Maxine Peake
July 14, 1974 (52 years old) in Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, UK
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
Credits
- 2026 · Last Seen as Jenna Reid
- 2026 · Bait as Helen
- 2025 · I Swear as Dottie
- 2025 · Words of War as Anna Politkovskaya
- 2024 · Say Nothing as Older Dolours Price
- 2023 · Dance First as Barbara
- 2022 · Wendell & Wild as Irmgard Klaxon (voice)
- 2022 · Art That Made Us as Self - Actrice (Rules of the Game, Anne)
- 2022 · Rules of the Game as Sam Thompson
- 2022 · Anne as Anne Williams
- 2021 · Star Wars: Visions as Kalina Kalfus (voice)
- 2020 · Mandy as Susan Blower
- 2020 · Alan Bennett's Talking Heads as Miss Fozzard
- 2019 · Fanny Lye Deliver'd as Fanny Lye
- 2018 · Peterloo as Nellie
- 2018 · The Bisexual as Sadie
- 2018 · Funny Cow as Funny Cow
- 2018 · Dinnerladies Diaries as Self
- 2018 · The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer as Self - Guest
- 2017 · Three Girls as Sara Rowbotham
- 2017 · We Have Been Watching as Self
- 2016 · Red Top as Rebekah Brooks
- 2015 · The Falling as Eileen Lamont
- 2015 · Artsnight as Self - Presenter
- 2015 · Strange Weather as Jane
- 2014 · The Theory of Everything as Elaine Mason
- 2014 · Inside No. 9 as Nadia
- 2014 · Run & Jump as Vanetia
- 2013 · The Village as Grace Middleton
- 2012 · Private Peaceful as Hazel Peaceful
- 2012 · Room at the Top as Alice Aisgill
- 2012 · The Hollow Crown as Doll Tearsheet
- 2012 · Best Laid Plans as Isabel
- 2011 · Black Mirror as Bella
- 2011 · Silk as Martha Costello QC
- 2009 · Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980 as Helen Marshall
- 2009 · Red Riding as
- 2008 · The Devil's Whore as Elizabeth Lilburne
- 2008 · Little Dorrit as Miss Wade
- 2008 · Criminal Justice as Juliet Miller
- 2008 · Fairy Tales as Cindy Mellor
- 2007 · The Alan Titchmarsh Show as Self
- 2007 · The Graham Norton Show as Self
- 2006 · The One Show as Self - Guest
- 2006 · The Street as
- 2005 · Faith as Linda
- 2004 · Shameless as Veronica Fisher
- 2003 · Comedy Connections as
- 2003 · Early Doors as Janice
- 2002 · All or Nothing as Party girl
- 2002 · Timeshift as Self - Narrator
- 2001 · Linda Green as Receptionist
- 2001 · Messiah as DS Vickie Clarke
- 2000 · Clocking Off as Marie Leach
- 1999 · Sunburn as Sue
- 1998 · dinnerladies as Twinkle
- 1998 · Girls' Night as Sharon
- 1997 · Jonathan Creek as Marion Cretiss
- 1996 · Dalziel and Pascoe as Dr Allison Laurie
- 1996 · Hetty Wainthropp Investigates as Photocopy Assistant
- 1987 · ChuckleVision as
- Future · First Day on Earth as Helen
- 2026 · Becoming Victoria Wood as Self
- 2025 · Laundreams as
- 2025 · The Occupant of the Room as The Englishwoman (voice)
- 2025 · Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough as Narrator
- 2025 · Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry? as Self
- 2024 · The Haunted Season as The Englishwoman (voice)
- 2024 · Art Matters as Self
- 2024 · Woken as Helen
- 2024 · Secret Life of the Safari Park as Narrator
- 2023 · Tish as Tish Murtha (voice)
- 2023 · Choked Up as Fiona Lacey
- 2022 · Inner Polar Bear as Narrator (voice)
- 2022 · Lapushka! as Scoot Piccolo
- 2022 · Something Out of Nothing as
- 2022 · The Real Anne: Unfinished Business as Self- Presenter
- 2021 · Where We Used to Meet as
- 2020 · Surfaces as Alix
- 2020 · The Great Mountain Sheep Gather as Self - Narrator
- 2020 · It's Me as Miriam
- 2019 · Be Still My Beating Heart as
- 2019 · Judy as Judy
- 2018 · The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca as Self
- 2018 · Gwen as Elen
- 2018 · Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels as Friedrich Engels (voice)
- 2018 · Wonders of the Moon as Narrator (voice)
- 2017 · The Priest as
- 2017 · Men Who Sleep in Cars as Sarah
- 2017 · Cake as
- 2017 · Unseen as Emma
- 2017 · Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle as Narrator
- 2017 · Bunch of Kunst - A Film About Sleaford Mods as Self (archive footage)
- 2016 · Generation '66 as Narrator
- 2016 · A Midsummer Night's Dream as Titania
- 2016 · I Wish For You as Grown Up Mia
- 2015 · Hamlet as Hamlet
- 2015 · The Shuttleworths as Helen Bach
- 2014 · Keeping Rosy as Charlotte
- 2013 · Keeping Up with the Joneses as Celia
- 2013 · Svengali as Angie
- 2013 · The Heart Fails Without Warning as Mother
- 2011 · DeafBlind as Maggie
- 2010 · Edge as Elly
- 2010 · Imaginary Friend as Pauline
- 2010 · The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister as Anne Lister
- 2008 · Clubbed as Angela
- 2008 · Hancock & Joan as Joan Le Mesurier
- 2008 · Bike Squad as WPC Kate McFay
- 2007 · Would Like To Meet as George's Mum
- 2007 · I Am Bob as Marilyn Monroe Lookalike/Compere's Assistant
- 2007 · Confessions of a Diary Secretary as Tracey Temple
- 2007 · The 50 Greatest Television Dramas as Self
- 2006 · See No Evil: The Moors Murders as Myra Hindley
- 2006 · The Fear of Trilogy as
- 2006 · The Madness of the Dance as
- 2005 · Frozen as Ticket Attendant
- 2004 · Christmas Lights as Pauline
- 2002 · Hamilton Mattress as Lulu (voice)
- 2000 · Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings as Self
- Future · The Bright Side Running Club as