Maxine Peake

Personal Info

Birthday

July 14, 1974

(51 years old)

Place of Birth

Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, UK

Maxine Peake

Biography

Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English stage, radio, film and television actress, playwright, producer, director and political activist, who made her name as Twinkle in Victoria Wood's sitcom Dinnerladies. She has since played Veronica in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless, barrister Martha Costello in the BBC legal drama Silk and Grace Middleton in The Village. She is also an accomplished stage actress, having played the title role in Hamlet, and had a role in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything. In 2018 she played the lead in the film Funny Cow and had a starring role in Mike Leigh's epic Peterloo, a film very close to her heart.

Known For

Black Mirror

Shameless

Star Wars: Visions

Inside No. 9

I Swear

Jonathan Creek

Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980

The Theory of Everything

Filmography

2026
Becoming Victoria Wood
as Self
2025
Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough
as Narrator
I Swear
as Dottie Achenbach
Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry?
as Self
Words of War
as Anna Politkovskaya
2024
Art Matters
as Self
Woken
as Helen
2023
Tish
as Tish Murtha (voice)
Dance First
as Barbara
Choked Up
as Fiona Lacey
2022
Wendell & Wild
as Irmgard Klaxon (voice)
Inner Polar Bear
as Narrator (voice)
Lapushka!
as Scoot Piccolo
The Real Anne: Unfinished Business
as Self- Presenter
2020
Surfaces
as Alix
The Great Mountain Sheep Gather
as Self - Narrator
It's Me
as Miriam
2019
Fanny Lye Deliver'd
as Fanny Lye
Judy
as Judy
2018
Peterloo
as Nellie
The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca
as Herself
Gwen
as Elen
Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels
as Friedrich Engels (voice)
Funny Cow
as Funny Cow
Wonders of the Moon
as Narrator (voice)
2017
Men Who Sleep in Cars
as Sarah
Unseen
as Emma
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle
as Narrator
Bunch of Kunst - A Film About Sleaford Mods
as Self (archive footage)
2016
Generation '66
as Narrator
A Midsummer Night's Dream
as Titania
Red Top
as Rebekah Brooks
I Wish For You
as Grown Up Mia
2015
The Falling
as Eileen Lamont
Hamlet
as Hamlet
Strange Weather
as Jane
The Shuttleworths
as Helen Bach
2014
The Theory of Everything
as Elaine Mason
Keeping Rosy
as Charlotte
Run & Jump
as Vanetia
2013
Keeping Up with the Joneses
as Celia
Svengali
as Angie
The Heart Fails Without Warning
as Mother
2012
Private Peaceful
as Hazel Peaceful
Best Laid Plans
as Isabel
2011
DeafBlind
as Maggie
2010
Edge
as Elly
Imaginary Friend
as Pauline
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
as Anne Lister
2009
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980
as Helen Marshall
2008
Clubbed
as Angela
Hancock & Joan
as Joan Le Mesurier
Bike Squad
as WPC Kate McFay
2007
Would Like To Meet
as George's Mum
I Am Bob
as Marilyn Monroe Lookalike/Compere's Assistant
Confessions of a Diary Secretary
as Tracey Temple
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
as Self
2005
Frozen
as Ticket Attendant
Faith
as Linda
2004
Christmas Lights
as Pauline
2002
All or Nothing
as Party girl
Hamilton Mattress
as Lulu (voice)
2000
Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings
as Self
1998
Girls' Night
as Sharon