Olivia Colman Biography

English actress Olivia Colman was known mostly for her work in television comedy until she won an Oscar for her starring role in the 2018 film The Favourite.

In 2022 she was again nominated for an Oscar, for her lead role in the Maggie Gyllenhaal film The Lost Daughter (2021, with Jessie Buckley).

Olivia Colman began working in television in the early 2000s, and made appearances in The Office, Skins and Dr. Who, but is best known for her work with comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, including a regular role in the series Peeps (2013-15). Colman has also done voice work for the Thomas the Tank Engine shows (she’s Marion) and was in the series Rev. from 2010 to 2014.

Then she showed her dramatic chops in the crime series Broadchurch (2013-17, with David Tennant) and as a British spy boss in the mini-series The Night Manager (2016, starring Tom Hiddleston).

Colman won a Golden Globe award in 2017 for The Night Manager, and another in 2019 for Yorgos Lanthimos‘s 2018 film The Favourite (with Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz), a historical black comedy in which she played Queen Anne of England.

Olivia Colman also took over from Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II in the ongoing television series The Crown.