Imelda Staunton brings brisk certainty to supporting parts and does valuable work with her voice. We rate her economy, though the pleasant family sequels are not where we would start with an actor capable of carrying Vera Drake.
Fi1m perspective
In Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023), Bunty needs only a lowered eyelid to look furious. We laughed at how little movement was needed to make her displeasure clear. Staunton supplies the voice, and the animators deserve their share of the credit. Her briskness suits a character who needs no elaborate introduction. Within a sequel we found neat and mostly pleasant, that small piece of bad temper is welcome.
The supporting work was there before the leading breakthrough. In Much Ado About Nothing (1993), she plays Margaret, while Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh provide the sparring romance that makes the film worth an evening. Its physical comedy sometimes needs restraint, though that is a reservation about the film rather than a charge against Staunton. Bunty followed in Chicken Run (2000), before the title role in Vera Drake (2004) gave her a film breakthrough. She continued taking supporting and voice roles afterwards.
The limitation is often the size of the job. Mike Leigh's Vera Drake centres on a 1950s housewife performing illegal abortions, giving Staunton the responsibility of sustaining a whole film rather than contributing to an ensemble. Later came Dolores Umbridge, the authoritarian professor in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), and Queen Elizabeth II in the final seasons of The Crown (2022–2023). Those prominent parts complicate any account of her as chiefly a dependable supporting player. We would like more leading film roles of that weight, rather than further evidence that she can be useful in a large cast.
The recurring voice roles remain useful work, with Aunt Lucy taking her from Paddington (2014) to Dougal Wilson's Paddington in Peru (2024). The latter is kind and brisk, but it feels more like a sequel than we would like. Neither it nor Dawn of the Nugget gives us enough reason to recommend the whole film on Staunton's presence alone. For a fuller sense of what she can carry, start with Vera Drake.
Biography
Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton is an English actress and singer. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she began her career in repertory theatre in 1976 and has appeared in numerous stage productions in the West End and across the United Kingdom.
On stage she has won five Laurence Olivier Awards, including one for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Play for A Chorus of Disapproval and The Corn Is Green (1985) and four for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for Into the Woods (1991), Sweeney Todd (2013), Gypsy (2016) and Hello, Dolly! (2025). She has received fourteen Olivier nominations in total.
Her film roles include the title character in Vera Drake (2004), for which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and was nominated for an Academy Award, Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films, Knotgrass in the Maleficent films, and the voice of Aunt Lucy in the Paddington films (2014, 2017, 2024) and Bunty in the Chicken Run films (2000, 2023). She portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in the final two seasons of The Crown.
