She has lit up screens large and small playing Ruth Ellis, Rita Skeeter, Barbara Castle and the hilarious Queenie in Blackadder. Alternatively, you could ask about birds of prey, orangutans or playing the cello
Judging by the size of her awards cupboard, Miranda Richardson has had quite the career. She won a Bafta for the 1992 psychological drama Damage, opposite Jeremy Irons, and Golden Globes for the 1991 historical drama Enchanted April and the 1994 Nazi thriller Fatherland, and was Oscar-nominated for both Damage and the 1994 historical drama Tom & Viv. Her other notable performances include IRA member Jude in The Crying Game, Ruth Ellis in Dance With a Stranger and Lady Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow.
She’s pretty handy at comedy, too – and probably just as familiar for playing acid-tongued Daily Prophet journalist Rita Skeeter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the murderous chicken-farm owner Mrs Tweedy in Chicken Run and, of course, the gloriously unhinged Queenie in Blackadder II: “I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a concrete elephant.”
