Theatre Richardson enrolled at the
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where she studied alongside
Daniel Day-Lewis and
Jenny Seagrove, having started out with juvenile performances in
Cinderella and ''
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime'' at the Southport Dramatic Club. Richardson joined the
Manchester Library Theatre in 1979 as an assistant stage manager, followed by making a number of appearances in
repertory theatre. Her London stage debut was in
Moving at the
Queen's Theatre in 1981. She found recognition in the
West End for a series of stage performances, ultimately receiving an
Olivier Award nomination for her performance in
A Lie of the Mind, and, in 1996, she appeared in the single-actor theatrical adaptation of
Orlando at the
Edinburgh Festival. She returned to the London stage in May 2009 to play the lead role in
Wallace Shawn's new play,
Grasses of a Thousand Colours at the
Royal Court Theatre. Richardson has said that she prefers new works rather than the classics because of the history that goes with them.
Film and television In 1985, Richardson made her film debut as
Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the United Kingdom, in the biographical drama
Dance with a Stranger. Around the same time, Richardson played a comedic version of
Queen Elizabeth I, aka
Queenie, in the British television comedy
Blackadder II. Richardson returned in guest roles in one episode each in
Blackadder the Third (1987) and
Blackadder Goes Forth (1989). She returned to play Queenie in the Christmas special ''
Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988) and, later, played Field Nurse in a special edition for the millennium Blackadder: Back and Forth''. Following
Dance with a Stranger, Richardson turned down numerous parts in which her character was unstable or disreputable, including the
Glenn Close role in
Fatal Attraction. for which she was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. She also starred as
Hermione Granger in a
Comic Relief sketch called
Harry Potter and the Secret Chamberpot of Azibaijan. Richardson appeared as Queen Rosalind of Denmark in
The Prince and Me and as the
ballet mistress
Madame Giry in the film version of the
Andrew Lloyd Webber musical
The Phantom of the Opera (2004). In 2005, she appeared in the role of
Rita Skeeter, the toxic
Daily Prophet journalist in
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. She later reprised the role of Rita Skeeter in a cameo in
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010). Richardson voiced Corky in
The Adventures of Bottle Top Bill and His Best Friend Corky (2005), an Australian animated series for children. In 2006, she appeared in ''
Gideon's Daughter. In 2007 she played Mrs Claus in the film Fred Claus (2007) and appeared in the BBC sitcom, The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle'' (2007). In 2008, Richardson was cast in a leading role in the original
AMC television pilot,
Rubicon. She plays
Katherine Rhumor, a New York socialite who finds herself drawn into the central intrigue of a
think tank after the death of her husband. The following year, she portrayed
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent in film
The Young Victoria (2009)
. Richardson played
Labour Party politician
Barbara Castle in the British film
Made in Dagenham (2010). She was nominated for a
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for this role. In 2012, she played roles in the BBC comedy television series
Dead Boss, historical drama series
World Without End, based on the 1989
Ken Follett novel
The Pillars of the Earth, and historical drama series ''
Parade's End,'' based on
Ford Madox Ford's
eponymous novel cycle (1924–1928). In 2013, she played Lady Ashford in the film
Belle (2013). In 2012, Richardson was cast as Queen Ulla in
Disney's live action film
Maleficent (2014), where she was to play the titular character's aunt, but her role was cut from the film during
post-production. In 2015, she played
Sybil Birling in
Helen Edmundson's BBC One adaptation of
J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls. In 2015, she played
Hilda Lorimer in the film
Testament of Youth and was cast as Emily Brent in BBC One's three-part adaptation of Dame
Agatha Christie's 1939 novel
And Then There Were None. In 2017, she portrayed
Clementine Churchill in the biopic film
Churchill and starred in the films
Stronger and
iBoy. In 2019, Richardson voiced Pinky's Grandma in animated television series
Pinky Malinky and played Lou Collins in seven episodes of television series
Curfew. In 2020, Richardson starred in the Australian comedy drama film
Rams. Richardson reprised her role as the voice of Mrs Tweedy in the 2023 film,
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Richardson is due to appear in an upcoming biopic about conductor
Sergiu Celibidache,
The Yellow Tie, and in the British film
The Bitter End. ==Personal life==