Penelope Wilton

Biography:

English actress Dame Penelope Alice Wilton DBE was born on June 3, 1946. Wilton is well-known for playing Homily in The Borrowers (1992) and The Return of the Borrowers (1993), starring opposite Richard Briers in the BBC sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles (1984–1989), and portraying the widowed Isobel Crawley in the ITV drama Downton Abbey (2010–2015). She also portrayed Anne in Ricky Gervais’s dark comedy After Life on Netflix and Harriet Jones in Doctor Who (2005, 2008).

Wilton has a long theatrical career and has been nominated for six Olivier Awards. Before taking home the 2015 Olivier Award for Best Actress for Taken at Midnight, she received nominations for Man and Superman (1981), The Secret Rapture (1988), The Deep Blue Sea (1994), John Gabriel Borkman (2008), and The Chalk Garden (2009). Clockwise (1986), Cry Freedom (1987), Blame It on the Bellboy (1992), Calendar Girls (2003), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Match Point (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), The Girl (2012), The BFG (2016), and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023) are just a few of her roles.