Sally Hawkins

Sally Cecilia Hawkins (born 27 April 1976) is an English actress who began her career on stage and then moved into film.

She has received several awards including a Golden Globe Award in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and two British Academy Film Awards.

After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she started her career as a stage actress in productions such as Romeo and Juliet (playing Juliet), Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Hawkins was born in Dulwich, London on 27 April 1976, the daughter of Jacqui Hawkins and Colin Hawkins, authors and illustrators of children's books.

Her parents both have Irish ancestry.

She has a brother, Finbar, a television and film producer with Aardman Animations, who also writes children's books.

Hawkins grew up in Blackheath in a National Trust-protected gingerbread house designed by Patrick Gwynne.

She developed an interest in acting at the age of three when she went to a circus show.

She intended to go into comedy but ended up doing theatre plays.

She attended James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich, and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1998.

Hawkins started her career primarily as a stage actress in such productions as Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Romeo and Juliet, The Cherry Orchard, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Misconceptions.

She also had small appearances on television series such as Casualty and Doctors.

In 1998 while still a student, she was cast as an extra in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

Her first major role was in Mike Leigh's All or Nothing in 2002.

On television, she appeared in the BBC adaptations of Tipping the Velvet (2002) as Zena Blake, and Fingersmith (2005) as Sue Trinder.

In 2002, she played Samantha in Mike Leigh's film All or Nothing.

Between 2003 and 2005 she appeared in four episodes of the BBC comedy series Little Britain.

She continued working with Leigh, appearing in a supporting role in Vera Drake (2004) and taking the lead in Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), for which she won several awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and the Silver Bear for Best Actress.

It was the first of three films Hawkins and Leigh worked on together, the second of which was the 2004 film Vera Drake.

She appeared as Slasher in the 2004 action film Layer Cake. Her first major television role came in 2005, when she played Susan Trinder in the BAFTA-nominated BBC drama Fingersmith, an adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel of the same name, in which she co-starred with Imelda Staunton.

She then starred in another BBC adaptation, Patrick Hamilton's Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky.

She acted in David Hare's adaptation of Federico García Lorca's play The House of Bernarda Alba in 2005, at Royal National Theatre.

She has also lent her voice to numerous radio series such as Concrete Cow, on which she also was a writer, Ed Reardon's Week, Think the Unthinkable, Cash Cows, War with the Newts and The Party Line.

In 2006, Hawkins returned to the stage, appearing at the Royal Court Theatre in Jez Butterworth's The Winterling.

During 2006 she also made uncredited appearances in Richard Ayoade's Man to Man with Dean Learner where she played various uncredited roles in various deleted scenes included on the series DVD.

She was later directed by Ayoade in two of his films, The Double and Submarine.

Hawkins appeared in two Woody Allen films, Cassandra's Dream (2007) and Blue Jasmine (2013); for the latter, she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She also appeared as Anne Elliot in Persuasion (2007), ITV's adaptation of Jane Austen's novel.

In 2007, she played Anne Elliot in the television film of Jane Austen's Persuasion.

Her performance was well received by critics and was awarded a Golden Nymph.

She also had a supporting role in the Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream, starring Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor.

In 2008, Hawkins had her breakthrough when reunited with Leigh for a third time in the 2008 comedy-drama film Happy-Go-Lucky, portraying Poppy Cross, a kindhearted primary school teacher.

Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, praising its humor and depth and Hawkins's acting, stating "[Sally Hawkins] is a joy to behold."

Peter Bradshaw wrote in The Guardian that "Sally Hawkins plays [Poppy] superbly", while Tom Long of The Detroit News dubbed her performance "Oscar-worthy".

Her performance received many accolades, including winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and Silver Bear for Best Actress.

She went on to play lead roles in Made in Dagenham (2010), Paddington (2014), Maudie (2016), and Paddington 2 (2017), and appeared in Godzilla (2014), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Wonka (2023).

She has also appeared in stage productions with the Royal Court Theatre in London, and in 2010 made her Broadway debut in Mrs. Warren's Profession.

Three films starring Hawkins, Made in Dagenham, Submarine and Never Let Me Go, all premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2012 she starred in Constellations at the Royal Court Theatre, which later moved to the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End.

For starring as Elisa Esposito, a mute cleaning woman in the fantasy film The Shape of Water (2017), she earned critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.