Sally Hawkins

27 Apr, 1976 | London, England

Actress

Biography

Sally Cecilia Hawkins is a British, Golden Globe-winning actress known for her performances as Susan in Vera Drake (2004), as Sue Trinder in the BBC\'s Fingersmith (2005) and for her Silver Bear and Golden Globe winning performance as Poppy in Happy-Go-Lucky (2008). Early life The daughter of well known authors and illustrators of children\'s books, Jacqui and Colin Hawkins, she was raised in Dulwich, south-east London where she attended James Allen\'s Girls\' School (JAGS), leaving in 1994. Hawkins then went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), graduating in 1998. Career Her theatre appearances include Much Ado About Nothing (2000), A Midsummer Night\'s Dream (2000), Misconceptions (2001), Country Music (2004) and as Adela in David Hare\'s version of Federico García Lorca\'s The House of Bernarda Alba in 2005. Hawkins made her first notable big screen performance as Samantha in another Mike Leigh film, All or Nothing in 2002. She also appeared as Slasher in the 2004 production of Layer Cake. Her first major television role came in 2005 when she played Susan Trinder in the BAFTA-nominated BBC drama Fingersmith, an adaptation of Sarah Waters\' novel of the same name; she co-starred with Imelda Staunton, as she had in Vera Drake. Since then she has gone on to star in another BBC adaptation, Patrick Hamilton\'s Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky. In 2006, Hawkins returned to the theatre, appearing at the Royal Court Theatre in Jez Butterworth\'s play The Winterling. Professing a love for comedy, Hawkins has appeared in three episodes of the hit BBC comedy series Little Britain. She has also contributed her writing skills and voice to the BBC Radio 4 series Concrete Cow. In 2008, she will work on the films The Roaring Girl (as Bernadette Devlin), Desert Flower, Happy Ever Afters and and ITV adaptation of A Passage To India.