Samantha Morton

Emma was a film adaptation of the novel of the same name published in 1815 about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance.

Impressed by her performance in Under the Skin, Woody Allen cast her in Sweet and Lowdown, a romantic comedy about a fictional jazz guitarist in the 1930s (played by Sean Penn) who regards himself as the second greatest guitarist in the world.

Morton played Hattie, a mute laundress and the love interest of Penn's character.

Samantha Jane Morton (born 1977) is an English actress and director.

She is known for her work in independent film with dark and tragic themes, in particular period dramas and is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the BAFTA Fellowship, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

She has six half-siblings from her parents' relationships subsequent to their 1979 divorce.

She lived with her father until she was eight, when she was made a ward of court because neither of her parents could care for her and her siblings.

Her father was an abusive alcoholic, and her mother was involved in a violent relationship with her second husband; as a result, she never lived with her parents again.

The next nine years were spent in and out of foster care and children's homes.

During that time, she attended West Bridgford Comprehensive School and joined the Central Junior Television Workshop when she was 13, soon being offered small-screen roles in Soldier Soldier and Boon.

Under the effects of drugs, she threatened an older girl who had been bullying her.

She was convicted of making threats to kill and served 18 weeks in an attendance centre.

After joining Central Junior Television Workshop at the age of 13, she was soon being offered small-screen roles such as Clare Anderson in the first series of Lucy Gannon's Soldier Soldier and also Mandy, in an episode of Boon —both were ITV Central productions.

Moving to London at sixteen, Morton applied to numerous drama schools, including RADA, without success.

The movie garnered favorable reviews from writers, with The Guardian placing it at number 15 on its list of the Best British Films 1984–2009.

Janet Maslin for The New York Times remarked that Morton "embodies the role with furious intensity and with a raw yet waifish presence" and James Berardinelli wrote that the actress "forces us to accept Iris as a living, breathing individual".

Morton was a member of the Central Junior Television Workshop in her native Nottingham and began her career in British television in 1991.

In 1991, she attended Clarendon College of Performing Arts to gain a BTEC award but subsequently left for personal reasons.

She made her stage début at the Royal Court Theatre, and continued her television career with appearances in Peak Practice and in an episode of Cracker.

She appeared in the ITV series Band of Gold (1995–1996) and the BBC miniseries The History of Tom Jones: a Foundling (1997).

At the time, she had a regular role in the first two series of Kay Mellor's successful Band of Gold (1995–96).

Further television roles followed, including parts in period dramas such as Emma and Jane Eyre.

Morton's early film roles include Emma (1996), Jane Eyre (1997), and Under the Skin (1997).

The movie received largely positive reviews from critics and was broadcast in late 1996 on ITV, garnering an estimated 12 million viewers.

In Jane Eyre, Morton starred as a Yorkshire orphan who becomes a governess to a young French girl and finds love with the brooding lord of the manor.

Like her previous small-screen projects, the 1997 film originally aired on ITV.

She took on the leading role in the independent drama Under the Skin (1997), directed by Carine Adler, where she played Iris, a woman coping with the death of her mother.

She won the Best Actress accolade at the 1998 Boston Society of Film Critics Awards and was nominated for the BIFA Award for Best Female Performance in a British Independent Film.

She received two Academy Award nominations, one for Best Supporting Actress for Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999), and the other for Best Actress for Jim Sheridan's In America (2003).

The film was released in September 1999, to wide critical acclaim and moderate success at the box office in the arthouse circuit.

George Perry for BBC.com found her to be "extraordinary" as an "adoring mute who suffers [...] She uses her eyes to convey meaning, reviving techniques of silent cinema".

Morton earned Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress for her role, which was especially notable, considering the fact that she does not utter a single word of dialogue in the film.

Other notable film credits include Morvern Callar (2002), Minority Report (2002), The Libertine (2004), Control (2007), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Synecdoche, New York (2008), The Messenger (2009), John Carter (2012), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), and The Whale (2022).

For her portrayal of Myra Hindley in the HBO film Longford (2006) she received Primetime Emmy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award nominations.

During a 2007 interview with UK's The Guardian, she remarked that her Oscar nomination meant "incredible things for me in the [United States]. I'm grateful for that. It means that [...] I'm able to support the industry".

Morton would next star in the small scale drama Jesus' Son, which found a limited release, and praise from critics.

Morton made her directorial debut with the television film The Unloved (2009), which won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Single Drama.

She has starred in various programs, such as The Last Panthers (2015), Rillington Place (2016), Harlots (2017–2019), The Walking Dead (2019–2020), and The Serpent Queen (2022–present).

Morton was born in Nottingham, the third child of Pamela (née Mallek), a factory worker, and Peter Morton.

She is of Polish/Irish descent.