Background

She was born Julia Mary Walters on February 22, 1950, in Smethwick, West Midlands, England, the youngest of three children and only daughter of Mary Bridget (O'Brien), an Irish-born postal clerk from County Mayo, and Thomas Walters, an English-born builder, from Birmingham. Julie's birth was complicated, the umbilical cord was wrapped round her neck and a priest was actually called to give both mother and baby the Last Rites. Miraculously, she was delivered safely and survived.

She is the sister of Tom Walters and Kevin Walters. Julia is the granddaughter of Patrick Walters and a niece of Martin John and Joseph John.

Julie's strong-minded mother, who wished a nursing career for her daughter, was openly upset by Julie's switch of professions to acting. When her mother died in 1989, Walters found among her possessions a box stuffed with newspaper clippings that had recorded Julie's many successes.

Education

Convent schooled in Birmingham, Julie Walters expressed an early desire to act. She was expelled from Holly Lodge Grammar School at a young age, due to misbehavior.

Her iron-willed mother had other ideas, however, and geared her towards a nursing career. Dutifully applying at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, Julie eventually gave up nursing when the pull to be an actress proved too strong.

Studying English and Drama at Manchester Polytechnic, she subsequently joined a theatre company in Liverpool and apprenticed as a stand-up comic.

Career

A one-time company member of the Vanload improv troupe, Julie Walters made her London stage debut in the aptly-titled comedy "Funny Peculiar" in 1975 and went on to develop a successfully bawdy act on the cabaret circuit. While at Manchester, Julie befriended aspiring writer/comedienne Victoria Wood and the twosome appeared together in sketch comedy. A couple of their works, "Talent" and "Nearly a Happy Ending," transferred to TV and were accompanied by rave reviews. Eventually, they were handed their own TV series, Wood and Walters (1981).

In 1980, Julie scored a huge solo success under the theatre lights when she made her London debut in Willy Russell's "Educating Rita." For her superlative performance, she won both the Variety Critic's and London Critic's Circle Awards as the young hairdresser who vows to up her station in life by enrolling in a university. She conquered film as well when L'éducation de Rita (1983) transferred to the big screen opposite Michael Caine as her Henry Higgins-like college professor, collecting a Golden Globe Award and Oscar nomination.

Reuniting with Victoria Wood in 1984, the pair continue to appear together frequently on TV, most recently with the award-winning series Dinnerladies (1998). On stage Julie has impressed in a variety of roles ranging from the contemporary ("Fool for Love," "Frankie and Johnny at the Clair de Lune") to the classics ("Macbeth," "The Rose Tattoo" and "All My Sons"), winning the Olivier Award for the last-mentioned play.

Following her success as Rita, she immediately rolled out a sterling succession of film femmes including her seedy waitress-turned-successful brothel-owner in Personal Services (1987); the unsophisticated, small-town wife of Phil Collins in Buster (1988); a boozy, man-chasing mum in Killing Dad or How to Love Your Mother (1990); and Liza Minnelli's abrasive tap student in Stepping Out (1991). Playing a wide variety of ages, she also mustered up a very convincing role as the mother of Joe Orton in the critically-acclaimed Prick Up Your Ears (1987). She capped her career in films as the abrasively stern but encouraging dance teacher in Billy Elliot (2000) which earned her a second Oscar nod and a healthy helping of quirky character parts, including her charming, charity-driven widow who poses à la natural in Calendar Girls (2003), and the maternal witch-wife Molly Weasley in the J.K. Rowling "Harry Potter" series. For her work on film and TV, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has honored Julie five times, including four awards in a row (2001-2004). A biography was published in 2003 entitled "Julie Walters: Seriously Funny."

Walters played one of a group of middle-aged women who produced a nude calendar to raise money for cancer research in "Calendar Girls" (2003), and netted BAFTA TV Awards for the comedy "Strange Relations" (ITV, 2001), with Paul Reiser; a grieving mother in "Murder" (2002); an updated Wife of Bath in BBC One's "Canterbury Tales" (2003); and as Northern Ireland Secretary of State Mo Mowlam in "Mo" (Channel 4, 2010). Between these projects, Walters played Jane Austen's mother in "Becoming Jane" (2007), the vivacious Rosie in "Mamma Mia!" (2008), the kindly Mrs. Bird in "Paddington" (2014) and its 2017 sequel, and a feisty boardinghouse owner in "Brooklyn" (2015), which brought her 16th BAFTA nomination, while also finding time to be named Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2008.

Walters remained remarkably busy in her sixth decade, penning a 2008 autobiography, That's Another Story, paying tribute to Wood, who died in 2016, with the documentary series "Our Friend Victoria" (BBC, 2017), enjoying major supporting roles in "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!" and "Mary Poppins Returns" (both 2018), while also being named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017.

Achievements

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  For decades, British actress and comedienne Julie Walters has served as a sturdy representation of the working class with her passionate, earthy portrayals on England's stage, screen, and TV. A bona fide talent, her infectious spirit and self-deprecating sense of humor eventually captured the hearts of international audiences.
  
  She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Fellowship, and a Golden Globe. Walters has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, once for Best Actress and once for Best Supporting Actress. On stage, she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress for the 2001 production of All My Sons. She has won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress four times, more than any other actress, for My Beautiful Son (2001), Murder (2002), The Canterbury Tales (2003), and her portrayal of Mo Mowlam in Mo (2010). Walters and Helen Mirren are the only actresses to have won this award three consecutive times, and Walters is tied with Judi Dench for the most nominations in the category with seven. In 2006, the British public voted Walters fourth in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars as part of ITV's 50th-anniversary celebrations. She starred in A Short Stay in Switzerland (2009), which won her an International Emmy for Best Actress. In 2009, she received a star in the Birmingham Walk of Stars on Birmingham's Golden Mile, Broad Street.
  
  Walters was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours, and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to drama.
  
  

Works

More photos

• book

  • Baby Talk

    (Actress and comedienne, Julie Walters shares her diary fr...)

    1990
  • That's Another Story: The Autobiography

    (Julie Walters has been described as the nation's most pop...)

    2009
  • Maggie's Tree

    (Oscar-nominated star of Educating Rita and Billy Elliot's...)

    2007

• movie

  • Sherlock Gnomes

    (Join a phe-gnome-nal adventure inside the secret world of...)

    2018
  • Dreamchild

    (Exploring the somewhat darker and more mysterious side of...)

    1985
  • Billy Elliot

    (Billy Elliot is the triumphant and heartwarming story of ...)

    2000
  • Paddington

    (Based on the beloved novels and featuring an all-star cas...)

    2014
  • Acorn Antiques

    (Acorn Antiques is a parodic soap opera written by British...)

    1987
  • Wah Wah

    (Ralph Compton (Nicolas Hoult) witnesses the disintegratio...)

    2005
  • Brooklyn

    (In this charming love story based on the best-selling nov...)

    2015
  • Stepping Out

    (Stepping Out is a 1991 musical-comedy film directed by Le...)

    1991
  • Effie Gray

    (Effie Gray explores the famous real-life Victorian love-t...)

    2013
  • The Secret Garden

    (A new take on the beloved classic novel, a young orphan g...)

    2020
  • Mamma Mia! The Movie

    (Have the time of your life with Meryl Streep and an all-s...)

    2008
  • Just Like a Woman

    (A divorced British housewife (Oscar-nominee Julie Walters...)

    1992
  • Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

    (Sophie Sheridan learns more about her mother Donna's hist...)

    2018
  • Car Trouble

    (An Englishwoman (Julie Walters) and her car-salesman love...)

    1986
  • Paddington 2

    (Paddington, now happily settled with the Brown family, pi...)

    2017
  • Mary Poppins Returns

    (Marry Poppins, a magical nanny returns to the Banks and h...)

    2018
  • Personal Services

    (Christine (Julie Walters) is a struggling single mother w...)

    1987
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2

    (Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission...)

    2011
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    (Lord Voldemort has returned, but the Ministry of Magic is...)

    2007
  • Driving Lessons

    (A funny and touching coming-of-age story about a shy teen...)

    2006
  • Bambino mio

    (A 40-year-old English widow (Julie Walters) journeys to E...)

    1994
  • Calendar Girls

    (A prim and proper ladies club decide to spice up their an...)

    2003
  • One Chance

    (Tenor Paul Potts (James Corden) becomes a singing sensati...)

    2013
  • Intimate Relations

    (In 1950s England, sailor Harold Guppy (Rupert Graves) arr...)

    1996
  • Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool

    (A vibrant love affair between a legendary film star Glori...)

    2017
  • Oliver Twist

    (Oliver Twist is a 1999 television miniseries produced by ...)

    1999
  • Prick Up Your Ears

    (The life and tragic death of British playwright Joe Orton...)

    1987
  • Lover's Prayer

    (In 1800s Russia, a young man falls in love with a tragic ...)

    2001
  • She'll Be Wearing Pink Pyjamas

    (Eight women attend one of Britain's toughest survival sch...)

    1985
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    (Harry, Ron, and Hermoine return to Hogwarts just as they ...)

    2004
  • Buster

    (The story of Great Train Robber Buster Edwards, a small-t...)

    1988
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

    (After Voldemort takes over the Ministry of Magic, Harry, ...)

    2010
  • Sister My Sister

    (Two sisters separated in childhood reunite years later as...)

    1994
  • Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

    (Voldemort is tightening his grip on Hogwarts and it is no...)

    2009
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

    (Harry returns to Hogwarts, still famous and a hero, when ...)

    2002
  • Mickybo & Me

    (In 1970 Northern Ireland, The Troubles have made Belfast ...)

    2004
  • Educating Rita

    (Rita (Julie Walters), a married hairstylist in her 20s, w...)

    1983
  • Wild Rose

    (A rebellious country singer from Glasgow dreams of becomi...)

    2019
  • Gnomeo & Juliet

    (Two garden gnomes become star-crossed lovers.)

    2011
  • Becoming Jane

    (Meet twentyish Jane Austen: in love...and on a path that ...)

    2007
  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

    (Based on the wildly popular J.K. Rowling's book about a y...)

    2001

• TV series

  • Victoria Wood - As Seen on TV

    (Victoria Wood casts a comic glance at the world with the ...)

    1985
  • Dinnerladies

    (While serving up food to hungry customers, staff members ...)

    1998
  • Indian Summers

    (British screen icon Julie Walters stars as the glamorous ...)

    2015
  • Liver Birds

    (Seventies sitcom featuring the antics of two Liverpudlian...)

    1977

Religion

Julie Walters was brought up in a Catholic family.

Politics

Julie Walters has long been a staunch Labour supporter - appearing in one of the party's campaign adverts and meeting her husband through their shared political views. But Julie Walters now feels 'disillusioned and let down' by those she once actively encouraged.

The actress has revealed how Tony Blair's decision to take Britain to war in 2003 cost the Government her support. But this has not led to her switching to support the opposition. Instead, she said she had become so fed up with politicians in general that she would not vote at the next poll.

Miss Walters told Yours magazine: "Politicians? They are slippery, evasive, irresponsible liars in the main."

"We've got a General Election coming up quite soon, and it's got to the point where I don't want to vote for any of them. I really don't."

She continued: "I have supported the Labour Party in the past but I feel incredibly disillusioned and let down, by Tony Blair in particular, since he took us into a war - which has cost so many lives - on a lie."

Views

Walters is a patron of the domestic violence surivors' charity, Women's Aid. In January 2016, she presented the tomosynthesis machine at Royal Surrey County Hospital during a special ceremony. The tool is new 3D breast screening equipment, which is better at detecting cancerous tumors than traditional breast imaging.

Personality

Walters is a lifelong supporter of West Bromwich Albion Football Club, having been brought up in Smethwick.

Confessed in a British magazine interview that the worst job she ever had was testing sick people's stools.

Started playing the ukulele when she was three years old.

Her happiest moment has been seeing her daughter, Maisie’s face for the first time.

Her greatest fear is untoward happening to her child.

A living person Julie Walters most admires is her dentist.

Her earliest childhood memory was the smell of the hood on her pram when her mother wiped it with a damp cloth.

The trait Julie most deplores in herself is the desire to please everyone.

The trait Walters most deplores in others is intolerance.

Her most embarrassing moment was when a woman recognized her in spite of her wearing a Dutch fitted cap.

Her most treasured possession is the things Maisie, her daughter, made when she was little.

People’s inhumanity makes Walters depressed.

A feature she most dislikes about herself is her shoulders.

According to her, a person who should play her in the film of her life is Tracey Ullman.

Her most unappealing habit is eating like a pig and licking her plate when she’s eating alone.

Her fancy dress costume of choice would be a nun’s attire.

The worst thing anyone’s said to her was when her daughter was very ill at the age of 2, and someone came up and said, ‘Is this the famous daughter with leukemia?’

Her guiltiest pleasure is eating chocolate.

The greatest love of her life is her daughter Maisie and her husband, Grant.

The best kiss of her life is the first kiss given by Grant.

She would invite Ian Charleson, her mum, and dad to her dream dinner party.

The phrases she most overuse is ‘As the actress said to the bishop.’

The worst job she has ever done is testing ill people’s stools at a hospital.

Julie Walters does crosswords from The Guardian to relax.

Her closest encounter with death was in Corfu where she went swimming and almost drowned when a storm whipped her up before she reached a rock, but a man pulled her out just in time.

Her family has been her greatest achievement.

Julie Walters would like to be remembered as someone good.

Her best holiday was at Marbella for Easter with her husband, Grant, their daughter, Maisie, and her brothers along with their wives and children.

For a perfect holiday, she needs good food, good company, good weather, and some good books.

She always carries 2 or 3 novels with her when she travels.

The worst hotel she has ever stayed in was in Manchester.

Her worst holiday was at Looe, a small town in England, as it rained for the most part.

The biggest packing mistake she has made is packing hair conditioner without securing the top properly, thereby ruining her favorite things in the bag.

The thing Julie Walters hates about the holidays is the preparation.

Physical Characteristics: The small and slender actress with the prominent cheekbones has yet to give an uninteresting performance.

She was diagnosed with stage III bowel cancer in 2018. Having had surgery and chemotherapy, she entered remission. Her recovery, however, meant she had to be cut from certain scenes in The Secret Garden (2020). She also had to miss the premiere of Mamma Mia! 2 (2018).

Julie Walters suffers from yeast allergy.

Delivered her daughter Maisie via C-section due to diabetes.

Build: slim

Height: 5 ft 3 in (160 cm)

Weight: 56 kg (123.5 lbs)

Hair color: gray

Eye color: dark brown

Distinctive features: short hairstyle, pointed chin, deep set eyes

Interests

• Reading, traveling

• Politicians

  James Callaghan

• Writers

  Mary Norton's children's book "The Borrowers" is her favorite novel.

• Artists

  Ian Charleson

• Sport & Clubs

  Football

• Athletes

  West Bromwich Albion Football Club

• Music & Bands

  Cher

Connections

Walters' relationship with Grant Roffey, a patrolman for the AA, began after a whirlwind romance. The couple has a daughter named Maisie Mae Roffey (born 26 April 1988), but did not marry until they went to New York City to do so in 1997. They live on an organic farm operated by Roffey near Plaistow, West Sussex.

Julie's child Maisie was stricken with leukemia at the age of two. The girl miraculously recovered and inspired Walters to write the book "Baby Talk" (1990).

Father:

Thomas Walters

Thomas Walters was an English-born builder, from Birmingham.

Mother:

Mary Bridget O'Brien

Julie's strong-minded mother, who wished a nursing career for her daughter, was openly upset by Julie's switch of professions to acting. When her mother died in 1989, Walters found among her possessions a box stuffed with newspaper clippings that had recorded Julie's many successes.

Spouse:

Grant Roffey

Brother:

Tom Walters

Brother:

Kevin Walters

Daughter:

Maisie Mae Roffey

Born: April 26, 1988 (age 32 years), City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom

Friend:

Michael Caine

Walters' acting mentor is Michael Caine, whom she credits as her favorite acting mentor/best friend.

colleague:

Mark Williams

Mark Williams is an English actor, screenwriter, and presenter. He is popularly known for his role as Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter films. He was also one of the stars of the popular BBC sketch show 'The Fast Show.'

colleague:

Rupert Grint

Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is a British actor and producer.

colleague:

Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe is an English actor and producer. He rose to international stardom as Harry Potter in the series of films based on the hugely popular books by J.K. Rowling.

colleague:

Bonnie Wright

(born 17 February 1991)

Bonnie Francesca Wright is an English actress, fashion model, screenwriter, director, and producer. She is best known for playing Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films.

colleague:

Emma Watson

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is a British actress and social activist. She rose to prominence through her role as Hermione in the Harry Potter film series.

colleague:

James Phelps

James Phelps, born as James Andrew Eric Phelps, is a British actor. He is best known for playing the role of Fred Weasley in the Harry Potter movie series.

colleague:

Oliver Phelps

Oliver Phelps is an English actor and the older one of the twin brothers, best known to portray the Weasley twins in the famous children’s fantasy film series Harry Potter.

References

• Julie Walters
• Victoria Wood: The Biography