Biography

Alison Steadman OBE is a much-loved English actor ranked no. 42 in a [y]2007] poll by Channel 4 on the "50 Greatest Actors". Highly acclaimed throughout her career, she won the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for her performance in the Mike Leigh film Life Is Sweet. (She would be married to Leigh from 1973 to 2001, when they filed for divorce.) Further accolades came with the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for playing Mari in the original production of The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice.

Steadman was born in Liverpool and educated at Childwall Valley High School for Girls, a state grammar school in the Liverpool suburb of Childwall, followed by East 15 Acting School. It was here that she met Mike Leigh during her second year of study.

After stage roles in several Mike Leigh's plays in the 1970s, including Nuts In May (1976) and Abigail's Party (1977), Steadman began a career in television, appearing in the BBC serial The Singing Detective and the ITV drama series Fat Friends.

Steadman is known for several radio roles in BBC Radio 4 sitcoms: Mother in Bird Island, about a scientist working in the Antarctic, Ginny Fox in Gloomsbury, about the Bloomsbury group, whose arty and adulterous adventures dominated the cultural scene in the early 20th century, Mrs Naughtie in Hamish And Dougal: You'll Have Had Your Tea, a spin-off from classic panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, and Angela in The Worst Week Of My Life about Howard Steel, a man who always manages to mess things up. She has also learnt huge legions of dedicated fans for her role as Pam Shipman on the much-loved BBC sitcom Gavin And Stacey. An Essex wife who does not have to work and loves entertainment and a good party, Pam has been married to Mick for 26 years and adores her son, Gavin, whom she calls 'my little prince',

She also featured as 'Joyce' alongside Philip Jackson and Russ Abbot, among others, in the BBC One sitcom Boomers, about a trio of newly-retired couples in Norfolk who gradually learn the value of quality time with loved ones.

In 2018 Steadman returned to BBC One with John Cleese in the sitcom Hold The Sunset, which follows two retired neighbours, playing by Cleese and Steadman, who live in Twickenham yet plan to start a new life together in Gozo.

In 2016, Steadman became an ambassador for London Wildlife Trust.