Maxine Peake
Acting1974Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, UK
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.
Known For
Acting History
Future
2026
Becoming Victoria Wood
as Self
2025
Words of War
as Anna Politkovskaya
I Swear
as Dottie Achenbach
Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough
as Narrator
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer
TVas Self - Guest• 1 eps
2024
Art Matters
as Self
Woken
as Helen
Say Nothing
TVas Older Dolours Price• 9 eps
Secret Life of the Safari Park
TVas Narrator
2023
Dance First
as Barbara
Choked Up
as Fiona Lacey
Tish
as Tish Murtha (voice)
Star Wars: Visions
TVas Kalina Kalfus (voice)• 1 eps
2022
Wendell & Wild
as Irmgard Klaxon (voice)
Lapushka!
as Scoot Piccolo
The Real Anne: Unfinished Business
as Self- Presenter
Inner Polar Bear
as Narrator (voice)
The One Show
TVas Self - Guest• 1 eps
Anne
TVas Anne Williams
Rules of the Game
TVas Sam Thompson
Art That Made Us
TVas Self - Actrice (Rules of the Game, Anne)
Incompatible
Director
2021
2020
It's Me
as Miriam
Surfaces
as Alix
The Great Mountain Sheep Gather
as Self - Narrator
Inside No. 9
TVas Nadia• 1 eps
Mandy
TVas Susan Blower• 1 eps
Alan Bennett's Talking Heads
TVas Miss Fozzard
2019
2018
The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca
as Herself
Peterloo
as Nellie
Funny Cow
as Funny Cow
Gwen
as Elen
Wonders of the Moon
as Narrator (voice)
Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels
as Friedrich Engels (voice)
The Bisexual
TVas Sadie• 6 eps
Dinnerladies Diaries
TVas Self
Funny Cow
Executive Producer
2017
Bunch of Kunst - A Film About Sleaford Mods
as Self (archive footage)
Men Who Sleep in Cars
as Sarah
Unseen
as Emma
Black Mirror
TVas Bella• 1 eps
Three Girls
TVas Sara Rowbotham
We Have Been Watching
TVas Self
The Priest
Writer
2016
A Midsummer Night's Dream
as Titania
Red Top
as Rebekah Brooks
I Wish For You
as Grown Up Mia
Generation '66
as Narrator
The Graham Norton Show
TVas Self• 2 eps
2015
Hamlet
as Hamlet
The Falling
as Eileen Lamont
The Shuttleworths
as Helen Bach
Strange Weather
as Jane
Timeshift
TVas Self - Narrator• 1 eps
Artsnight
TVas Self - Presenter
2014
2013
Svengali
as Angie
Keeping Up with the Joneses
as Celia
The Heart Fails Without Warning
as Mother
The Village
TVas Grace Middleton• 12 eps
2012
Private Peaceful
as Hazel Peaceful
Best Laid Plans
as Isabel
The Hollow Crown
TVas Doll Tearsheet• 2 eps
Room at the Top
TVas Alice Aisgill
2010
2009
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980
as Helen Marshall
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
TVas Self• 1 eps
Criminal Justice
TVas Juliet Miller• 5 eps
2008
Clubbed
as Angela
Hancock & Joan
as Joan Le Mesurier
Bike Squad
as WPC Kate McFay
Little Dorrit
TVas Miss Wade• 14 eps
The Devil's Whore
TVas Elizabeth Lilburne• 4 eps
Fairy Tales
TVas Cindy Mellor
2007
I Am Bob
as Marilyn Monroe Lookalike/Compere's Assistant
Confessions of a Diary Secretary
as Tracey Temple
Would Like To Meet
as George's Mum
2006
See No Evil: The Moors Murders
TVas Myra Hindley• 2 eps
2004
Christmas Lights
as Pauline
Shameless
TVas Veronica Fisher• 26 eps
2003
Early Doors
TVas Janice• 6 eps
2002
2001
Linda Green
TVas Receptionist
2000
Clocking Off
TVas Marie Leach• 1 eps
1999
Sunburn
TVas Sue
Jonathan Creek
TVas Marion Cretiss• 1 eps
1998
Girls' Night
as Sharon
dinnerladies
TVas Twinkle• 16 eps
1996
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
TVas Photocopy Assistant• 1 eps