Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#2004
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Miriam Margolyes represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 43 years in, and Miriam is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Miriam Margolyes appears in 31 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Miriam. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is the clearest case: a film rated 8.3 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for comedy, adventure, drama. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Nathalie Boltt, Lee Knight, Tal Granit and others, Miriam Margolyes helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) as Pomona Sprout · Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) as Pomona Sprout · Mulan (1998) as The Matchmaker (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #2004 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
31
1983–2026
Career length
43 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.3
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Average Nutevio score
6.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Most frequent director
George Miller
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With George Miller
Most common genre
Drama
15 titles
Average runtime
1h 43m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.9
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2010s
7.1 average MV
The 2010s are where the work and the material meet. Early Man, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2010s
7.1
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
7.0
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Little Shop of Horrors, Yentl.
Most productive era
1990s
13 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.61 film | 6.68 films | 6.52 films | — | 6.64 films |
| Action | — | 6.31 film | 5.41 film | — | — |
| Thriller | — | 6.32 films | — | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.91 film | 5.93 films | 6.04 films | 6.11 film | 6.83 films |
| Romance | 6.61 film | 6.56 films | 6.01 film | — | — |
| Horror | 6.91 film | 6.31 film | — | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1983Yentl
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Sarah.
Highest rated performance
2011Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
8.3 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer.
Career peak
2023Blackadder: A Cunning Story
Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026Holy Days
The current state of the argument, as Sister Luke.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
31 of 31 films
as Pomona Sprout
Directed by David Yates
as Pomona Sprout
Directed by Chris Columbus
as The Matchmaker (voice)
Directed by Tony Bancroft
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Self - Narrator (voice)
Blackadder: A Cunning Story (2023)
Performance score8.2
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self - Narrator (voice) gives Miriam Margolyes a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Pomona Sprout
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Performance score8.0
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Pomona Sprout is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Pomona Sprout
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Performance score7.8
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Pomona Sprout is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
The Matchmaker (voice)
Mulan (1998)
Performance score7.8
Mulan asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. The Matchmaker (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Start here. Blackadder: A Cunning Story is the clearest statement of what Miriam Margolyes does — accessible, 89 minutes, and rated 7.7 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Miriam at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Mulan (1998)
A deliberate change of key after Blackadder: A Cunning Story — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Keeps the adventure register of Mulan but asks for a colder reading of it.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
Keeps the fantasy register of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets but asks for a colder reading of it.
A Friend of Dorothy (2025)
A deliberate change of key after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
George Miller
Director
2 films together
Notably Happy Feet
Barbra Streisand
Director
1 film together
Notably Yentl
Frank Oz
Director
1 film together
Notably Little Shop of Horrors
John Schlesinger
Director
1 film together
Notably Pacific Heights
Terry Hughes
Director
1 film together
Notably The Butcher's Wife
Kenneth Branagh
Director
1 film together
Notably Dead Again
Martin Scorsese
Director
1 film together
Notably The Age of Innocence
Bernard Rose
Director
1 film together
Notably Immortal Beloved
Chris Noonan
Director
1 film together
Notably Babe
Simon Wells
Director
1 film together
Notably Balto
Henry Selick
Director
1 film together
Notably James and the Giant Peach
Baz Luhrmann
Director
1 film together
Notably Romeo + Juliet
Tony Bancroft
Director
1 film together
Notably Mulan
Peter Hyams
Director
1 film together
Notably End of Days
István Szabó
Director
1 film together
Notably Sunshine
Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together
Notably Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Robert B. Weide
Director
1 film together
Notably How to Lose Friends & Alienate People
Zack Snyder
Director
1 film together
Notably Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
David Yates
Director
1 film together
Notably Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Nick Park
Director
1 film together
Notably Early Man
Tony Tilse
Director
1 film together
Notably Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears
Tal Granit
Director
1 film together
Notably My Happy Ending
Lee Knight
Director
1 film together
Notably A Friend of Dorothy
Nathalie Boltt
Director
1 film together
Notably Holy Days
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
George Miller
Director
2 films together · 6.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Happy FeetDavid Yates
Director
1 film together · 8.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2Chris Columbus
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Harry Potter and the Chamber of SecretsTony Bancroft
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MulanSimon Wells
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BaltoLee Knight
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Friend of DorothyMartin Scorsese
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Age of InnocenceBaz Luhrmann
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Romeo + JulietFrank Oz
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Little Shop of HorrorsZack Snyder
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'HooleBernard Rose
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Immortal BelovedNathalie Boltt
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Holy DaysTal Granit
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Happy EndingHenry Selick
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
James and the Giant PeachBarbra Streisand
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
YentlIstván Szabó
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SunshineChris Noonan
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BabeKenneth Branagh
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dead AgainPeter Hyams
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
End of DaysJohn Schlesinger
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pacific HeightsTony Tilse
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Miss Fisher and the Crypt of TearsNick Park
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Early ManRobert B. Weide
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
How to Lose Friends & Alienate PeopleTerry Hughes
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Butcher's WifeSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
as Pomona Sprout
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Mulan
as The Matchmaker (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
as Pomona Sprout
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Little Shop of Horrors
as Dental Nurse
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Blackadder: A Cunning Story
as Self - Narrator (voice)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Miriam Margolyes has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
43 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Drama Legend
Awarded
15 catalogue titles in drama, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
as Pomona Sprout
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
as Pomona Sprout
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
as Mrs. Plithiver (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Pacific Heights
as Realtor
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Mulan
as The Matchmaker (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Cats & Dogs
as Sophie the Castle Maid
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Babe
as Fly (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
as Pomona Sprout
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Leonardo DiCaprio
Works with the same directors — Martin Scorsese
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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