Miriam Margolyes (born May 18, 1941) is a British-Australian actress, writer, political activist and television personality, most prominent as a character actor on stage and screen. Her earliest roles were in theatre and, following a transition to film and television, she won a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Age of Innocence (1993).

Filmography

• 20261 in 2
• 2026Holy Days — Sister Luke
• 2025A Friend of Dorothy — Dorothy
• Badjelly — Badjelly (voice)
• 2025Ken Dodd: A Legacy of Happiness
• 2024The Real Ken Dodd: The Man I Loved — Narrator (voice)
• 2023Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary Specials — The Meep (voice) (archive footage)
• 2023Mog's Christmas — Aunt One (voice)
• 2023My Happy Ending — Judy
• 2023Next to You — Granny Vera
• Dog Squad — Sylvie (voice)
• 2021H Is for Happiness — Miss Bamford
• 2021Letters Live from the Archive: Freemasons’ Hall
• Queen Victoria: Love, Lust And Leadership — Narrator, Creator
• 2020Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears — Prudence Stanley
• 2020The Last Artifact — Narrator (UK version)
• 2020Wings — Audrey
• Apple & Onion — Queen Victoria Sponge (voice)
• 2018Early Man — Queen Oofeefa (voice)
• 2018Postcards from the 48%
• Bucket — Mim
• 2017Peter and the Wolf — Narrator
• 2017The Little Vampire 3D — Wulftrud (voice)
• 2017The Man Who Invented Christmas — Mrs. Fisk
• 2015Mother — Maria Aponte
• 2015Spirit-ED — Headmistress - Ms Ursula Gressup
• 2015The Importance of Being Miriam
• 2014Honeysuckle — Patricia
• 2014Maya the Bee Movie — Queen (voice)
• 2014Outlier — Odamee Marshall
• 2014The Legend of Longwood — Lady Thyrza
• 2014The Seventeenth Kind — Mrs. Mark
• Plebs — Iona
• 2012A Closed Book — Mrs. Kilbride
• Call the Midwife — Mother Mildred
• Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries — Aunt Prudence
• 2012Sir Billi — Baroness Chantal McToff (voice)
• 2012The Cow That Almost Missed Christmas — Mme Daniels / Mme Rat / Judith (voice)
• 2012The Guilt Trip — Anita
• 2012The Wedding Video — Patricia
• 2011Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 — Pomona Sprout
• 2011The Itch of the Golden Nit — Mummy Socks (voice)
• Trollied
• 2010Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole — Mrs. Plithiver (voice)
• Los cuentos de Tinga Tinga
• The Project
• 2008How to Lose Friends & Alienate People — Mrs. Kowalski
• Merlin — Grunhilda
• 2007Flames of Passion: The Other Side of British Cinema — Narrator
• Kingdom — Henny Leach
• 2007The 50 Greatest Television Dramas — Narrator (voice)
• 2007The Dukes — Aunt Vee
• The Sarah Jane Adventures — Leaf Blathereen (voice)
• 2007What the Pythons Did Next... — Narrator
• 2006Flushed Away — Rita's Grandma (voice)
• 2006Happy Feet — Mrs. Astrakhan (voice)
• Jam and Jerusalem — Joyce Midge, Mrs. Joyce Midge
• American Dad! — Margaret Hilda Thatcher (voice)
• Dickens in America — Host
• Inconceivable — Malva
• 2005Wallis & Edward — Aunt Bessie
• Agatha Christie's Marple — Mrs. Price-Ridley
• 2004Being Julia — Dolly de Vries
• 2004Chasing Liberty — Maria
• 2004Ladies in Lavender — Dorcas
• 2004Modigliani — Gertrude Stein
• 2004The Life and Death of Peter Sellers — Peg Sellers
• 2004The Phoenix and the Carpet — Cook
• 2002Alone — Caseworker
• Dickens — Catherine Dickens
• 2002Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — Pomona Sprout
• 2002Undertaking Betty — Thelma & Selma
• 2001Cats & Dogs — Sophie the Castle Maid
• 2001In Search of Peace — Ester Cailingold (voice)
• 2001Not Afraid, Not Afraid
• 2000House! — Auntie Beth
• 1999Dreaming of Joseph Lees — Signora Caldoni
• 1999End of Days — Mabel
• Family Guy — Right Eyeball (voice)
• 1999Magnolia — Faye Barringer (uncredited)
• 1999Sunshine — Rose Sonnenschein
• 1998Babe: Pig in the City — Fly (voice)
• 1998Left Luggage — Mrs. Goldman
• 1998Mulan — The Matchmaker (voice)
• Supply and Demand — CS Edna Colley
• 1998The First Snow of Winter — Sean McDuck (voice)
• Vanity Fair — Miss Crawley
• Dharma & Greg — Chloe
• 1997The IMAX Nutcracker — Sugar Plum
• 1997The Long Way Home — (voice)
• The Phoenix and the Carpet — Cook
• 1996Different for Girls — Pamela
• 1996James and the Giant Peach — Aunt Sponge / Glowworm (voice)
• 1996Romeo + Juliet — Nurse
• 1995Babe — Fly (voice)
• 1995Balto — Grandma Rosy
• 1995Cold Comfort Farm — Mrs. Beetle
• 1994Immortal Beloved — Nanette Streicherová
• 1994Liberation — Narrator (voice)
• Moonacre — Old Elspeth
• 1993Demonella — Mother
• 1993Ed and His Dead Mother — Mabel Chilton
• Magic Grandad — Grandma
• 1993The Age of Innocence — Mrs. Catherine Mingott
• 1993The Thief and the Cobbler — Maiden from Mombassa (voice)
• 1992As You Like It — Audrey
• Frannie's Turn — Frannie Escobar
• 1992Stalin — Krupskaya
• 1991Dead Again — Mrs. Tupper (uncredited)
• 1991Echoes That Remain — Narrator (voice)
• Rugrats — Shirley Finster (voice)
• 1991The Butcher's Wife — Gina
• Tonight at 8.30 — Mrs. Wadhurst, Nanny
• 1990I Love You to Death — Joey's Mother
• 1990Old Flames — Nellie
• 1990Orpheus Descending — Vee Talbot
• 1990Pacific Heights — Realtor
• 1990The Fool — Mrs. Bowring
• 1990The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship — Mother / Mrs. Woodcutter
• 1989Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story — Mrs. Rajzman
• Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story — Elsa Maxwell
• 1989Unexplained Laughter — Laughter (voice)
• 1988Blackadder's Christmas Carol — Queen Victoria
• The Play on One — Laughter (voice)
• A Little Princess — Miss Amelia Minchin
• Big Muzzy — The Queen (voice)
• 1987Body Contact — Tony's Mother
• 1987Little Dorrit — Flora Finching
• Fifties Features - The Women behind the Pictures
• 1986Little Shop of Horrors — Dental Nurse
• 1986Scotch & Wry
• The Life and Loves of a She-Devil — Nurse Hopkins
• 1986The Secret Diaries of the Film Censors — Miss N. Shortt
• 1985Morons from Outer Space — Doctor Wallace
• Oliver Twist — Mrs Bumble, Mrs Corney
• Screen Two — Nellie
• 1985The Good Father — Jane Powell
• 1984Electric Dreams — Ticket Girl
• Freud — Baroness von Lieben
• Blackadder — Lady Whiteadder, Infanta Maria Escalosa of Spain
• 1983Frida Kahlo & Tina Modotti — Narrator (voice)
• 1983Yentl — Sarah
• 1982Crystal Gazing — Newsreader
• 1982Scrubbers — Jones
• A Kick Up the Eighties
• 1981Reds — Woman with Notebook (uncredited)
• Take a Letter, Mr Jones — Maria
• The History Man — Melissa Tordoroff
• 1980The Apple — Landlady
• 1980The Awakening — Dr. Kadira
• Tales of the Unexpected — Mary Burge
• Monkey — Narator, Demon (voice)
• 1978On a Paving Stone Mounted
• Childhood — Mademoiselle
• 1977Confessions from a Holiday Camp — Blackbird (voice) (uncredited)
• 1977Stand up, Virgin Soldiers — Elephant Ethel
• 1977The Thin End of the Wedge — Veronica
• Kizzy — Mrs Doe
• Plays for Britain — Miriam / Miss Babberton
• 1976The Battle of Billy's Pond — Tour Guide
• 1976The Lifeswappers — Miriam/Miss Babberton
• Angels
• 1975Naughty Girls — Voice
• 1975Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• The Girls of Slender Means — Jane Wright
• Fall of Eagles — Anna Vyrubova
• Ken Dodd's World of Laughter
• 1974On the Game — Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
• Play for Today — Veronica
• 1969A Nice Girl Like Me — Pensione
• 1969The Ha-Ha — Kathie
• At the Eleventh Hour
• Boy Meets Girl — Maria
• ITV Playhouse — Kathie
• Omnibus
• Thirty-Minute Theatre — Voice
• Theatre 625 — Rita
• Angels in the Asylum
• Heart of Darkness — The Aunt

Appearances as themselves (42)

• 2026Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me — Self
• Miriam Margolyes Made Me Me — Self
• 2026They Call Us The Wrong Kind of Jew — Self
• Miriam Margolyes Discovers New Zealand — Self - Presenter
• 2024Alec Guinness: A Class Act — self
• Miriam Margolyes Impossibly Australian — Self
• 2023Blackadder: A Cunning Story — Self - Narrator (voice)
• Irish Road Trip with Miriam Margolyes — Self
• Lady Gregory: Ireland's First Social Influencer — Self
• 2022David Baddiel: Jews Don't Count — Self
• 2022Judi Dench: Our National Treasure — Self
• Miriam Margolyes: Australia Unmasked — Self - Host
• 2022Miriam's Dickensian Christmas — Self
• Remembers… — Self
• 2022The Fringe, Fame and Me — Self
• 2022The Marvellous Maggie Smith: A Celebration — Self
• 2022imagine... Miriam Margolyes: Up for Grabs — Self
• Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland — Self
• Miriam Margolyes: Almost Australian — Self - Host
• Miriam's Big Fat Adventure — Self - Presenter
• Comedy National Treasures: Stanley Baxter — Herself
• Let's Talk About Sex — Self
• Miriam's Dead Good Adventure — Herself - Presenter
• Miriam’s Big American Adventure — Herself
• 2017Harry Potter: A History Of Magic — Herself
• Tate Britain's Great Art Walks — Self
• John Bishop: In Conversation with... — Self
• 2016Roald Dahl's Most Marvellous Book — Self
• The Real Marigold Hotel — Self
• The Real Marigold on Tour — Self - Host
• The Weekly with Charlie Pickering — Self
• Late Night with Seth Meyers — Self
• The Last Leg — Self
• 2011When Harry Left Hogwarts — Self
• 2008Blackadder's Most Cunning Moments — Self
• Q&A — Self - Panellist
• 2008We Are Most Amused — Self
• The Graham Norton Show — Self
• Terry Wogan's Friday Night — Self
• Wogan — Self
• An Audience with... — Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self