Dorothy Caroline Atkinson (born 1966) is an English actress and singer. She has appeared in several plays by playwright

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of ...

and in films by

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design ...

, including ''

Topsy-Turvy ''Topsy-Turvy'' is a 1999 British musical period drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Allan Corduner as Sir Arthur Sullivan and Jim Broadbent as W.S. Gilbert, along with Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville and Ron Cook. The story ...

'', '' All or Nothing'', and ''

Mr. Turner ''Mr. Turner'' is a 2014 biographical drama film based on the last 25 years of the life of artist J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). Written and directed by Mike Leigh, the film stars Timothy Spall in the title role, with Dorothy Atkinson, Paul Je ...

'', which premiered at the

2014 Cannes Film Festival The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film '' Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bi ...

, and for which she was nominated for the

BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress The British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress is an annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to recognize the best supporting performance by an actress in a British independent film. From 2003 to 2007, onl ...

. An April 2021 announcement stated that Atkinson would be joining the cast of the second season of '' All Creatures Great and Small'' as Diana Brompton.

Personal life

Atkinson is from

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. Her father was a

bursar A bursar (derived from "bursa", Latin for '' purse'') is a professional administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usually hold office only at the level of higher education (f ...

for a school in Nottinghamshire and she has one sister. Her nickname is "Dot". She is married to actor

Martin Savage , birth_date = 12 October 1897 , death_date = 19 December 1919 , birth_place= Ballisodare, County Sligo, Ireland , death_place= Ashtown, County Dublin, Ireland , image=Martin savage.jpg , caption= , nickname= , allegiance= Irish Republican ...

and they have one son.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Atkinson made her Broadway debut in the 2010 production of ''

Brief Encounter ''Brief Encounter'' is a 1945 British romantic drama film directed by David Lean from a screenplay by Noël Coward, based on his 1936 one-act play ''Still Life''. Starring Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, and Joyce Carey, ...

'', playing three roles (Dolly/Hermione/Beryl). This production was conceived originally with the

Kneehigh Theatre Kneehigh Theatre was an international touring theatre company founded in 1980 by Mike Shepherd and based in Cornwall, England. The company was based in barns on the southern Cornish coast, at Gorran Haven, but the administration was in Truro. ...

Company (of which she is a member) and she stayed with the show when it moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In 2009 Atkinson played Vera in ''Just Between Ourselves'' by

at Northampton's Royal & Derngate Theatre. In 2006 she played Nora in ''

Epitaph for George Dillon ''Epitaph for George Dillon'' is an early John Osborne Play (theatre), play, one of two he wrote in collaboration with Anthony Creighton (the other is ''Personal Enemy''). It was written before ''Look Back in Anger'', the play which made Osbor ...

'' at the

Comedy Theatre The Harold Pinter Theatre, known as the Comedy Theatre until 2011,

and in 2007 the Woman in '' A Matter of Life and Death'' at the

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Theatre. In 2003 she played Marie in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of ''Beauty and the Beast'' by

Laurence Boswell Laurence Boswell (born 1959) is a theatre director, whose credits include Ben Elton's Popcorn, Madonna in her London stage debut, Eddie Izzard in a revival of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, and Matt Damon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hayden Christensen, Fr ...

. She has performed many shows at the

Stephen Joseph Theatre The Stephen Joseph Theatre is a theatre in the round in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England that was founded by Stephen Joseph and was the first theatre in the round in Britain. In 1955, Joseph established a tiny theatre in the round on the f ...

with

, including '' The Boy Who Fell Into a Book'', in which she originated the role of the Queen in 1998. In 2002, Atkinson was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in ''

Eden End ''Eden End'' is a play by J. B. Priestley, first produced by Irene Hentschel at the Duchess Theatre, London, on 13 September 1934. Plot introduction In the last week of October 1912 the family of Dr Kirby, a widower in the North of England, is ...

'' as Lillian, by the Barclays Theatre Awards, an award recognising regional British theatre.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Dorothy 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Living people English film actresses English musical theatre actresses English radio actresses English stage actresses English television actresses English voice actresses Actresses from Nottinghamshire People from Mansfield 1966 births