Imelda Staunton is a British actress, perhaps best known for her role as Dolores Umbridge, the much hated professor in the fifth and seventh Harry Potter movies. She is a stage and screen actress, having worked for theatre, film, as well as television. She has even played the leading roles for several radio dramas and has narrated a few children`s audiobooks as well.
Staunton, the daughter of a hairdresser and a road worker, had always been interested in acting. As a child she starred in several school productions, even playing the role of Polly Peachum in The Beggar`s Opera. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Staunton worked in a repertory theatre for six years where she played the lead roles for several plays including George Bernard Shaw`s Saint Joan.
Her debut film was the 1986 film Comrades, and in 1993 she made her debut in television through the sitcom If You See God, Tell Him. Since then Staunton moved upwards in both fields. Vera Drake (2004), a feature film that told the story of a working class woman providing abortions in the 1950s, was one of her most successful films. It earned her a BAFTA award for Best Actress and a nomination for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, among several other nominations and accolades. She has won several Olivier Awards for her work in theatre as well. Some of her notable works include her roles in the musicals Sweeney Todd (2011-2012) and Gypsy (2014-2015), the feature films Nanny McPhee (2005) and Pride (2014), and the TV movie The Girl (2012). Her 2019 releases include Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Downton Abbey.