Samantha Morton has established herself as one of the finest actors of her generation, winning Oscar nominations for her turns in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and Jim Sheridan's In America (2002). She has the talent to become one of the major performers in the cinema of this young century.
Born on May 13, 1977, in Nottingham, England, Samantha Morton was raised by her parents, Peter and Pamela Morton, who divorced when she was three years old. She was part of a mixed family of 13, with eight brothers and sisters.
Morton turned to play-acting early in her life, while she was still a school-girl. At 13, she left regular school to train as an actress at the Central Junior Television Workshop, where she learned her craft for three years. It was at the end of her training that she decided that a life as a professional actress was for her.
She honed her skills in television roles, working her way up from series television to TV-movies and prestigious mini-series, such as Emma (1996) and Jane Eyre (1997). Her first major film role, Under the Skin (1997),won her the Best Actress Award from the Boston Film Critics Society.
Morton's breakthrough performance came in Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999),where she played the role of Hattie, the "dumb" (unspeaking) lover of Sean Penn's caddish jazz guitarist. Her performance in this film won her a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination.
After Sweet and Lowdown, Morton consolidated her reputation by following up with work in indie features that showcased her talent and courage as a performer. She played a heroin addict in the underrated Jesus' Son (1999) and gave a brilliant performance in Morvern Callar (2002),the story of a Scottish supermarket clerk coping with her boyfriend's suicide.
Morton's subsequent roles included a stint as a clairvoyant in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report (2002),opposite Tom Cruise, and a performance as a young Irish mother in Jim Sheridan's In America (2002). Her performance in In America won her numerous critics' awards and another Oscar nod, this time as Best Actress.
At this point, one feels that the odds of her winning the Oscar are even or better. Samantha Morton continues to deliver fine work in provocative films such as Michael Winterbottom's Code 46 (2003),though she is branching out towards the mainstream, taking a role in the remake of that perennial family favorite, Lassie (2005).
