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)
Words of War
Anna Politkovskaya
Dance First
Barbara
All or Nothing
Party girl
Peterloo
Nellie
The Falling
Eileen Lamont
Svengali
Angie
Girls' Night
Sharon
Keeping Rosy
Charlotte
Fanny Lye Deliver'd
Fanny Lye
Private Peaceful
Hazel Peaceful
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1980
Helen Marshall
Clubbed
Angela
Woken
Helen
Funny Cow
Funny Cow
Frozen
Ticket Attendant
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
Anne Lister
Keeping Up with the Joneses
Celia
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Titania
Best Laid Plans
Isabel
Faith
Linda
Red Top
Rebekah Brooks
Christmas Lights
Pauline
Run & Jump
Vanetia
Laundreams
2025
DeafBlind
Maggie
Irvine Welsh: Reality Is Not Enough
Narrator
Strange Weather
Jane
Gwen
Elen
Choked Up
Fiona Lacey
Men Who Sleep in Cars
Sarah
Surfaces
Alix
Unseen
Emma
Hamlet
Hamlet
Tish
Tish Murtha (voice)
Ceremony: The Return of Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels (voice)
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle
Narrator
Hamilton Mattress
Lulu (voice)
I Wish For You
Grown Up Mia
The Fear of Trilogy
2006
Judy
Judy
Wonders of the Moon
Narrator (voice)
Hancock & Joan
Joan Le Mesurier
Cake
2017
Where We Used to Meet
2021
The Priest
2017
The Occupant of the Room
The Englishwoman (voice)
Edge
Elly
It's Me
Miriam
Generation '66
Narrator
The Shuttleworths
Helen Bach
Something Out of Nothing
2022
Bike Squad
WPC Kate McFay
Lapushka!
Scoot Piccolo
TV Shows (39)
Black Mirror
Bella · 1 eps
The South Bank Show
2 eps
Shameless
Veronica Fisher · 26 eps
Star Wars: Visions
Kalina Kalfus (voice) · 1 eps
Say Nothing
Older Dolours Price · 9 eps
Inside No. 9
Nadia · 1 eps
Last Seen
Jenna Reid · 6 eps
Dalziel and Pascoe
Dr Allison Laurie · 1 eps
Jonathan Creek
Marion Cretiss · 1 eps
ChuckleVision
1 eps
The Hollow Crown
Doll Tearsheet · 2 eps
Silk
Martha Costello QC · 18 eps
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Photocopy Assistant · 1 eps
Mandy
Susan Blower · 1 eps
Bait
Helen · 2 eps
Little Dorrit
Miss Wade · 14 eps
Criminal Justice
Juliet Miller · 5 eps
The Village
Grace Middleton · 12 eps
The Street
1 eps
At Home with the Braithwaites
Trixie Fletcher · 1 eps
Messiah
DS Vickie Clarke · 3 eps
dinnerladies
Twinkle · 16 eps
Clocking Off
Marie Leach · 1 eps
Three Girls
Sara Rowbotham · 3 eps
Fairy Tales
Cindy Mellor · 1 eps
Red Riding
1 eps
The Devil's Whore
Elizabeth Lilburne · 4 eps
Anne
Anne Williams · 4 eps
Linda Green
Receptionist · 1 eps
Early Doors
Janice · 6 eps
The Bisexual
Sadie · 6 eps
Comedy Connections
1 eps
Alan Bennett's Talking Heads
Miss Fozzard · 1 eps
Rules of the Game
Sam Thompson · 4 eps
Room at the Top
Alice Aisgill · 2 eps
Sunburn
Sue · 1 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
Timeshift
Self - Narrator · 1 eps
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer
Self - Guest · 1 eps
Art That Made Us
Self - Actrice (Rules of the Game, Anne) · 2 eps
We Have Been Watching
Self · 5 eps
Dinnerladies Diaries
Self · 3 eps
Quiet on Set: The Class Division in the Film Industry?
Self
The 50 Greatest Television Dramas
Self
Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings
Self
Becoming Victoria Wood
Self
Bunch of Kunst - A Film About Sleaford Mods
Self (archive footage)
The Great Mountain Sheep Gather
Self - Narrator
The Real Anne: Unfinished Business
Self- Presenter
The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca
Self
Art Matters
Self
