Biography
A member of director
Mike Leigh's hardworking repertory cast, British actress Lesley Manville started acting in U.K. television dramas during the early '80s. After her debut feature in 1985 for the crime drama
Dance With a Stranger, she found her place in comedy-dramas with
Clare Peploe's
High Season. The next year, she began her longtime collaboration with
Mike Leigh for the comedy
High Hopes, followed by
Secrets and Lies and
Topsy-Turvy. She married actor
Gary Oldman and had a son, but the couple divorced soon after they both appeared in the made-for-TV movie
The Firm in 1988. She continued to work in British miniseries, TV movies, and short films throughout the '90s, including an appearance as Mrs. Micawber in a TNT version of David Copperfield. Manville finally gained a lead role in Leigh's
All or Nothing in 2002, as Penny, a grocery store clerk married to taxi cab driver Phil (frequent Leigh leading man
Timothy Spall). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide