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 · Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough as Narrator
- 2025 · I Swear as Dottie
- 2025 · Words of War as Anna Politkovskaya
- 2024 · The Haunted Season as The Englishwoman (voice)
- 2024 · Say Nothing as Older Dolours Price
- 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 · 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 · A Midsummer Night's Dream as Titania
- 2015 · The Falling as Eileen Lamont
- 2015 · Artsnight as Self - Presenter
- 2014 · The Theory of Everything as Elaine Mason
- 2014 · Inside No. 9 as Nadia
- 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
- 2011 · Black Mirror as Bella
- 2011 · Silk as Martha Costello QC
- 2010 · The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister as Anne Lister
- 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 · Clubbed as Angela
- 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
- 2007 · The 50 Greatest Television Dramas as Self
- 2006 · The One Show as Self - Guest
- 2006 · The Street as
- 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
- 2000 · At Home with the Braithwaites as Trixie Fletcher
- 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
- 1978 · The South Bank Show as
- Future · The Unheard as
- 2026 · Obsession: The Beryl Burton Story as Self
- 2026 · Crackula as
- 2026 · Becoming Victoria Wood as Self
- 2025 · Laundreams as
- 2025 · The Occupant of the Room as The Englishwoman (voice)
- 2025 · Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry? as Self
- 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 · Dance First as Barbara
- 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 · Funny Cow as Funny Cow
- 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 · Red Top as Rebekah Brooks
- 2016 · I Wish For You as Grown Up Mia
- 2015 · Hamlet as Hamlet
- 2015 · Strange Weather as Jane
- 2015 · The Shuttleworths as Helen Bach
- 2014 · Keeping Rosy as Charlotte
- 2014 · Run & Jump as Vanetia
- 2013 · Keeping Up with the Joneses as Celia
- 2013 · Svengali as Angie
- 2013 · The Heart Fails Without Warning as Mother
- 2012 · Best Laid Plans as Isabel
- 2010 · Edge as Elly
- 2010 · Imaginary Friend as Pauline
- 2007 · Confessions of a Diary Secretary as Tracey Temple
- 2005 · Frozen as Ticket Attendant
- Future · First Day on Earth as Helen
- 2011 · DeafBlind as Maggie
- 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
- 2006 · See No Evil: The Moors Murders as Myra Hindley
- 2006 · The Madness of the Dance as
- 2006 · The Fear of Trilogy as
- 2005 · Faith as Linda
- 2004 · Christmas Lights as Pauline
- 2000 · Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings as Self
- Future · The Bright Side Running Club as
- 2002 · Hamilton Mattress as Lulu (voice)