Early stage career Hawkins started her career primarily as a stage actress in such productions as
Accidental Death of an Anarchist,
Romeo and Juliet,
The Cherry Orchard (at
York Theatre Royal,),
Much Ado About Nothing, ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream (both at Regents Park Theatre), and Misconceptions
(at Octagon). She also appeared in Svejk (at The Gate Theatre, Dublin), The Whore Of Babylon
(at Globe Ed. Centre) and As You Like It'' for The Buckingham Palace Gala. She also appeared in
Casualty (1999),
2000s In 2002, Hawkins played Samantha in
Mike Leigh's film
All or Nothing. In 2006, Hawkins returned to the stage, appearing at the
Royal Court Theatre in
Jez Butterworth's
The Winterling. Her performance was well received by critics and was awarded a
Golden Nymph. She also starred alongside
Colin Farrell and
Ewan McGregor in the
Woody Allen film ''
Cassandra's Dream (2007). Peter Bradshaw wrote in The Guardian that "Sally Hawkins plays [Poppy] superbly", while Tom Long of The Detroit News'' dubbed her performance "
Oscar-worthy". Her performance received many accolades, including winning a
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and
Silver Bear for Best Actress.
2010s Three films starring Hawkins,
Made in Dagenham,
Submarine, All three received positive reviews and Hawkins's performances were met with critical acclaim. Regarding her performance in
Made In Dagenham, Roger Ebert wrote that "[Hawkins] shows an effortless lightness of being" while Xan Brooks of
The Guardian remarked that "Hawkins gives a winning performance". In October 2010, she appeared on
Broadway as Vivie in ''
Mrs. Warren's Profession at the American Airlines Theatre. In 2011 she had a supporting role in the film adaptation of Jane Eyre, She also starred as Mrs Joe in the film Great Expectations (2012). as well as nods for the BAFTA, the Golden Globe and other accolades. The same year she starred in All Is Bright, which grossed $177 million in its opening weekend and subsequently earned $386 million worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing films of 2019. She also co-starred with John Hawkes and Michael Cera in the Charlie Kaufman television pilot How and Why'', which was not picked up. Hawkins portrayed the mother of
Asa Butterfield's character in the drama film
X+Y, which premiered at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival. statue in London, auctioned to raise funds for the
NSPCC In November 2014, Hawkins portrayed Mrs Brown in the critically acclaimed film
Paddington. The film is based on the children's books by
Michael Bond where Paddington, an anthropomorphic bear who migrates from the jungles of Peru to the streets of London, is adopted by the Brown family. Hawkins reprised her role as Mrs Brown for the sequel,
Paddington 2 (2017), which also received acclaim. In 2017, she appeared in the
Guillermo del Toro film
The Shape of Water, Mark Kermode of
The Guardian called her "sublime", Mihir Fadnavis of
Firstpost called it a "winning performance", while Ann Hornaday of
The Washington Post stated that "Sally Hawkins delivers a beautiful performance". Hawkins earned nominations for the
Academy Award,
Golden Globe,
BAFTA, and
SAG Award for Best Actress. The film itself won
Best Picture at the
90th Academy Awards.
2020s In 2022, she starred in
The Lost King, a dramatisation of the story of
Philippa Langley, the woman who initiated the search to find
King Richard III's remains under a car park in
Leicester. In 2023, Hawkins appeared in
Wonka, a film which serves as a prequel to the
Roald Dahl novel
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, exploring
Willy Wonka's origins. In 2025, Hawkins appeared in
Bring Her Back, an Australian supernatural horror film directed by
Danny and Michael Philippou. ==Other activities==