Maxine Peake

ActorDirectorCrewProducerWriter Jul 14 (age 51) Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, UK 1987–2026 (39 year career)

6.5 avg rating

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 …

Known For

Film

The Theory of Everything

Elaine Mason

Film

I Swear

Dottie

Film

Wendell & Wild

Irmgard Klaxon (voice)

Film

Shameless

Veronica Fisher

Film

Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980

Helen Marshall

Film

All or Nothing

Party girl

Film

Peterloo

Nellie

Film

Little Dorrit

Miss Wade

Filmography

Acting (122)

Movies (73)

Becoming Victoria Wood

as Self

I Swear

as Dottie

Words of War

as Anna Politkovskaya

6.5

Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough

2025

as Narrator

7.0

The Occupant of the Room

2025

as The Englishwoman (voice)

Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry?

2025

as Self

Art Matters

as Self

Woken

as Helen

Choked Up

as Fiona Lacey

Tish

as Tish Murtha (voice)

9.0

Dance First

2023

as Barbara

6.9

Something Out of Nothing

2022

Wendell & Wild

2022

as Irmgard Klaxon (voice)

6.6

The Real Anne: Unfinished Business

2022

as Self- Presenter

Lapushka!

2022

as Scoot Piccolo

Inner Polar Bear

2022

as Narrator (voice)

Where We Used to Meet

2021

The Great Mountain Sheep Gather

2020

as Self - Narrator

Surfaces

2020

as Alix

It's Me

2020

as Miriam

Judy

2019

as Judy

Fanny Lye Deliver'd

2019

as Fanny Lye

6.4

Be Still My Beating Heart

2019

1.0

The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca

2018

as Herself

Funny Cow

as Funny Cow

Peterloo

as Nellie

Gwen

as Elen

Wonders of the Moon

as Narrator (voice)

Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels

2018

as Friedrich Engels (voice)

0.5

Bunch of Kunst - A Film About Sleaford Mods

2017

as Self (archive footage)

7.2

Unseen

2017

as Emma

Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle

as Narrator

Cake

Men Who Sleep in Cars

2017

as Sarah

The Priest

2017

Red Top

2016

as Rebekah Brooks

5.3

A Midsummer Night's Dream

as Titania

Generation '66

as Narrator

I Wish For You

as Grown Up Mia

Hamlet

2015

as Hamlet

8.2

Strange Weather

2015

as Jane

The Falling

2015

as Eileen Lamont

5.1

The Shuttleworths

2015

as Helen Bach

The Theory of Everything

as Elaine Mason

Run & Jump

as Vanetia

Keeping Rosy

as Charlotte

Svengali

as Angie

The Heart Fails Without Warning

2013

as Mother

Keeping Up with the Joneses

as Celia

Private Peaceful

as Hazel Peaceful

Best Laid Plans

as Isabel

DeafBlind

as Maggie

Imaginary Friend

2010

as Pauline

8.0

The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister

as Anne Lister

Edge

as Elly

Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980

as Helen Marshall

Clubbed

as Angela

Hancock & Joan

as Joan Le Mesurier

Bike Squad

as WPC Kate McFay

I Am Bob

2007

as Marilyn Monroe Lookalike/Compere's Assistant

7.5

The 50 Greatest Television Dramas

2007

as Self

Confessions of a Diary Secretary

2007

as Tracey Temple

Would Like To Meet

2007

as George's Mum

10.0

The Madness of the Dance

The Fear of Trilogy

Frozen

as Ticket Attendant

Faith

as Linda

Christmas Lights

as Pauline

All or Nothing

as Party girl

Hamilton Mattress

as Lulu (voice)

Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings

as Self

Girls' Night

as Sharon

Twisting My Melon

as Linda Ryder

Television (49)

Bait

2026

as Helen

4.3

Say Nothing

2024

as Older Dolours Price

7.4

Secret Life of the Safari Park

2024

as Narrator

The Haunted Season

2024

as The Englishwoman (voice)

Anne

as Anne Williams

Rules of the Game

as Sam Thompson

Art That Made Us

as Self - Actrice (Rules of the Game, Anne)

5.5

Star Wars: Visions

2021

as Kalina Kalfus (voice)

7.1

Mandy

2020

as Susan Blower

7.6

Alan Bennett's Talking Heads

2020

as Miss Fozzard

7.6

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer

as Self - Guest

The Bisexual

as Sadie

Dinnerladies Diaries

as Self

Three Girls

as Sara Rowbotham

We Have Been Watching

2017

as Self

Artsnight

2015

as Self - Presenter

Inside No. 9

as Nadia

The Village

as Grace Middleton

The Hollow Crown

as Doll Tearsheet

Room at the Top

as Alice Aisgill

Black Mirror

as Bella

Silk

as Martha Costello QC

Red Riding

Criminal Justice

as Juliet Miller

Little Dorrit

as Miss Wade

The Devil's Whore

as Elizabeth Lilburne

6.8

Fairy Tales

2008

as Cindy Mellor

The Graham Norton Show

2007

as Self

7.2

The Alan Titchmarsh Show

as Self

The One Show

as Self - Guest

The Street

Northern Lights

as Pauline

See No Evil: The Moors Murders

as Myra Hindley

Shameless

as Veronica Fisher

Shameless

as Veronica Fisher

Early Doors

as Janice

Comedy Connections

Timeshift

as Self - Narrator

Messiah

as DS Vickie Clarke

Linda Green

as Receptionist

Clocking Off

as Marie Leach

Sunburn

as Sue

dinnerladies

as Twinkle

Jonathan Creek

as Marion Cretiss

Dalziel & Pascoe

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates

1996

as Photocopy Assistant

7.3

ChuckleVision

1987

6.2

First Day on Earth

as Helen

The Dispatcher

Crew (6)

Movies (6)

Incompatible

2022

Director

Doughnut

2021

Thanks

7.2

The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca

2018

Director

The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca

2018

Producer

Funny Cow

2018

Executive Producer

6.3

The Priest

2017

Writer