Samantha Morton was born in 1977 in Nottingham to Pamela and Peter Morton. They split up when she was three and married other people. She has eight brothers and sisters.
Morton has said she was always a chatterbox in class and someone who beat up the bullies. She left her school West Bridgford Comprehensive at the age of thirteen and joined England's Central Junior Television Workshop. She had been encouraged by a drama teacher and kept writing to them until they accepted her. She left the workshop when she was 16 and joined the prestigious Royal Court Theatre Group. After a number of radio plays, Samantha Morton began to get parts on television: Peak Practice, Cracker, Boon, Band of Gold, Tom Jones, Emma and Jane Eyre. Under the Skin garned awards and some attention: critical praise for Morton led to other roles.
Morton had never seen a Woody Allen film - she didn't go to the movies as a child - and didn't know how revered he is and almost didn't do Sweet and Lowdown as it interfered with another project (Hamlet with Ethan Hawke). The film got her a lot of attention Stateside and she was nominated for an Oscar. Her rival for the award was supposed to be Catherine Keener, but they both lost to Angelina Jolie. Hollywood has come knocking on her door since then, but a choosy Morton has turned down man parts.
Samantha Morton continues to deliver fine work in provocative films such as Michael Winterbottom's Code 46 (2003), though she is finally branching out towards the mainstream, taking a role in the remake of the perennial family favorite, Lassie (2005).
Her fan
Date and Place of Birth: 13 May, 1977; Nottingham, England
Height: 160cm (5' 3")
Education: The West Bridgford Comprehensive School, Nottingham
Relationship: Charlie Creed-Miles (British actor: born 1972), Hans Matheson (actor: born 1975)
Family: Father (divorced in 1979), mother Pamela Morton (factory worker) and daughter Esme Creed-Miles (born on 5 February, 2000; father: Charlie Creed-Miles).
Claim to fame: when she played mute laundress Hattie in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999).
Quotations: "Acting and music are self indulgent professions and they are a luxury unless you love what you do. I have a love/hate relationship with what I do. I think, 'Where's the relevance of this? I'm not a doctor, I'm not an aid worker.' But then I think you only have one life and I am a vessel for stories to be told."
"In films, it's just that one minute you're strong, then you're told you're difficult. The minute you say, 'No, I won't take my top off' or 'No, I won't work overtime', you're bloody difficult."
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