Best Known As: The precog Agatha in the movie Minority Report
A popular television and film actor in the United Kingdom, Samantha Morton is recognized internationally for her role as the precog, Agatha, in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report (2002, starring Tom Cruise). Morton has been acting since she was a teenager, gaining acclaim for appearances in British series such as Boon and Cracker and larger roles in television movies such as 1997's Jane Eyre. In addition to co-starring in Minority Report, Morton has appeared in several smaller budget movies and earned an Oscar nomination for her role in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999, starring Sean Penn). Her other films include Jesus' Son (1999, with Billy Crudup), Morvern Caller (2002), Code 46 (2003, with Tim Robbins) and Lassie (2005, with Peter O'Toole).
Morton is reportedly a big fan of the band Joy Division.
Career Highlights: Jesus' Son, Sweet and Lowdown, Under the Skin
First Major Screen Credit: Band of Gold (1995)
Biography
With only a handful of film credits to her name, British actress Samantha Morton earned a reputation as one of the most critically lauded up-and-comers of the late '90s. Small-boned and possessed of almost elfin features, Morton, who was born in Nottingham in 1977, began acting on television at the age of 13. She appeared in a number of series, including the popular crime drama Cracker and such costume extravaganzas as Jane Eyre and Emma.
Morton became known to an international film audience in 1997, when she won wide acclaim for her wrenching, fearless portrayal of a young woman driven to promiscuous behavior by the death of her mother in Carine Adler's Under the Skin. The following year, she did starring work in The Last Yellow and Dreaming of Joseph Lees, playing the girlfriend of a small-time crook in the former and a dissatisfied young woman harboring romantic feelings for her long-absent second cousin (Rupert Graves) in the latter.
In 1999, Morton's name became an increasingly familiar one to American filmgoers, thanks to starring roles in two very different films. The first, Jesus' Son, cast the actress as a heroin addict, while the second, Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown, featured her as a shy, mute woman who gets used and abused by a legendary jazz guitarist (Sean Penn) whose musical talent runs in inverse proportion to his qualities as a human being. Heralded for both films, Morton scored a surprise Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for the latter. Not resting on the laurel, the actress immediately set to work with a pair of venerable cineastes, directors Julien Temple (in Pandemonium) and Amos Gitai (in his first English-language production, Eden).
Director Steven Spielberg soon followed Allen's lead, casting Morton in a small but pivotal role as a shivering, near-mute, clairvoyant "Precog" in his Blade Runner-esque mystery Minority Report, which premiered in the summer of 2002. Though the film would introduce Morton to her largest audience yet, it was a pair of independent features released in late 2002 and 2003 that would garner her even more significant critical attention. Teaming with the maverick Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, the actress would essay the enigmatic, directionless title character in Morvern Callar, a dreamy, elliptical adaptation of Alan Warner's cult novel. About a year later, Morton would see the release of In America, Jim Sheridan's acclaimed slice-of-life tale of an Irish family immigrating to New York City's Hell's Kitchen, for which she would receive her second Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actress.
Morton continued to take on challenging assignments such as the futuristic Code 46 opposite Tim Robbins and directed by British helmer Michael Winterbottom, and appearing opposite Johnny Depp in the little-seen The Libertine, and the period drama River Queen. Although Lassie may seem like a unusual film for Morton to appear in, she has a history of working in family friendly fare having provided the voice for Ruby in the Max and Ruby animated television series based on the popular children's books by Rosemary Wells. ~ Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide
Morton was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire,
England, daughter of Pamela, a factory worker, and Peter Morton.[1] Her parents divorced in 1979.[2] She attended West Bridgford Comprehensive School and spent part of her childhood in care.
Morton has a daughter, Esme (born in 2000), with actor Charlie Creed-Miles.
Morton is engaged to filmmaker Harry Holm, son of actor Ian Holm. It was recently announced
that both Holm and Morton are expecting their first child in January2008.
Morton played the Moors MurderessMyra Hindley in
a television film Longford (2006). Set between 1967 and 1997, the film depicts
the relationship between the infamous child killer and Lord
Longford, the politician who spent years campaigning for her release. Morton was severely criticised by the relatives of
the children who were killed by Hindley and Ian Brady but she insisted, "It is my duty as a
performer to raise issues...we're afraid to look at".[4]
Morton received a 2007 Emmy nomination for her performance in the film.
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