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.
Movie Appearances
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
as Self
2007
Girls' Night
as Sharon
1998
Where We Used to Meet
2021
Dance First
as Barbara
2023
Words of War
as Anna Politkovskaya
2025
Clubbed
as Angela
2008
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
as Anne Lister
2010
The Real Anne: Unfinished Business
as Self- Presenter
2022
I Am Bob
as Marilyn Monroe Lookalike/Compere's Assistant
2007
Christmas Lights
as Pauline
2004
Tish
as Tish Murtha (voice)
2023
Wendell & Wild
as Irmgard Klaxon (voice)
2022
Edge
as Elly
2010
Woken
as Helen
2024
Svengali
as Angie
2013
Run & Jump
as Vanetia
2014
Hancock & Joan
as Joan Le Mesurier
2008
The Theory of Everything
as Elaine Mason
2014
Confessions of a Diary Secretary
as Tracey Temple
2007
Keeping Rosy
as Charlotte
2014
TV Appearances
dinnerladies
as Twinkle
1998
Early Doors
as Janice
2003
ChuckleVision
1987
Jonathan Creek
as Marion Cretiss
1997
Comedy Connections
2003
Dalziel & Pascoe
1996
We Have Been Watching
as Self
2017
Criminal Justice
as Juliet Miller
2008
Little Dorrit
as Miss Wade
2008
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
as Self
2007
The Street
2006
Star Wars: Visions
as Kalina Kalfus (voice)
2021