On this date in 1956, actress Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton was born in London to working-class Irish immigrants and the only child of Bridie (née McNicholas), a hairdresser, and Joseph Staunton, a construction laborer. Her mother was musically talented and played the fiddle and accordion, all by ear and without being able to read music.
Her parents enrolled her in La Sainte Union Catholic School, founded by an order of nuns for girls aged 11–16, where a teacher inspired Staunton to apply for drama school. From there she worked as a “jobbing actress” for several years in regional repertory that gave her a good theatrical grounding. She met her future husband Jim Carter during a 1982 production of “Guys and Dolls” at the National Theatre. They wed the next year and their only child, Bessie Beatrice Carter, was born in 1993 and became an accomplished actress.
Staunton says she has had “a problem with religion per se” since rejecting Catholicism at about age 14. (The Times of London, June 21, 2008)
Her film debut was in the British historical drama “Comrades” (1986), and she continued to have steady work on stage and television in addition to film roles throughout the next decade and beyond, including “Much Ado About Nothing” (1993), “Sense and Sensibility” (1995) and “Shakespeare in Love” (1998).
Her breakout role was in “Vera Drake” (2004), in which she played Drake, a working-class Brtish woman who performs illegal abortions in the 1950s as acts of charity for no fee. Her performance brought her Best Actress honors at the European Film Awards, the BAFTAs, and the Venice Film Festival and nominations for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award.
Staunton portrayed Dolores Umbridge in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (2007), for which she received widespread acclaim, and reprised the role in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1” in 2010. She appeared with Carter in “Downton Abbey” films in 2019 and 2022.
As of this writing in 2025, the diminutive actress (5 feet tall) has 117 acting credits and 75 award nominations. She portrayed Queen Elizabeth II on all six seasons of the Netflix series “The Crown” and garnered Golden Globe and Prime Time Emmy nominations. She played Dolly Gallagher Levi in a revival of the musical “Hello, Dolly!” In 2024 at the London Palladium.
For her services to drama and charitable endeavors, she has been appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The Dame honorific for women equates to Sir for men.
PHOTO: Staunton in 2019; Lega Nerd photo under CC 3.0.
