Julie Walters
Birthday: 22 February 1950, Smethwick, West Midlands, England, UK
Birth Name: Julia Mary Walters
Height: 160 cm
For decades, Brit actress and comedienne Julie Walters has served as a sturdy representation of the working class with her passionate, earthy portrayals on England's stage, screen and TV. A bona ...Show More
I don't like the future sewn up. I like an open book - the feeling that anything can happen.
I don't like the future sewn up. I like an open book - the feeling that anything can happen.
I was given an agent and taken under the wing of Columbia Pictures after Educating Rita (1983) came Show more
I was given an agent and taken under the wing of Columbia Pictures after Educating Rita (1983) came out. They arranged all sorts of interviews, but nothing ever came of it. I just felt that the best writing and talent was in the UK. The stuff I was getting was c**p...well, not c**p, but just stuff I didn't want to do. After all, the best American material is always going to go to the best American actors. Hide
It's bloody great to get to fifty-five. I've never been bothered about people knowing how old I am.
It's bloody great to get to fifty-five. I've never been bothered about people knowing how old I am.
I did impersonations of everyone in the family and the teachers at school because I didn't know how Show more
I did impersonations of everyone in the family and the teachers at school because I didn't know how to do anything else, but I was educated by nuns in my junior school and they were HEAVY. Hide
I think there was a breakthrough period where I did Educating Rita (1983) and Victoria Woods work ve Show more
I think there was a breakthrough period where I did Educating Rita (1983) and Victoria Woods work very close together. I'd just started to be known through Victoria's stuff with Wood and Walters, which came out very close to 'Educating Rita'. It was quite a grand slam in a way for me, really useful for me doing those two things. And at the same time I started to do something with Alan Bennett, I did a play with Alan Bennett in it on television, and also Boys from the Blackstuff (1982). It all came out in a short space of time. Hide
Saoirse Ronan, she is amazing. She makes me feel like I should go to drama school, really.
Saoirse Ronan, she is amazing. She makes me feel like I should go to drama school, really.
[on Paddington (2014)] I asked friends who'd read the books as a child to share their memories. I gr Show more
[on Paddington (2014)] I asked friends who'd read the books as a child to share their memories. I grilled my husband about Mrs Bird and he said, 'Well, she was very stern, but you knew that she was loving.' I remember thinking, That's a difficult one Hide
[on Pete Postlethwaite] He was such an important part of my youth. I think you learn from one anothe Show more
[on Pete Postlethwaite] He was such an important part of my youth. I think you learn from one another without realising it - we certainly sparked off one another acting-wise in the early days. He played Coriolanus at the Everyman and I played his wife. His performance was amazing, terrifyingly on the edge, I've never seen anything like it before or since. We hadn't kept in touch in later years, but my heart really goes out to his family. He was such a massive presence wherever he went, that for them to have lost him. Hide
Self worth is everything. Without it life is a misery.
Self worth is everything. Without it life is a misery.
Back then, it was still possible for a working-class kid like me to study drama because I got a gran Show more
Back then, it was still possible for a working-class kid like me to study drama because I got a grant. But the way things are now, there aren't going to be any working class actors. I look at almost all the up-and-coming names and they're from the posh schools. Don't get me wrong ... they're wonderful. It's just a shame those working-class kids aren't coming through. When I started, 30 years ago, it was the complete opposite. Hide
[In a 1984 interview] (I) would never do Shakespeare again unless it was with a director I trusted. Show more
[In a 1984 interview] (I) would never do Shakespeare again unless it was with a director I trusted. People get more out of reading Shakespeare than they do seeing a terrible production. Hide
[on her part in the Harry Potter films]It was so sad when I finished. It wasn't a very big part, but Show more
[on her part in the Harry Potter films]It was so sad when I finished. It wasn't a very big part, but it was going in every year to the same group of people. I just loved it and it's rare you have that kind of structure in your life as an actor. Hide
[on her autobiography] I wrote every single word of it and I loved the process, but I kind of ended Show more
[on her autobiography] I wrote every single word of it and I loved the process, but I kind of ended the book before my career really took off. 'm not really interested in writing about my career because you have to be honest, and you can't exactly write, "So-and-so was a right little s***." I mean, that wouldn't be right, would it? Hide
Art should reflect society but that's not going to happen if there's no funding for working class ki Show more
Art should reflect society but that's not going to happen if there's no funding for working class kids - like I was - to follow their passion. In acting, I certainly think we could end up with too many posh people, the only people who can afford to go to drama school, and that all the working class roles will be taken by posh people pretending to be working class, like it used to be before the Sixties. Not that there will be many new working class roles because there won't be any working class writers and the society we'll live in won't be represented. If I was starting out today, I would never have been able to afford to go to drama school. Hide
[on Mamma Mia! (2008)] I thought my acting was terrible in the film; so bad! I sprained my ankle dur Show more
[on Mamma Mia! (2008)] I thought my acting was terrible in the film; so bad! I sprained my ankle during Dancing Queen and Meryl Streep went mad. She was calling for ice, calling for the nurse, she really looked after me. I was massively intimidated before I met her, because I hold her in such high esteem, but she's very down-to-earth, a good woman. Hide
I was asked about doing a nude shoot for men's magazine GQ. I thought it was the funniest thing I'd Show more
I was asked about doing a nude shoot for men's magazine GQ. I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever heard. Hide
British films bring a lot of revenue into this country and should be supported. Our special effects Show more
British films bring a lot of revenue into this country and should be supported. Our special effects are the best in the world, thanks to the Harry Potter films, which we made in Britain with a British cast and crew. They weren't Americanised and are total proof of how great we Brits are at film. Hide
[on Billy Elliot (2000)] I was very touched by it. It's moving on all sorts of levels. It was a diam Show more
[on Billy Elliot (2000)] I was very touched by it. It's moving on all sorts of levels. It was a diamond in the sand. Different from all the middle-of-the-road crap that I get sent. I loved the character, and the fact that she was disappointed on every level possible. She was so grim and jaded. Her relationship with the boy was so unusual: she was so unmaternal, and he's a boy without a mother. She treated him not like a child, but more like a lover, a man. I found that very interesting. Hide
[on Educating Rita (1983)] I thought I was dreadful in it. When I first saw the film, I said, 'Oh Go Show more
[on Educating Rita (1983)] I thought I was dreadful in it. When I first saw the film, I said, 'Oh God, it's awful. And I'm awful in it.' I went straight to the toilets and started crying. When our lovely director, Lewis Gilbert, was talking about possible Oscar nods I genuinely thought he was mad. I did meet Sean Connery at the premiere, though. I had a crush on him as a teenager and he walked past me and slapped me on the bum. It was really funny. Hide
[on Paddington (2014)]: It gives out a really positive message about inclusion and tolerance. He's a Show more
[on Paddington (2014)]: It gives out a really positive message about inclusion and tolerance. He's a refugee, basically. Peter Capaldi's plays the neighbour and he says, 'Before long the street will be crawling with them. Let one in'. It's all the old cliched prejudices about people coming into the country. Hide
[on Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)] When someone offers you a part in a film where Romeo and Juliet are Show more
[on Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)] When someone offers you a part in a film where Romeo and Juliet are played by gnomes, you can't really turn it down. You only ever see my character's legs in the film - lovely tree stumps they are too - and I'll admit, by the end of the film I was so moved I started crying. I thought to myself, "Julie, pull yourself together - they're gnomes for goodness sake! Hide
[on her BAFTA nomination for Brooklyn (2015)] What a wonderful surprise, thrilled to be nominated. A Show more
[on her BAFTA nomination for Brooklyn (2015)] What a wonderful surprise, thrilled to be nominated. And proud to be included alongside these great women and their powerful performances. Hide
All long-term relationships are going to hit rocky patches, but you have to talk things through and Show more
All long-term relationships are going to hit rocky patches, but you have to talk things through and forgive your partner, just for being human, I suppose. Being with another actor wouldn't have worked for me because you'd never escape the business, which would make it difficult to find out who you really are. Also, because we have such different working lives, we're constantly interested in what the other person is doing. Being with someone who isn't in the industry gives me a fresh outlook and as grounding as he's been for me, I think I've grounded him, too. Hide
[on her mother's support of her film career] It wasn't until after she died and I was clearing out h Show more
[on her mother's support of her film career] It wasn't until after she died and I was clearing out her flat that I found a huge pile of newspaper articles she had kept about me, She had been cataloguing my career, but it just wasn't the sort of thing she would say - although when she came to the premiere of Educating Rita (1983) she pointed me out to a policeman and said, "That's my daughter", so I think she must have been proud. Hide
When I think of the future, I think of doing my washing so I've something to wear tomorrow.
When I think of the future, I think of doing my washing so I've something to wear tomorrow.
People imagine a huge pile of scripts and it's not like that. But I get a decent trickle of stuff. M Show more
People imagine a huge pile of scripts and it's not like that. But I get a decent trickle of stuff. Most of it, I don't want to do any more, either because it's like something I've done before or simply because I'm older now, so I don't have that same drive to keep going. Hide
[on how she keeps love alive] We can be romantic. Not soppy, though! We always leave notes for one a Show more
[on how she keeps love alive] We can be romantic. Not soppy, though! We always leave notes for one another if I get in late or he has to get up early. And he brings me flowers every week. Sometimes I will leave a little note on his pillow if I'm going away. But even when I'm home we leave each other notes. Love is the most important thing to me in my life. It really is what makes the world go round. Hide
Julie Walters's FILMOGRAPHY
All
as Actor (93)
Julie Walters'S roles
Nan
Mistress Quickly
Mrs. Molly Weasley
The Witch
Mrs. Kehoe
Mrs. Austen
Rosie
Mrs. Bird
Ellen
Rosie
Lady Montague
Mrs. Wilkinson
