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Alison Steadman OBE (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She established her career with roles such as Beverley in Abigail's Party and Candice Marie in Nuts in May for the director Mike Leigh, to whom she was once married. In addition to her stage and radio work, she has had lead roles in The Singing Detective, Pride and Prejudice and Gavin and Stacey. In 1992 she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Mari in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. Steadman was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, the youngest of three sisters, the daughter of Marjorie (née... MORE

Alison Steadman OBE (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She established her career with roles such as Beverley in Abigail's Party and Candice Marie in Nuts in May for the director Mike Leigh, to whom she was once married. In addition to her stage and radio work, she has had lead roles in The Singing Detective, Pride and Prejudice and Gavin and Stacey. In 1992 she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Mari in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. Steadman was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, the youngest of three sisters, the daughter of Marjorie (née Evans), who died of cancer, and George Percival Steadman, who worked for Plessey, an electronics firm, as a production controller. Steadman was educated at Childwall Valley High School for Girls, a state grammar school in the Liverpool suburb of Childwall, followed by East 15 Acting School, to which she secured a place in the autumn of 1966, where she first met Mike Leigh, during her second year. Having left the East 15 Acting School in Loughton, Steadman worked in various regional repertory theatres, starting at Lincoln, where her first role was that of the seductive schoolgirl Sandy in The Prime LESS