Brenda Fricker

Acting

Brenda Fricker

Born — Died

1945-02-17 — 2026-07-17

Place of birth

Dublin, Ireland

Known for

Acting

Credits

87 titles

Brenda Fricker (February 17, 1945 – July 17, 2026) was an Irish actress, whose career spanned six decades on stage and screen. She appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award, earning the award for Best Supporting Actress for the biopic My Left Foot (1989). She also appeared in films such as The Field (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), So I Married An Axe Murderer (1993), Angels in the Outfield (1994), A Time to Kill (1996), Veronica Guerin (2003), Inside I'm Dancing (2004) and Albert Nobbs (2011). She was also a regular as a nurse in the BBC drama Casualty. Description above from the Wikipedia article …

Known for

Film credits

2010s · 6 titles

Albert Nobbs poster
6.3

Albert Nobbs struggles to survive in late 19th century Ireland, where women aren't encouraged to be independent. Posing as a man, so she can work as a butler in Dublin's most posh hotel, Albert meets a handsome painter and looks to escape the lie she has been living.

Albert Nobbs

2011

Locked In poster
4.1

Josh decides to leave his advertising career at its peak and walks away from fame and success. But his life turns upside down when a car accident leaves his daughter in a strange coma.

Locked In

2010

A Long Way From Home poster
5.5

Joseph and Brenda have done what many only dream of and retired to the South of France to live out the rest of their days as if they were permanently on holiday. But retirement is not what Joseph imagined, and when he meets a young, attractive woman, Suzanne, everything he thought he knew about himself and his world is turned upside down.

A Long Way From Home

2013

Cloudburst poster
6.4

When Dot's granddaughter puts her into a nursing home, Stella stages a breakout, and takes Dot to Canada so they can get married. They pick up a hitchhiker along the way.

Cloudburst

2011

Muide Éire poster
NR

Muide Eire / We are Ireland documents the history of Ireland on screen. From the horse drawn carriages of Dublin's yesteryear, to the latest summer blockbuster, this film takes an intimate look at film making in Ireland - as a visual expression of Irish culture, celebrating contemporary filmmakers in both the Irish and English languages. From the glamour of the red carpet to behind the scenes 5am starts, We are Ireland invites the viewer into this world where art and industry exist in delicate balance. The heart of this documentary is our investigation into representations of Ireland and the Irish - how the Irish have been viewed abroad, and how we represent ourselves on screen.

Muide Éire

2011

Deadly poster
NR

Deadly tells the story of Boney, a working stiff who doesn’t care about his dead-end job. That is until, he has a run-in with a spirited old lady named Bridie. Academy award winner, Brenda Fricker and Love/Hate star Peter Coonan lend their voices to this bittersweet animated short about life, death and dancin'!

Deadly

2014

2000s · 19 titles

Veronica Guerin poster
6.7

In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the bottom with addicts, Guerin then gets in touch with John Traynor, a paranoid informant. Not without some prodding, Traynor leads her to John Gilligan, the ruthless head of the operation, who does not take kindly to Guerin's nosing.

Veronica Guerin

2003

Closing the Ring poster
6.2

During the 1940s, a group of young men go off to war, leaving behind Ethel Ann, who is in love with one of them, Teddy. In modern-day Belfast, a man named Jimmy endeavors to return a ring found in the wreckage of a crashed plane. He travels to Michigan, where the grown Ethel Ann, who married another man after Teddy was killed in battle, now lives. Ethel Ann must decide whether to go with Jimmy to meet the soldier who last saw Teddy alive.

Closing the Ring

2007

Inside I'm Dancing poster
7.4

Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.

Inside I'm Dancing

2004

Trauma poster
5.2

Awaking from a coma to discover his wife has been killed in a car accident, Ben's world may as well have come to an end. A few weeks later, Ben's out of hospital and, attempting to start a new life, he moves home and is befriended by a beautiful young neighbour Charlotte. His life may be turning around but all is not what it seems and, haunted by visions of his dead wife, Ben starts to lose his grip on reality.

Trauma

2004

Pete's Meteor poster
5.3

Lives change for members of an Irish family after a meteor crashes in their backyard. The kids believe that it was sent down to them by their dead parents, but the government hauls the rock away and sends it to the local university.

Pete's Meteor

2002

Cupid & Cate poster
6.0

Cate has a small boutique where she sells vintage clothes. She is dating Phillip, a snob whose parents think that Cate isn't good enough, so when she meets Harry and sparks fly, she starts to question her choices in life.

Cupid & Cate

2000

Tara Road poster
5.3

A grieving Connecticut mother temporarily switches houses with a woman in Dublin, Ireland.

Tara Road

2005

Stone of Destiny poster
6.5

Tells of the daring heist of The Stone of Destiny in the 1950s by a charming group of idealistic Scottish undergraduates, whose action rekindled Scottish nationalistic pride.

Stone of Destiny

2008

How About You... poster
6.3

A young woman, struggling with the direction of her life, spends Christmas watching over a retirement home filled with demanding residents.

How About You...

2007

Omagh poster
6.6

The movie starts at the 1998 bomb attack by the Real IRA at Omagh, Northern Ireland. The attack killed 31 people. Michael Gallagher one of the relatives of the victims starts an examination to bring the people responsible to court.

Omagh

2005

Conspiracy of Silence poster
4.8

When a priest commits suicide and two trainees are expelled from a seminary, a journalist starts to investigate the Vatican’s silence on broken vows of celibacy. A thriller examining the internal conflicts in the modern Catholic church.

Conspiracy of Silence

2003

Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss poster
4.6

The story of Heidi Fleiss, known as "The Hollywood Madam", who was the daughter of a prominent Los Angeles doctor and eventually became a prostitute for a well-known Los Angeles madam. She took over her boss' operation and soon was raking in $300,000 a month by hiring only the most beautiful and highest-class hookers and catering to wealthy Hollywood types, European and American corporate executives and Arab sheiks. Her operation was broken up by Los Angeles police in 1993, and she eventually went to prison for income-tax evasion.

Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss

2004

No artwork available
5.2

A period drama/thriller about a surveyor and his fiancée who arrive in a remote Malaysian trading post and encounter a closed-fisted ivory trader and her ill-meaning family.

The Intended

2002

Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story poster
5.8

The 1946/1947 murder trial of young and beautiful Evelyn Dick remains the most lurid murder case in Canadian history. After children find only the torso of her missing husband, John, Evelyn is arrested for his murder.

Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story

2002

The War Bride poster
5.9

During World War II, a Cockney woman marries a Canadian soldier and adjusts to life in Alberta.

The War Bride

2001

I Was a Rat poster
9.0

A little boy found wandering the streets is taken in by Bob and Joan, a kindly couple. The boy is cold, wet and desperate for shelter, but Bob and Joan are perplexed by his claims that he was once a rat. Meanwhile, rumours are rife at the newspaper about the prince's new love: a girl who captivated everyone at the palace ball.

I Was a Rat

2001

Watermelon poster
4.3

A tangled web of deceit pitches three lovers together with the added proposition of a baby.

Watermelon

2003

Milk poster
9.0

Reluctant Jennifer must bathe her mischievous grandmother. Once close, they are now virtually strangers. The enforced intimacy of the situation results in an awkwardness that they can neither deny nor overcome until they begin to play together in the water.

Milk

2005

The Liberties poster
NR

A series of twelve short films, each encapsulating a different aspect of the famous Dublin inner-city community. The vibrancy of the streets, the humour of the inhabitants and the skills of the traders and craftspeople are all captured here.

The Liberties

2009

1990s · 19 titles

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York poster
6.8

Instead of flying to Florida with his folks, Kevin ends up alone in New York, where he gets a hotel room with his dad's credit card—despite problems from a clerk and meddling bellboy. But when Kevin runs into his old nemeses, the Wet Bandits, he's determined to foil their plans to rob a toy store on Christmas Eve.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

1992

A Time to Kill poster
7.4

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

A Time to Kill

1996

Moll Flanders poster
6.1

The daughter of a thief, young Moll is placed in the care of a nunnery after the execution of her mother. However, the actions of an abusive priest lead Moll to rebel as a teenager, escaping to the dangerous streets of London. Further misfortunes drive her to accept a job as a prostitute from the conniving Mrs. Allworthy. It is there that Moll first meets Hibble, who is working as Allworthy's servant but takes a special interest in the young woman's well-being. With his help, she retains hope for the future, ultimately falling in love with an unconventional artist who promises the possibility of romantic happiness.

Moll Flanders

1996

So I Married an Axe Murderer poster
6.1

Just after a bad breakup, Charlie MacKenzie falls for lovely butcher Harriet Michaels and introduces her to his parents. But, as voracious consumers of sensational tabloids, his parents soon come to suspect that Harriet is actually a notorious serial killer -- "Mrs. X" -- wanted in connection with a string of bizarre honeymoon killings. Thinking his parents foolish, Charlie proposes to Harriet. But while on his honeymoon with her, he begins to fear they were right.

So I Married an Axe Murderer

1993

Angels in the Outfield poster
6.1

Roger is a foster child whose irresponsible father promises to get his act together when Roger's favourite baseball team, the California Angels, wins the pennant. The problem is that the Angels are in last place, so Roger prays for help to turn the team around. Sure enough, his prayers are answered in the form of angel Al.

Angels in the Outfield

1994

Masterminds poster
5.3

A rebellious computer engineering prodigy uses his talent for pranks to outwit the security consultant who has taken the students at his prestigious private school hostage.

Masterminds

1997

A Man of No Importance poster
6.2

Alfie Byrne is a middle-aged bus conductor in Dublin in 1963. He would appear to live a life of quiet desperation: he's gay, but firmly closeted, and his sister is always trying to find him "the right girl". His passion is Oscar Wilde, his hobby is putting on amateur theatre productions in the local church hall. We follow him as he struggles with temptation, friendship, disapproval, and the conservative yet oddly lyrical world of Ireland in the early 1960s.

A Man of No Importance

1994

The Field poster
7.0

"Bull" McCabe's family has farmed a field for generations, sacrificing much in the name of the land. When the widow who owns the field decides to sell it in a public auction, McCabe knows that he must own it. While no local dare bid against him, a wealthy American decides he requires the field to build a highway. "Bull" and his son decide they must try to convince the American to let go of his ambition and return home, but the consequences of their plot prove sinister.

The Field

1990

Journey poster
6.2

Deserted by their mother, a young boy and his sister discover the true meaning of family while living with their grandfather.

Journey

1995

Deadly Advice poster
4.7

Mother rules the house with an iron hand and has such power over her daughters that they see themselves as becoming old unmarried, maids. Jodie has feelings for the local doctor, a man much older than her, for which her mother strongly disapproves. Beth finds a relationship with a male stripper in Bristol, but sees nothing in the future with Mother around. While both girls would like to be rid of Mother, nothing happens until Jodie sees images of H. R. Armstrong, the man who put the town on the map by dispatching his un-loving wife

Deadly Advice

1994

Durango poster
6.2

In 1939 Ireland, a young man decides to lead a forty mile cattle drive rather than selling his cattle to an unscrupulous local buyer.

Durango

1999

The American poster
5.4

After the horror of the Civil War, 'ignorant' Christopher Newman made his fortune. He travels to France is search of cultural treasures. He won't get past the Paris nightlife. After an affair with a haughty painter, he falls in love with the daughter of the late marquis de Bellegarde. She was married off and traumatized by her abusive late husband for the family's sake. Her elder brother supports their ruthless mother, but junior Valentin is besotted with the artist and strikes a partnership with Christopher.

The American

1998

Resurrection Man poster
6.2

Belfast, in 1970s. Victor Kelly is a young protestant man who hates the Catholics so much that one night he begins to brutally murder them. A reporter soon tries to uncover the murder and obtained prestige for himself, while Victor sinks deeper into madness.

Resurrection Man

1998

The Sound and the Silence: The Alexander Graham Bell Story poster
6.0

True story of Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone, inspired by his mother.

The Sound and the Silence: The Alexander Graham Bell Story

1993

Out of Ireland poster
7.0

Over the course of two centuries, seven million men, women and children abandoned their homeland for America's shores. In just one horrifying decade, two million left to escape a famine that left another million dead. This is the moving chronicle of the Irish immigrant experience.

Out of Ireland

1995

Utz poster
5.8

Hugh Whitemore adapted Bruce Chatwin's novel for this tale of a New York antique dealer who travels to Prague to buy the porcelain collection of the late Baron Utz, only to become embroiled in the wreckage of the dead man's unusual life history after he discovers that the collection is missing.

Utz

1992

Resurrection poster
5.7

After a woman is crippled in an auto accident which killed her husband, she suddenly develops the powers to heal. First she uses the power to heal herself and then turns to others. However, her powers are beyond healing psychic scars that exist between her and her mother. Meanwhile, her best friend and her doctor struggle to understand her newfound abilities.

Resurrection

1999

Painted Angels poster
6.9

The story centers on the life of a bordello in a midwestern prairie town in the 1870s. The whorehouse is run by pragmatic madam Annie Ryan and the film follows the life of several of her girls.

Painted Angels

1998

Swann poster
4.7

Rose Hindmarsh finds herself at the centre of a controversy when she meets author Sarah Maloney as she investigates the life of Mary Swann, an obscure poet who was brutally murdered in a small town in rural Ontario.

Swann

1997

1980s · 6 titles

My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown poster
7.5

No one expects much from Christy Brown, a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a miraculous event occurs when, at the age of 5, he demonstrates control of his left foot by using chalk to scrawl a word on the floor. With the help of his steely mother — and no shortage of grit and determination — Christy overcomes his infirmity to become a painter, poet and author.

My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown

1989

Bloody Kids poster
6.5

Two boys pull a Saturday night prank on the police in a seaside British town.

Bloody Kids

1980

Exploits at West Poley poster
5.8

Somerset 1850. Two boys exploring an underground cave, divert the course of a river and drastically change the lives of the people of two villages.

Exploits at West Poley

1985

The Picnic poster
NR

A widowed teacher marries again, but her hopes of her daughter accepting a stepfather her own age, and her anticipation of a birthday picnic by the river are clouded by a series of murders in the district and by a fear rooted rather nearer home.

The Picnic

1989

The Ballroom of Romance poster
7.4

In County Leitrim in the 1950s, Bridie has been attending the local dance hall for years in the hope of finding a good husband who can help work her family's farm. Now surrounded by younger, prettier women at the dances, she comes to the realisation that all the good men of her generation have emigrated or have been spoken for, and her only remaining hope for marriage is with the alcoholic and unreliable Bowser Egan.

The Ballroom of Romance

1982

The Woman Who Married Clark Gable poster
7.5

Period drama. A woman living in Dublin in the late 1930's relieves her humdrum existence with fantasies that her newly-moustachioed husband is her screen idol, Clark Gable.

The Woman Who Married Clark Gable

1985

1970s · 5 titles

Series credits

Casualty poster
6.2

Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

Casualty

1986

Play for Today poster
6.6

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Play for Today

1970

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

Screen Two poster
7.1

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Screen Two

1985

Screen Two poster
7.1

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Screen Two

1985

The Oscars poster
7.1

An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.

The Oscars

1953

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Angels poster
4.5

Angels is a BBC medical soap-opera which launched on 1st September 1975 and was the blue print for such medical soaps as Casualty, Holby City, plus daytime soap, Doctors. The medical soap focuses on different departments within Heath Green Hospital and was a highly successful continuing drama.

Angels

1975

The Meaning of Life poster
7.0

The Meaning of Life is an Irish television programme, the first series of which was broadcast on RTÉ One in 2009. It is presented by the veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne. Each episode involves Byrne interviewing a well-known public figure. The series is broadcast each Sunday night at 22:20. In 2010 The Meaning of Life returned for both a second and, later, a third series. Interviews with former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and actors Gabriel Byrne and Brenda Fricker during the second series attracted media attention when they spoke of their religious habits and child sexual abuse respectively. Gay Byrne appeared on The Late Late Show on 18 December 2009 to discuss the programme. A fourth series soon followed. Then a fifth series from January 2012. And a sixth in October 2012. And a seventh in January 2013.

The Meaning of Life

2009

The Body Farm poster
5.8

Crime drama series following Eve Lockhart, one of Britain's leading forensic pathologists, and her team of scientists at a state-of-the-art forensic research facility.

The Body Farm

2011

The Catch poster
4.8

The story follows fisherman Ed Collier, who is highly protective over his family, which includes wife Claire and daughter Abbie. However, when a rich young man by the name of Ryan Wilson starts to take an interest in his daughter, Ed feels her becoming increasingly distant and fears he may lose her for good.

The Catch

2023

Quatermass poster
6.8

In the near future, a now-elderly Bernard Quatermass investigates the disappearance of his granddaughter and a mysterious cult.

Quatermass

1979

Hallmark Hall of Fame poster
8.8

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

Hallmark Hall of Fame poster
8.8

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

Hallmark Hall of Fame poster
8.8

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

Beautiful People poster
6.8

Beautiful People is a British comedy drama television series based on the memoirs of Barneys creative director Simon Doonan. The series takes place in Reading, Berkshire, in 1997, where thirteen-year-old Simon Doonan and his best friend Kylie dream of escaping their dreary suburban surroundings and moving to cosmopolitan London "to live amongst the beautiful people." The first episode aired on BBC Two on 2 October 2008 and recorded overnight ratings of 1.5 million viewers and positive critical reaction. Episodes are self-contained, but do follow a loose story arc throughout the course of each series. The second and final series finished airing on 18 December 2009.

Beautiful People

2008

No artwork available
NR

Series of plays based on Irish short stories.

The Sinners

1970

Holding poster
6.2

Local police officer Sergeant PJ Collins is a gentle man who hides from people and fills his days with comfort food and half-hearted police work. He is one of life's outsiders, lovable, but lonely and a bit rubbish at his job. When the body of long-lost local legend Tommy Burke is discovered, PJ is called to solve a serious crime for the first time in his career. Unearthing long buried secrets, PJ finally connects with the village he has tried so hard to avoid.

Holding

2022

No artwork available
6.5

Black and Blue was a BBC TV comedy-drama series, first broadcast in 1973. The show consisted of six 50–60 minutes episodes, each a separate self-contained playlet. The only connection was the Black and Blue humour theme. The first episode was broadcast on 14 August 1973, with the finale on 18 September 1973. The first, Secrets, was wiped, only surviving thanks to a domestic videotape copy made from the master by producer Mark Shivas.

Black and Blue

1973

A Woman of Independent Means poster
10.0

Bess Steed marries her childhood sweetheart in the early part of the 20th century and begins a life in the high society of Dallas, Texas. As time goes by, things do not work out as she expects. Her husband dies of influenza, and she finds that she must pick up and carry along with her life. She proves to be a strong, committed, and loving individual who attracts new loves into her life and finds that she can take good care of the old ones. Despite further tragedy in losing her oldest son, and a second marriage that is not all that she expects it to be she continues to survive as independently as she has discovered the courage to do so.

A Woman of Independent Means

1995

Brides of Christ poster
7.2

Diane, a young woman growing up in Australia in the mid 1960s, walks away from her fiancé to join a convent after being sure she has a calling to the faith. The Catholic Church and its followers are struggling with huge changes. The Pope has died, there is war in Vietnam and mandatory conscription, there is the Vatican controversy on abortion and contraception, and the changing face of the Church as a whole. Told in six parts, Diane faces her own demons and has to finally decide if she can teach what the Church preaches, or if it's simply impossible for her to reconcile all the contradictions of the faith and uphold her vow of obedience.

Brides of Christ

1991

Cam Boy poster
4.2

When Aston finds himself left to his own devices with bills to pay while his boyfriend is in New York, he turns to camming to make ends meet.

Cam Boy

2021

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Armchair Theatre

1956

No Tears poster
10.0

Based on the hepatitis C scandal that rocked Ireland in the mid-1990s. Two very different women discover that they have been infected with hepatitis C by a contaminated anti-D injection years before. Despite the devastating effects on the women and their families, they unite in a campaign group to take on the health authorities and expose the evasions and lies of the political and bureaucratic establishment.

No Tears

2002

The Gathering Seed poster
10.0

The saga of Manchester lad Joe Henshaw, a story that takes in family life, the trials and tribulations of the Labour movement and World War Two

The Gathering Seed

1983

Seekers poster
6.0

When DS Mike Hazard disappears, his wife Susie tries to find him, and discovers... another wife. They team up to search for him.

Seekers

1993

No artwork available
8.0

The adventures of a motley gang of fishing enthusiasts

Eh Brian! It's A Whopper

1984

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

I Was a Rat

2001

Relative Strangers poster
6.5

Maureen is an Irishwoman, happily married and living in Germany. Or so she thinks. When her husband dies, she finds that not only had he debts, but was also a bigamist, having had a second wife and family in Ireland. Shocked and angry, she travels there to meet the other family. And she learns that they have troubles of their own, the worst of them being that the other woman's young son is suffering from leukemia and a suitable bone marrow donor is urgently needed.

Relative Strangers

1999