Actor Samantha Morton is set for special recognition at the Baftas on Sunday (February 18) as the Academy has awarded her a Fellowship. Samantha, who is widely regarded as one of the standout actors of her generation, said “As a proud BAFTA member I am honoured, profoundly humbled and grateful to BAFTA for giving me this award".
Now 46, Samantha has racked up a career of massive blockbusters and quiet indie hits. Her intense blue gaze and ability to inhabit her roles mean she's been in Hollywood hits and remains known by cinema fans.
Born in Nottingham in 1977, Samantha was just 12, when she joined what was then the Central Junior Television Workshop. Within a couple of years, she was acting in theatre.
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Her stage début was at the Royal Court and roles in hit television shows followed. After moving to London at 16, she was in Cracker in 1994 alongside Robbie Coltrane; Kay Mellor's Band of Gold from 1995–96 and The History of Tom Jones in 1997 with Max Beesley.
She also starred as Harriet Smith alongside Kate Beckinsale's Emma in 1996 and took the lead role of the troubled Jane Eyre in 1997.
Samantha's breakout film role was 1997's Under the Skin. She appeared in sci-fi blockbuster Minority Report with Tom Cruise in 2002 and walls also in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in 2016.
She also appeared as Crumpsall child killer Myra Hindley in Longford, the 2006 Channel 4 drama, and in the US hit zombie show The Walking Dead in 2019. She has worked with filmmakers as renowned and varied as Darren Aronofsky, Jim Sheridan, Charlie Kaufman, Lynne Ramsay, David Cronenberg, Harmony Korine, Steven Spielberg, Michael Winterbottom and David Yates.
Samantha turned director for 2009's The Unloved 2009, commencing a role off-camera where, for three decades and counting, she has championed the portrayal of complex and often underrepresented stories.
Under the Skin saw her earn a BIFA nomination and the Boston Film Critics Award for Best Actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award first for Best Supporting Actress for Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown in 1999, and later for Best Actress for In America in 2003.
Now, she will be awarded the BAFTA Fellowship at the EE BAFTA Film Awards. It is the arts charity’s highest accolade bestowed by BAFTA in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film, games or television.
The BAFTA Fellowship will be presented as part of a special commemoration of Morton’s work to date during the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards ceremony on February 18 at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.
BAFTA Fellows previously honoured for their work in film include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee, Martin Scorsese, Alan Parker, Helen Mirren, Mike Leigh, Sidney Poitier, Mel Brooks, Sir Ridley Scott, Thelma Schoonmaker, Kathleen Kennedy and Ang Lee.
Taken into care at a young age, Samantha was mostly raised in the foster system. She has spoken in the past about abuse she suffered when she was younger and her time as a homeless teenager.
Speaking to The Big Issue, Samantha said: “At 16 I was living in a homeless hostel in Nottingham – it was called an independence unit but basically it was a dumping ground for kids who had to leave care."
Her experiences as a young person in the foster care system inspired Samantha to show her support for social causes around the issue. She protested against the threatened closure, by Nottingham City Council, of important social care facilities and has showed support for the Fostering Network's annual campaign Foster Care Fortnight.
In 2006, when she was only 30 years old, Samantha came "close to death" after suffering a debilitating stroke after being hit on the head by a piece of 17th-century plaster, damaging her vertebral artery. She was in hospital for three weeks and took an 18-month break from public life and acting so she could learn to walk again.
Recalling the incident in 2011, she told the Daily Record: "I think the word stroke frightens some people because they associate it with older people.
"It can happen to anybody, any time. I had to learn how to walk again, had to learn how to use my hands again. It was a huge thing.
"I can remember my lines, so I can act still. I'm very grateful."
Now 46, she has two children with Harry Holm the son of actor Ian Holm, who she got together with in 2005. She also has a daughter from a previous relationship, actor Esmé Creed-Miles, aged 24.
Samatha told the Guardian in 2009: "I think the best thing in my life is my ability to be in a stable relationship. For anybody who has been in care or moved around a lot, it's very tough to form strong, lasting relationships. And that's what I'm proudest of."
The Bafta Film Awards are on Sunday, February 18 on on BBC One and on BBC iPlayer