page_title: Brenda Blethyn
section_title: 2004–2007
hierarchical_section_title: Brenda Blethyn / Career / 2004–2007
caption_attribution_description: English: English actress Brenda Blethyn at 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
context_page_description: Brenda Anne Blethyn OBE is an English actress. She is known for her portrayals of working-class women with eccentric qualities. She is the recipient of several accolades, including one Golden Globe, one BAFTA, one Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and two Academy Award nominations.
  Blethyn pursued an administrative career before enrolling in the Guildford School of Acting in her late 20s. She subsequently joined the Royal National Theatre and gained attention for her performances in Troilus and Cressida, Mysteries, Steaming, and Benefactors, receiving an Olivier nomination for the latter.
  In 1980, Blethyn made her television debut in Mike Leigh's Grown-Ups. She later won leading roles on the short-run sitcoms Chance in a Million and The Labours of Erica. She made her big-screen debut with a small role in Nicolas Roeg's 1990 film adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches. She experienced a major career breakthrough with her leading role in Mike Leigh's 1996 drama Secrets & Lies, for which she received multiple awards, including Best Actress at Cannes, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award nomination.
context_section_description: Blethyn co-starred as Bobby Darin's mother Polly Cassotto in Beyond the Sea, a 2004 biographical film about the singer. The film was a financial disappointment: budgeted at an estimated US$25 million, it opened to little notice and grossed only $6 million in its North American theatrical run. Margaret Pomeranz of At the Movies said that her casting was "a bit mystifying". Afterwards, Blethyn starred in A Way of Life, playing a bossy and censorious mother-in-law of a struggling young woman, played by Stephanie James, and in the television film Belonging, starring as a middle-aged childless woman, who is left to look after the elderly relatives of her husband and to make a new life for herself, after he leaves her for a younger woman. Blethyn received a Golden FIPA Award and a BAFTA nomination for the latter role.
  In early 2005, Blethyn appeared in the indie-drama On a Clear Day alongside Peter Mullan. In the film, she played the character of Joan, a Glasgow housewife, who secretly enrolls in bus-driving classes after her husband's dismissal. Her performance in the film received positive reviews; ABC writer MaryAnn Johanson wrote: "It's Blethyn, who wraps the movie in a cosy, comfortable, maternal hug that reassures you that it will weather its risk-taking with aplomb [...]." The film became a minor success at the international box-office chart, barely grossing $1 million worldwide, but was awarded a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Film and Screenplay.
  A major hit for Blethyn came with Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice, a 2005 adaptation of the same-titled novel by Jane Austen. Starring alongside Keira Knightley and Donald Sutherland, Blethyn played Mrs. Bennet, a fluttery mother of five sisters who desperately schemes to marry her daughters off to men of means. During promotion of the film, she noted of her portrayal of the character: "I've always thought she had a real problem and shouldn't be made fun of. She's pushy with a reason. As soon as Mr. Bennet dies, all the money goes down the male line; she has to save her daughters from penury." With both a worldwide gross of over US$121 million and several Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, the film became a critical and commercial success, spawning Blethyn another BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
  In 2007, she appeared in the independent Australian coming-of-age comedy Clubland. Playing a character that was created specifically with her in mind, Blethyn portrayed a bawdy comedian with a sinking career faced with the romantic life of her young son, played by Khan Chittenden. The film was released in Australia in June 2007, and selected for screening at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival where it was picked up by Warner Independent Pictures for a $4 million deal and gained glowing reviews. Los Angeles Times film critic Carina Chocano wrote, "the movie belongs to Blethyn, who takes a difficult, easily misunderstood role and gracefully cracks it open to reveal what's inside." The following year, she was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award and an Inside Film Award for her performance.
  Also in 2007, Blethyn reunited with Joe Wright on Atonement, an adaptation from Ian McEwan's critically acclaimed novel of the same name. On her role of a housekeeper in a cast that also features Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan and James McAvoy, Blethyn commented: "It's a tiny, tiny part. If you blink you'll miss me." The film garnered generally positive reviews from film critics and received a Best Picture nomination at the 2008 Academy Awards. A box office success around the globe, it went on to gross a total of $129 million worldwide. Blethyn also appeared as Márja Dmitrijewna Achrosímowa in a supporting role in the internationally produced 2007 miniseries War and Peace by RAI, filmed in Russia and Lithuania.
caption: Blethyn at 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
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