Everything about Julie Walters totally explained
Julie Walters,
CBE (born
22 February 1950) is an
Academy Award-nominated,
Golden Globe- and
BAFTA-award winning
English actress and
novelist.
Early life
Walters was born as
Julia Mary Walters in
Smethwick,
West Midlands, the daughter of Mary Bridget (
née O'Brien), a postal clerk of
Irish Catholic extraction, and Thomas Walters, a builder and decorator. Walters attended Holly Lodge Grammar School, Smethwick and 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 [mymother] suggested that I try teaching or nursing [...] I'd been asked to leave school, so I thought I'd better do it."
Career
Walters first achieved fame as the occasional partner of comedienne
Victoria Wood, whom she'd met in
Manchester. The two first worked together in the 1978 theatre revue
In At The Death, followed by the television adaptation 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 later appeared in
the musical version, and received an
Olivier Award nomination for her efforts). 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'd 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. In Summer 2008 the movie version of
Mamma Mia! will hit the screens, with Walters in a prominent role. This will mark her second high profile musical, after .
Walters in soon to be shown playing Mary Whitehouse in the BBC Drama Filth. In adaptation of the real life story of Mrs Whitehouse who campaigned for "taste and decency on television". Julie commented saying
“I am very excited to be playing Mary Whitehouse, and to be looking at the time when she attacked the BBC and started to make her name.”
Personal life
Walters met her husband, Grant Roffey, an
AA patrol man, in a whirlwind romance. The couple have a daughter Maisie, but didn't marry until 1997, 11 years into their relationship, when they went to
New York. The couple live on an organic farm run by Roffey in
Sussex.
Filmography
Awards
1983: Academy Award (nominated)
1983: Golden Globes (Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy)
1983: BAFTA (Best Actress)
1999: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
2001: Laurence Olivier Award
2001: Academy Awards(nominated)
2001: Golden Globes (nominated)
2001: BAFTA (Best Actress)
2001: SAG Awards (nominated)
2008: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
Styles
Julie Walters (1950-1999)
Julie Walters OBE (1999-2008)
Julie Walters CBE (2008-)Further Information
Get more info on 'Julie Walters'.
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