celebrity profile
By Anthony Joseph
TV Media
Through her acting, writing and
directorial efforts over the span of
more than two decades, Samantha
Morton has distinguished herself
as one of Britain’s great cinematic
talents.
Her journey began at the early age
of 13 when she started training at
the Central Junior Television Work-
shop before eventually leaving to
work full time as an actress three
years later. Early roles in popular TV
series such as ITV’s “Cracker” and
“Band of Gold” springboarded her
acting career.
Shortly thereafter, she was cast in
her first major film role. In “Under
The Skin” (1997), she starred as Iris
Kelly, a despondent young woman
whose life spirals out of control
after the death of her mother.
What followed was a cavalcade
of significant roles, starting with
Woody Allen’s jazz drama “Sweet
and Lowdown,” which landed her
a nomination for Best Supporting
Actress, the first of her two Oscar
nominations. Morton would later
describe her experience working
with Allen as life-changing.
Her success continued as she was
cast opposite Tom Cruise in Steven
Spielberg’s blockbuster science-
fiction movie “Minority Report”
(2002), which garnered more
than $350 million at the box office
worldwide.
A second Oscar nomination, this
time for Best Actress, came for
her work in Jim Sheridan’s “In
America” (2002), in which she de-
livered a powerful performance as
the matriarch of an Irish immigrant
family trying to find her way in New
York City.
She continued to garner critical
recognition and won the Golden
Globe Award for Best Supporting
Actress in a Series, Miniseries of
Television Film for her role in the
controversial British biographical
television film “Longford” (2006),
in which she played the Moors
murderess Myra Hindley. The pro-
duction was deemed “disgusting”
by the mother of one of Hindley’s
victims, but Morton believed it was
her duty not to shy away from un-
comfortable roles.
new on video
She made her directorial debut in
2009 with the semi-autobiograph-
ical “The Unloved” on Channel 4,
which highlights the perspective
of an 11-year-old child growing up
in the U.K.’s care system. Having
grown up in foster care herself,
Morton often advocates for better
support within the system, going
so far as to participate in protests
against closures and publicly speak
on the abuse she faced when she
was younger. Her directorial efforts
were rewarded with her first direc-
torial award for Best Single Drama
at the 2010 BAFTA Film Awards.
madam of a budding brothel who
seeks to better her standing in life
has garnered her considerable criti-
cal acclaim.
You can find her reprising the role of
Alpha, the mysterious leader of the
Whisperers, when the final season
of “The Walking Dead” continues
Sunday, Feb. 23, on AMC.
FACTS:
- Born May 13, 1977, in Notting-
ham, United Kingdom (age 42)
- Received an honorary doctor
of letters from Nottingham Trent
University
Sudoku
Knives Out
When celebrated mystery writer
Harlan Thrombey (Plummer) dies
under mysterious circumstances
not dissimilar to a plot in his own
crime novels, private detective
Benoit Blanc (Craig) is tasked by
an anonymous party to investi-
gate the old man’s untimely de-
mise. After learning that several
members of Harlan’s immediate
family, including his own children
and grandchildren, had motive
to murder him, Benoit Blanc sets
out to navigate the family’s com-
plicated and strained relation-
ships and to uncover the truth
behind the patriarch’s death.
Director: Rian Johnson. Stars:
Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de
Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael
Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Col-
lette, LaKeith Stanfield, Christo-
pher Plummer. 2019. 131 mins.
Comedy.
Frozen II
Three years after her coronation,
Queen Elsa (Menzel) begins to
hear a mysterious voice calling to
her from beyond Arendelle. After
following the voice, Elsa uninten-
tionally awakens the elemental
spirits of earth, fire, water and air,
and the people of Arendelle are
forced to leave their homes for
their own safety. Along with
Fill in the grid so that every row, every column,
and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.
Solution on page 2
Samantha Morton in “Harlots”
12 | Screentime
February 19, 2020 | East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald
After a short reprieve from the
spotlight, Morton returned in
2012 and lent her voice to the
box office flop “John Carter”
(2012). She also contributed her
voice to the romantic science-
fiction drama “Her” (2013) but
was unceremoniously replaced
by Scarlett Johansson in post-
production.
In 2016, she appeared in her most
commercially successful movie to
date as the leader of a radical group
of witch and wizard hunters in the
Harry Potter spinoff film “Fantastic
Beasts And Where To Find Them.”
It grossed more than $800 million
worldwide.
The following year, Morton took
on a recurring role on ITV Encore’s
period drama series “Harlots.”
Her standout performance as the
- Has two daughters named
Esme and Edie, and a son named
Theodore
- Her daughter, Esme Creed-Miles,
is also an actor and stars in the
Prime Original series “Hanna”
- Had to relearn how to walk after
damaging her vertebral artery in
2006
- Has been nominated for more
than 60 awards
- Is of Polish descent
QUOTES:
“Art doesn’t have to be a celeb-
rity. It doesn’t have to be about
success.”
“I believe it is my duty as a
performer to raise issues in the
world of things we’re afraid to
look at.”
Daniel Craig in “Knives Out”
Anna (Bell), Kristoff (Groff) and
Olaf (Gad), Elsa sets out for an
enchanted forest she learned
about as a girl, and meets a new
cast of characters that she hopes
will help her lift a long-standing
enchantment and learn the ori-
gin of her own magical powers.
Directors: Chris Buck, Jennifer
Lee. Stars: Kristen Bell, Idina
Menzel, Josh Gad, Jonathan
Groff, Sterling K. Brown, Evan
Rachel Wood, Alfred Molina,
Martha Plimpton, Jason Ritter,
Jeremy Sisto. 2019. 103 mins. An-
imation.
Color Out of Space
After his wife Theresa’s (Richard-
son) recent health scare, Nathan
Gardner (Cage) moves his family
to a rural New England farm to
escape the complexities of city
life. Slowly adjusting to the reali-
ties of their new country life —
like the impossibly slow internet
connection — the family is once
again upended when a meteor
lands in their front yard. Gardner
soon realizes that what is leak-
ing out of the meteor might spell
disaster for their new pictur-
esque life.
Director: Richard Stanley. Stars:
Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson,
Madeleine Arthur, Elliot Knight,
Tommy Chong, Brendan Meyer.
2019. 111 mins. Horror.