       
the children who were killed by Hindley and Ian Brady but she insisted, "It is       
my duty as a performer to raise issues...we're afraid to look at". Morton             
received a 2007 Emmy nomination and won a Golden Globe for her performance in         
the film, both for Best Supporting Actress.