Maxine Peake
Acting
Born: July 14, 1974 (age 52) · Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, UK
Highest Rated
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
The Theory of Everything
2014
Black Mirror
2011
Star Wars: Visions
2021
I Swear
2025
Wendell & Wild
2022
Inside No. 9
2014
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980
2009
The Falling
2015
All or Nothing
2002
Peterloo
2018
Shameless
2004
Say Nothing
2024
Photos (3)
Movies (56)
I Swear
Dottie
The Theory of Everything
Elaine Mason
Wendell & Wild
Irmgard Klaxon (voice)
All or Nothing
Party girl
Words of War
Anna Politkovskaya
Red Top
Rebekah Brooks
Funny Cow
Funny Cow
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980
Helen Marshall
Dance First
Barbara
The Falling
Eileen Lamont
Peterloo
Nellie
Best Laid Plans
Isabel
Run & Jump
Vanetia
Fanny Lye Deliver'd
Fanny Lye
Girls' Night
Sharon
Private Peaceful
Hazel Peaceful
Svengali
Angie
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
Anne Lister
Frozen
Ticket Attendant
Keeping Rosy
Charlotte
Laundreams
2025
Clubbed
Angela
Faith
Linda
Choked Up
Fiona Lacey
Tish
Tish Murtha (voice)
Gwen
Elen
Woken
Helen
Edge
Elly
DeafBlind
Maggie
Wonders of the Moon
Narrator (voice)
Strange Weather
Jane
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Titania
Christmas Lights
Pauline
Surfaces
Alix
Unseen
Emma
The Shuttleworths
Helen Bach
Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough
Narrator
Hancock & Joan
Joan Le Mesurier
Hamilton Mattress
Lulu (voice)
I Wish For You
Grown Up Mia
Cake
2017
The Occupant of the Room
The Englishwoman (voice)
Hamlet
Hamlet
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle
Narrator
The Priest
2017
It's Me
Miriam
Bike Squad
WPC Kate McFay
Generation '66
Narrator
Lapushka!
Scoot Piccolo
Keeping Up with the Joneses
Celia
Men Who Sleep in Cars
Sarah
Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels (voice)
Where We Used to Meet
2021
The Fear of Trilogy
2006
Judy
Judy
Something Out of Nothing
2022
TV Shows (36)
Black Mirror
Bella · 1 eps
Shameless
Veronica Fisher · 26 eps
Inside No. 9
Nadia · 1 eps
Silk
Martha Costello QC · 18 eps
Dalziel and Pascoe
Dr Allison Laurie · 1 eps
Star Wars: Visions
Kalina Kalfus (voice) · 1 eps
Jonathan Creek
Marion Cretiss · 1 eps
Say Nothing
Older Dolours Price · 9 eps
The Hollow Crown
Doll Tearsheet · 2 eps
Bait
Helen · 2 eps
The Village
Grace Middleton · 12 eps
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Photocopy Assistant · 1 eps
Three Girls
Sara Rowbotham · 3 eps
ChuckleVision
1 eps
Little Dorrit
Miss Wade · 14 eps
Mandy
Susan Blower · 1 eps
Comedy Connections
1 eps
The Street
1 eps
dinnerladies
Twinkle · 16 eps
Criminal Justice
Juliet Miller · 5 eps
Anne
Anne Williams · 4 eps
Clocking Off
Marie Leach · 1 eps
The Devil's Whore
Elizabeth Lilburne · 4 eps
Red Riding
1 eps
The Bisexual
Sadie · 6 eps
Messiah
DS Vickie Clarke · 3 eps
Linda Green
Receptionist · 1 eps
Alan Bennett's Talking Heads
Miss Fozzard · 1 eps
Fairy Tales
Cindy Mellor · 1 eps
Rules of the Game
Sam Thompson · 4 eps
Sunburn
Sue · 1 eps
Early Doors
Janice · 6 eps
Room at the Top
Alice Aisgill · 2 eps
Secret Life of the Safari Park
Narrator · 6 eps
The Haunted Season
The Englishwoman (voice) · 1 eps
See No Evil: The Moors Murders
Myra Hindley · 2 eps
Self / Appearances (16)
The Graham Norton Show
Self · 2 eps
The One Show
Self - Guest · 1 eps
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer
Self - Guest · 1 eps
Timeshift
Self - Narrator · 1 eps
Dinnerladies Diaries
Self · 3 eps
Art That Made Us
Self - Actrice (Rules of the Game, Anne) · 2 eps
We Have Been Watching
Self · 5 eps
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
Self
Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings
Self
Becoming Victoria Wood
Self
The Real Anne: Unfinished Business
Self- Presenter
Bunch of Kunst - A Film About Sleaford Mods
Self (archive footage)
The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca
Self
Art Matters
Self
Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry?
Self
The Great Mountain Sheep Gather
Self - Narrator
