Julie Walters

Born: 22nd February, 1950
Where: Birmingham, England

Walters is one of the few who can truly lay claim to be one of Britain's best-loved actresses after a winning string of TV and film roles.

From the mature student of Educating Rita to her peerless performance as Mrs Overall in Victoria Wood's spoof TV soap Acorn Antiques she has proved herself a versatile performer.

In some ways like her character in Educating Rita, Walters quit nursing and switched to acting.

After studying at Manchester (where she first met Victoria Wood), Walters made her stage debut in Liverpool in a production of The Taming of the Shrew.

She also performed a song, dance and comic imitations act at the tough dockside pubs alongside the Mersey.

By 1976, she had made it to the London stage in Funny Peculiar and in 1980 starred in the RSC production of Educating Rita.

At the same time she starred in Wood's stage play Pat and Margaret, which she later reprised as a TV movie.

After TV appearances such as Boys From The Black Stuff and Wood and Walters, she got her big screen debut in Educating Rita.

Her Oscar-nominated turn as a hairdresser and aspiring student opposite Michael Caine was a huge hit with audiences.

However, she turned her back on Hollywood to concentrate on British TV, where she concentrated on character roles, including parts written for her by Alan Bennett.

A number of indifferent movies followed, including Car Trouble and She'll Be Wearing Pink Pyjamas.

The drought ended with Personal Services, where she played a naive working woman who stumbles into a career as a madam (based on the life of Cynthia Payne).

She followed this with Joe Orton's working-class mother in Prick Up Your Ears and the the loving wife of Phil Collins' train robber in Buster.

In 1991, she went to Canada to make her first "Hollywood" film, the lacklustre "Stepping Out", in which she was the annoying tap dance student of Liza Minnelli.

In the early 90s, the actress took time to care for her daughter who had been diagnosed with leukemia and resumed her career with Sister My Sister.

Walters delivered a richly nuanced portrayal of a conniving 1950s housewife who seduces a border with disastrous consequences in Intimate Relations.

Although she remains beloved for her comic collaborations with Wood (appearing together in Dinnerladies) she has also remained a critics' darling in the US for film work.

She earned plaudits for her turn as a strong-willed housewife in 1970s Belfast who attempts to negotiate an end to the daily violence in Titanic Town.

Walters also received glowing critical kudos for her turn as the chain-smoking dance teacher who recognizes a young boy's potential in Billy Elliot.

She followed this by playing the mother of the title character's best friend in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001. Walters has a recurring role in the Potter movies, and has appeared in the two sequels.

Recent work includes the drama Before You Go with Joanne Whalley, Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azkaban and the light comedy Calendar Girls with Helen Mirren.