Bafta-winning actress Samantha Morton has been made an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours.
The 48-year old English star, known for her roles in Longford and The Serpent Queen, is being honoured for her services to drama and charity.
She grew up in Nottingham and was raised in foster care before she began acting at the city’s Central Junior Television Workshop.
She landed her first TV roles in 1991 in Soldier Soldier and Boon before starring in period dramas including Emma in 1996 and Jane Eyre in 1997.
Morton garnered international acclaim for her performance in Carine Adler’s indie film Under The Skin, for which she received her first British Independent Film Award (Bifa) nomination for best actress in 1998.
In 2002 she won the best actress award for psychological drama Morvern Callar, and in 2022 she was given the Richard Harris Award for outstanding contribution by an actor to British film.
The actress and director has also been nominated for two Oscars – one in 2000 for playing Hattie in Sweet And Lowdown and four years later for In America.
In 2008 she received a Golden Globe for her portrayal of child murderer Myra Hindley in TV movie Longford.
Morton also directed and co-wrote the TV drama The Unloved, based on her first-hand experience of the British care system, and won a best single drama award at the Bafta TV Awards in 2010.
She starred alongside Tom Cruise in 2002 sci-fi action film Minority Report and played Mary Lou in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (2016).
More recently she has starred in psychological thriller series The Burning Girls, based on the novel by CJ Tudor, and drama The Whale (2022), alongside Brendan Fraser, who won an Oscar.
Morton last year received the Bafta fellowship, the academy’s highest accolade, dedicating the award to children in care.
She accepted the award from producer David Heyman, who she worked with on Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, and said: “This is nothing short of a miracle.
“Film changed my life, it transformed me and it led me here today.
“I dedicate this award to every child in care, or who has been in care and who didn’t survive.”
