Editing Brenda Blethyn (section)

=== 1996–2003: Film breakthrough and acclaim === 
[[File:MikeLeighAbBFI141121 (3 of 9) (51680853622).jpg|thumb|left|Blethyn acted in the [[Mike Leigh]] film ''[[Secrets & Lies (film)|Secrets and Lies]]'' (1996) which earned her a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]]] 
Blethyn's breakthrough came with [[Mike Leigh]]'s 1996 drama ''[[Secrets & Lies (film)|Secrets & Lies]]''. Starring alongside [[Marianne Jean-Baptiste]], she portrayed a lower-class box factory worker, who after years once again comes in contact with her illegitimate grown-up black daughter, whom she gave up for [[adoption]] 30 years earlier. For her improvised performance, Blethyn was praised with a variety of awards, including the [[Best Actress Award (Cannes Film Festival)|Best Actress Award]] at the [[1996 Cannes Film Festival]],<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4693/year/1996.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Secrets & Lies |access-date=19 September 2009|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref> the British Academy Award, a [[BAFTA]] Award, a [[Golden Globe]] and an [[Academy Award]] nomination for Best Actress.<ref name="awards">{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000950/awards |title=Awards for Brenda Blethyn |publisher=IMDb |access-date=10 November 2010}}</ref> Upon its success, Blethyn later stated: "I knew it was a great film, but I didn't expect it to get the attention it did because none of his other films had and I thought they were just as good. Of course, I didn't know what it was about until I saw it in the cinema because of the way that he works—but I knew it was good. That it reached a wider audience surprised me." Besides critical acclaim ''Secrets & Lies'' also became a financial success; budgeted at an estimated $4.5 million, the film grossed an unexpected $13.5 million in its limited theatrical run in North America.<ref>[https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1996/0SALY.html Box Office&nbsp;— ''Secrets & Lies'']. The Numbers.</ref>

The following year, Blethyn appeared in a supporting role in [[Nick Hurran]]'s debut feature ''Remember Me?'' (1997), a middle class suburban farce revolving around a family whose life is thrown into chaos upon the arrival of an old university crush.<ref name="baid"/> Forging another collaboration with the director, the actress was cast alongside [[Julie Walters]] for Hurran's next project, 1998's ''[[Girls' Night]]'', a drama film about two sisters-in-law, one dying of cancer, who fulfil a lifelong dream of going to [[Las Vegas, Nevada]], after an unexpected jackpot win on the [[Bingo (Commonwealth)|bingo]]. Loosely based upon the real experiences by writer [[Kay Mellor]], the production was originally destined for television until [[Granada Productions]] found backing from [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime]].<ref name="baid">{{cite book|title=Contemporary British And Irish Film Directors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OJAcf31BweQC&q=HURRAN%20%22thrown%20into%20chaos%20upon%20the%20arrival%20of%22&pg=PA153|date=1 January 2001|access-date=15 October 2010|isbn=978-1-903364-21-5|last1 = Allon|first1 = Yoram|last2 = Cullen|first2 = Del|last3 = Patterson|first3 = Hannah| publisher=Wallflower Press }}</ref> Premiered to a mixed response by critics at the 1998 [[Sundance Film Festival]], who noted it a "rather formulaic tearjerker [with] two powerhouse Brit actresses,"<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Dennis|last=Harvey|title=''Girls Night'' Review|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117437042.html?categoryid=31&cs=1|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=22 January 1998|access-date=15 October 2010}}</ref> Hurran won a Silver Spire at the [[San Francisco International Film Festival]] and received a [[Golden Berlin Bear]] nomination at the [[Berlin International Film Festival]] for his work.<ref>{{cite web|title=Awards for Nick Hurran|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0403541/awards|publisher=[[IMDb]]|access-date=15 October 2010}}</ref> In John Lynch's ''[[Night Train (1998 film)|Night Train]]'' (1998), Blethyn played a timid spinster who strikes up a friendship with [[John Hurt]]'s character, an ex-prisoner, who rents a room in her house while on the run from some nasty gangsters. A romantic drama with comedic and thrilling elements, the film was shot at several locations in Ireland, England and Italy in 1997, and received a limited release the following year.<ref>{{cite web|title=Filming locations for ''Night Train''|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169083/locations|publisher=[[IMDb]]|access-date=15 October 2010}}</ref> The film received a mixed reception from critics. Adrian Wootton of ''[[The Guardian]]'' called it "an impressive directorial debut [that] mainly succeeds because [of] the talents of its lead actors". The film was nominated for a Crystal Star at the Brussels International Film Festival.<ref>{{cite web|title=Awards for Night Train |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0169083/awards|publisher=[[IMDb]]|access-date=14 October 2010}}</ref> She also starred in James Bogle's film adaption of [[Tim Winton]]'s 1988 novel ''[[In the Winter Dark]]'' (1998).

Blethyn's last film of 1998 was ''[[Little Voice (film)|Little Voice]]'' opposite [[Jane Horrocks]] and [[Michael Caine]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Matt |last=Wolf |title=Appealingly appalling |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19990106&id=1eROAAAAIBAJ&pg=6634,2466327 |newspaper=Star-News |agency=Associated Press |date=6 January 1999 |access-date=19 October 2014}}</ref> Cast against type, she played a domineering yet needy fish factory worker, who has nothing but contempt for her shy daughter and lusts after a local showbiz agent.<ref name="bbc2">{{cite news|title=Brenda Blethyn Interview |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast/2328693.stm |date=15 October 2002 |access-date=19 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709100955/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast/2328693.stm |archive-date=9 July 2010 }}</ref> A breakaway from the kind at heart roles Blethyn had previously played, it was the character's antipathy that attracted the actress to accept the role of Mari: "I have to understand why she is the way she is. She is a desperate woman, but she also has an optimistic take on life which I find enviable. Whilst I don't approve of her behaviour, there is a reason for it and it was my job to work that out."<ref name="bbc2"/> Both Blethyn's performance and the film received rave reviews, and the following year, she was again Oscar nominated, this time for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] for her performance.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1999|title= The 71st Academy Awards|website= [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|date= 18 November 2016|accessdate= June 25, 2024}}</ref> Blethyn's first film of 2000 was the indie comedy ''[[Saving Grace (2000 film)|Saving Grace]]'' with [[Craig Ferguson]]. Blethyn played a middle-aged newly widowed woman who is faced with the prospect of financial ruin and turns to growing [[marijuana]] under the tutelage of her gardener to save her home. Her performance in the film received favourable reviews; [[Peter Travers]] wrote for ''[[Rolling Stone]]'': "It's Blethyn's solid-gold charm [that] turns ''Saving Grace'' into a comic high."<ref name="RS-1">{{cite magazine|author=Travers, Peter|date=11 December 2000|title=''Saving Grace'' review|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5948279/review/5948280/saving_grace|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002044330/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5948279/review/5948280/saving_grace|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 October 2007|access-date=7 July 2007|author-link=Peter Travers}}</ref> The following year, Blethyn received her third Golden Globe nomination for her role in the film, which grossed an unexpected $24&nbsp;million worldwide.<ref>{{cite web|title=Saving Grace|work=The Numbers|url=https://the-numbers.com/movies/2000/GRACE.php|access-date=13 February 2008}}</ref> That same year, she also had a smaller role in the [[short film|short comedy]] ''Yes You Can''.

In 2001, Blethyn signed on to star in her own [[CBS]] sitcom, ''The Seven Roses'', in which she was to play the role of a widowed innkeeper and matriarch of an eccentric family. Originally slated to be produced by two former executive producers of ''[[Frasier]]'', plans for a pilot eventually went nowhere due to early casting conflicts.<ref name="Canoe">{{cite web|title=Oscar-winner Signs Up for Sitcom|work=[[Canadian Online Explorer]]|url=http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/B/Blethyn_Brenda/2001/03/08/756778.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130120202717/http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/B/Blethyn_Brenda/2001/03/08/756778.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=20 January 2013|access-date=7 July 2007}}</ref> Afterwards, Blethyn accepted a supporting role as [[Auguste van Pels]] in the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] mini series ''[[Anne Frank: The Whole Story]]'' based on the [[Anne Frank: The Biography|book]] by [[Melissa Müller]], for which she garnered her first [[Emmy Award]] nomination.<ref>{{cite web|title=Awards for Brenda Blethyn|publisher=[[IMDb]]|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000950/awards|access-date=1 February 2009}}</ref> Following this, Blethyn starred in the films ''[[Daddy and Them]]'', ''On the Nose'', and ''[[Lovely & Amazing]]''. In [[Billy Bob Thornton]]'s ''Daddy and Them'', she portrayed an English neurotic [[psychologist]], who feels excluded by the American clan she married into due to her nationality. The film scored a generally positive reception but was financially unsuccessful, leading to a [[Direct-to-TV film|direct-to-TV release]] stateside.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/daddy_and_them/ |title=Daddy and Them |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=rottentomatoes.com |access-date=1 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725234309/http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/daddy_and_them/ |archive-date=25 July 2008 }}</ref> In Canadian-Irish comedy ''On the Nose'', Blethyn played the minor role of the all-disapproving wife of Brendan Delaney, played by [[Robbie Coltrane]].<ref name="rte"/> Her appearance was commented as "underused" by Harry Guerin, writer for ''RTÉ Entertainment''.<ref name="rte">{{cite news|title=''On the Nose'' review|author=Guerin, Harry|work=RTÉ.ie Entertainment|url=http://www.rte.ie/arts/2001/1025/onthenose.html|access-date=1 February 2009|date=25 October 2001}}</ref> Blethyn depicted an affluent but desperate and distracted matriarch of three daughters in [[Nicole Holofcener]]'s [[independent film|independent drama]] ''Lovely & Amazing'', featuring [[Catherine Keener]], [[Emily Mortimer]] and [[Jake Gyllenhaal]].<ref name="rt-la"/> The film became Blethyn's biggest box-office success of the year with a worldwide gross of $5&nbsp;million only,<ref>{{cite web|title=Lovely & Amazing|work=The Numbers|url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2002/LOVLY.php|access-date=13 February 2008}}</ref> and earned the actress mixed reviews from professional critics.<ref name="rt-la">{{cite web|author=Turan, Kenneth |title=''Lovely & Amazing'' review |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1114559/reviews.php?critic=columns&sortby=default&page=1&rid=732715 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020806174348/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1114559/reviews.php?critic=columns&sortby=default&page=1&rid=732715 |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 August 2002 |access-date=7 July 2007 |author-link=Kenneth Turan }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|author=Travers, Peters |title=''Lovely & Amazing'' review |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1114559/reviews.php?critic=columns&sortby=default&page=1&rid=733360 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040507214042/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1114559/reviews.php?critic=columns&sortby=default&page=1&rid=733360 |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 May 2004 |access-date=7 July 2007 }}</ref> She also did the UK voice of Dr. Florence Mountfitchet in the [[Bob the Builder]] special, "The Knights of Can-A-Lot".

In 2002, Blethyn appeared with [[Christina Ricci]] in the [[dark comedy]] ''[[Pumpkin (film)|Pumpkin]]'', a financial disaster.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pumpkin|publisher=[[Metacritic]]|url=https://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/pumpkin?q=Brenda%20Blethyn|access-date=1 February 2008}}</ref> The film opened to little notice and grossed less than $300,000 during its North American theatrical run.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pumpkin |work=The Numbers |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pumpkin/numbers.php |access-date=28 May 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090920075911/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pumpkin/numbers.php |archive-date=20 September 2009 }}</ref> Her performance as the overprotective wine-soaked mother of a disabled teenage boy generated Blethyn mostly critical reviews. ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' writer Lisa Schwarzbaum called her "challenged, unsure [... and] miscast."<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Schwarzbaum, Lisa |title=''Pumpkin'' review |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |url=https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,273939~1~0~pumpkin,00.html |access-date=1 February 2008 |date=2 July 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070324205843/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0%2C%2C273939~1~0~pumpkin%2C00.html |archive-date=24 March 2007 }}</ref> Her following film, limitedly-released [[Nicolas Cage]]'s ''[[Sonny (film)|Sonny]]'', saw similar success. While the production was panned in general,<ref name="reel-1">{{cite web|title=''Undertaking Betty'' review|work=Reelfilms|url=http://www.reelfilm.com/bvmar06.htm#under|access-date=30 June 2006}}</ref> the actress earned mixed reviews for her performance of an eccentric ex-prostitute and mother, as some critics such as Kevin Thomas considered her casting as "problematic [due to] caricatured acting."<ref>{{cite web|title=Sonny|publisher=[[Metacritic]]|url=https://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/sonny?q=Brenda%20Blethyn|access-date=30 June 2007}}</ref> Blethyn eventually received more acclaim when she accepted the lead role in the [[dark comedy]] ''[[Plots with a View]]''. Starring alongside [[Alfred Molina]], the pair was praised for their "genuine chemistry."<ref name="reel-1"/> A year after, Blethyn co-starred with [[Bob Hoskins]] and [[Jessica Alba]] in historical [[direct-to-video]] drama ''[[The Sleeping Dictionary]]''. The film earned her a DVDX Award but received mixed critics, as did ''[[Blizzard]]'', a [[Christmas movie]] in which Blethyn played the eccentric character of Aunt Millie, the narrator of the film's story.<ref name="rotten-2">{{cite web|title=Blizzard|work=Rotten Tomaotes|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blizzard/|access-date=7 July 2007}}</ref> 2003 ended with the mini series ''[[Between the Sheets (TV series)|Between the Sheets]]'', in which Blethyn starred as a woman struggling with her own ambivalent feelings towards her husband and sex.<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/people-london-england-the/mi_7998/is_2003_Dec_7/interview-brenda-blethyn-telly-id/ai_n37088718/?tag=content;col1] {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>