Alison Steadman

Alison Steadman OBE
Steadman during a recording of You'll Have Had Your Tea for BBC Radio 4 in 2006
Born	(1946-08-26) 26 August 1946 (age 78) Liverpool, England
Alma mater	East 15 Acting School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1968–present
Spouse	Mike Leigh ​ ​ (m. 1973; div. 2001)​
Partner	Michael Elwyn
Children	2
Steadman's voice recorded 2012, as part of an audio description of the pelicans in St James's Park for VocalEyes

Alison Steadman OBE (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She received the 1977 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for Abigail's Party, the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film Life Is Sweet and the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Mari in the original production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. In a 2007 Channel 4 poll, the '50 Greatest Actors' voted for by other actors, she was ranked 42.^[1]

Steadman made her professional stage debut in 1968 and went on to establish her career in Mike Leigh's 1970s TV plays Nuts in May (1976) and Abigail's Party (1977).^[2] She received BAFTA TV Award nominations for the 1986 BBC serial The Singing Detective and in 2001 for the ITV drama series Fat Friends (2000–2005). Other television roles include Pride and Prejudice (1995), Gavin & Stacey (2007–2010, 2019, 2024) and Orphan Black (2015–2016). Her other film appearances include A Private Function (1984), Topsy-Turvy (1999), The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), Dad's Army (2016) and The King's Man (2021).