Baptiste’s performance as Pansy Deacon in Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, and it’s easy to see why. From the opening scene, her ...

‘We’re not used to seeing – especially in the UK – a middle-aged Black woman in pain on screen in this way. I think there’s ...

A colleague once told me that I shouldn’t take Mike Leigh’s films with contemporary settings as slices of everyday life. He was right: they’re hyperreal. Especially Hard Truths, in which his take on a ...

Three decades after Secrets & Lies made her a star, the British actress has reunited with Mike Leigh – to give the ...

Marianne Jean-Baptiste is ferocious and funny in this fearless drama - 4/5 Mike Leigh’s uncompromising latest film is ...

Marianne Jean-Baptiste deserved to be nominated for her leading role as the prickly, difficult Pansy in Mike Leigh's towering ...

Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives the performance of the year as an explosive volcano of a woman in “Hard Truths.” She tells us ...

Jean-Baptiste is no stranger to working with Leigh, as she received her breakout role (and first Oscar nomination) for his ...

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, 57, was born in south London and trained at Rada. Her breakthrough role was in Mike Leigh’s 1995 film ...

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The ...