Olivia Colman

Sarah Caroline Sinclair (née Colman; born 30 January 1974), known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress noted for her versatility across both comedic and dramatic roles in film and television. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup.

A graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Colman's breakthrough came in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show (2003–2015). Her other comedic roles on television include Green Wing (2004–2006), That Mitchell and Webb Look (2006–2008), Beautiful People (2008–2009), Rev. (2010–2014), Flowers (2016–2018), and Fleabag (2016–2019). Colman received the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for the comedy series Twenty Twelve (2011–2012) and Best Supporting Actress for the crime series Accused (2012).

Colman earned acclaim for her performance in the ITV crime-drama series Broadchurch (2013–2017), for which she received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress, and in the BBC One thriller series The Night Manager (2016–2026), for which she received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played Queen Elizabeth II from 2019 to 2020 in the Netflix period drama series The Crown, for which she received the Golden Globe Award and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress. Her other television credits include Les Misérables (2019), Landscapers (2021), Heartstopper (2022–2023), and The Bear (2023–2025).

Colman achieved wider recognition for her portrayal of Anne, Queen of Great Britain in the period black-comedy film The Favourite (2018), which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received further Academy Award nominations for her performances in the dramas The Father (2020) and The Lost Daughter (2021). Her other notable film credits include Tyrannosaur (2011), The Iron Lady (2011), Hyde Park on Hudson (2012), Locke (2013), The Lobster (2015), Empire of Light (2022), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022), Wonka (2023), Wicked Little Letters (2023), Paddington in Peru (2024), and The Roses (2025).

Early life, family and education

Sarah Caroline Colman was born in Norwich in Norfolk on 30 January 1974, the daughter of nurse Mary (née Leakey) and chartered surveyor Keith Colman.

She was privately educated at Norwich High School for Girls and then sixth form at Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk. Colman's first role was Jean Brodie in a school production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at age 16. She cites her mother's interrupted career as a ballet dancer as an inspiration to pursue acting professionally. Colman spent a term studying primary education at Homerton College, Cambridge before studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, from which she graduated in 1999. During her time at Cambridge, she appeared in the Channel 4 series The Word in 1995 under her nickname "Colly", auditioned for the Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club and met future co-stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb.

Colman had to adopt a different stage name when she began working professionally because Equity (the UK actors' union) already had an actress named Sarah Colman. "One of my best friends at university was called Olivia and I always loved her name," Colman told The Independent in 2013. "I was never Sarah; I was always called by my nickname, Colly, so it didn't seem so awful not to be called Sarah."

In July 2018, Colman was a subject of the UK genealogy programme Who Do You Think You Are?. Although Colman expected that her family tree would mainly relate to Norfolk, it was discovered that her fourth great-grandfather Richard Campbell Bazett had been born on St. Helena and that he worked in London for the East India Company. Bazett's son, Colman's third great-grandfather Charles Bazett, married Harriot Slessor. Researchers discovered that she was born in the city of Kishanganj, in north-eastern India, lost her British father when she was aged 3 and then made the journey to England alone; this passage was paid for by her paternal grandmother. When in Kishanganj, through meticulously kept records, including diary entries, newspaper clippings, letters and a list of family possessions Colman learnt that Harriot’s father was living with an Indian woman while in Bihar and Hariott was their child.

Career

2000–2009: Early work on television

Colman made her professional acting debut in 2000 at age 26 as part of the BBC Two comedy sketch show, Bruiser. She has appeared in a number of BBC, ITV and Channel 4 television series, such as People Like Us, Look Around You, Black Books, The Office and The Time of Your Life. Colman provided the voice-over for Channel 5's poll for Britain's Funniest Comedy Character.

She regularly appeared on BBC Radio 4 comedies, such as Concrete Cow, Think the Unthinkable, The House of Milton Jones and Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Colman was the voice of Minka, the Polish secretary in the Radio 4 comedy Hut 33 set in a fictional code-breaking hut at Bletchley Park during World War II. Colman appeared as Bev, with Mark Burdis as Kev, in a series of television advertisements for AA car insurance. She provided voices for the Andrex "Be kind to your behind" and Glade fragrance advertisements (playing a gorilla).

On several projects, Colman has worked with the comedians Mitchell and Webb. She joined them in 2003 to play Sophie in the Channel 4 comedy Peep Show. Other joint ventures have included radio's That Mitchell and Webb Sound and its television version, That Mitchell and Webb Look. She decided to leave the programme after her agent suggested that she was becoming too closely associated with their work and needed to widen her horizons, a decision which was made "with tears". Colman continued to appear on Peep Show less often until it ended in 2015.

She had a recurring role in the surrealist comedy Green Wing from 2004 to 2006. One of her earliest film credits is naturist Joanna Roberts in the 2006 mockumentary film Confetti, a role she has described as "the worst experience of my life".

In 2007, Colman starred as Alice in the comedy film Grow Your Own and as PC Doris Thatcher in the action comedy film Hot Fuzz. She also played a lead role in Paddy Considine's short film Dog Altogether. She appeared in October and November 2008 in the BBC sitcom Beautiful People (based on the life of Simon Doonan) as Debbie Doonan, Simon's mother. Colman made a guest appearance in the episode "Naomi" of the series Skins as Naomi's mother, Gina. In 2009, she appeared as the character Bernice in the episode "Small Mercies" of the ITV mystery-crime series Midsomer Murders.

2010–2019: Film breakthrough and worldwide recognition

Colman had a lead role in 2010 as Alex Smallbone, the wife of an inner-city vicar, in the BBC sitcom Rev. starring Tom Hollander; the series ran from 2010 to 2014. She guest-starred that year in "The Eleventh Hour" episode of Doctor Who, Matt Smith's debut as the Eleventh Doctor. Colman appeared the following year in the BBC drama Exile, written by Danny Brocklehurst and starring John Simm and Jim Broadbent. From 2011 to 2012, she played Ian Fletcher's (Hugh Bonneville) lovelorn secretary Sally Owen in Twenty Twelve, a comedy series about planning for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Colman rejoined Considine in 2011 for his feature-film directorial debut, Tyrannosaur, receiving the BIFA for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film and the Empire Award for Best Actress. She also played Carol Thatcher that year in the Academy Award-winning drama The Iron Lady, with Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent. She won the London Film Critics' Circle Award for British Actress of the Year for both roles. She also starred in the drama films Hyde Park on Hudson (2012) and Locke (2013).

In 2013, Colman began playing DS Ellie Miller in ITV's Broadchurch. The crime-drama series, set in the fictional Dorset town of Broadchurch, follows the residents of a tightly knit community after a young boy is found dead on a beach under suspicious circumstances. She was nominated for the International Emmy Award for Best Actress and received the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her performance. Sam Wollaston of The Guardian praised Colman's performance as "brilliant" along with that of her co-star David Tennant. Colman starred (with Vanessa Redgrave) that year as Margaret Lea in the BBC television film, The Thirteenth Tale.