Pauline Melville was born in Guyana in 1948 of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry. She has worked as an actress, appearing in films such as Mona Lisa and British television programmes including the BBC Television comedy series 'The Young Ones', before turning her hand to writing in 1990. Her short stories and novels have been critically acclaimed, earning her numerous awards including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award, and the Guyana Prize for Literature

Filmography

• 2010Brighton Rock — Mother Superior
• 2004Bottom Mindless Violence — Mrs. Basterd (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2000The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Love's Sweet Song — Maisie Kemp
• 1993Home Away from Home — Neighbour
• 1993Shadowlands — Committee Chairwoman
• 1992Utz — Curator
• 2Point4 Children — Babs
• Spender — Judge
• 1991The House of Bernarda Alba — Prudencia
• 1989How to Get Ahead in Advertising — Sylvia Wallace
• Alexei Sayle's Stuff
• 1988Blackadder's Christmas Carol — Mrs Scratchit
• 1988Didn't You Kill My Brother? — Pauline Sneak, Writer
• Red Dwarf — Barmaid
• 1987Rat in the Skull — IRA Woman
• 1986Mona Lisa — George's Wife
• Girls On Top — Yvonne
• 1982Britannia Hospital — Clarissa
• 1982Scrubbers — Crow
• The Comic Strip Presents... — Pauline Sneak, Writer
• The Young Ones — Vyvyan's Mum, Woman on Bus
• Boom Boom... Out Go the Lights
• 1980The Long Good Friday — Dora
• 1967Far from the Madding Crowd — Mrs. Tall
• 1967Ulysses — Prostitute

Appearances as themselves (1)

• 2014Rik Mayall: Lord of Misrule — Self