A member of director Mike Leigh's hardworking repertory cast, British actress Lesley Manville started acting in U.K. television #92;dramas during the early '80s. After her debut feature in 1985 for the #92;crime drama Dance With a Stranger, she found her place in #92;comedy-dramas with Clare Peploe's High Season. The next year, she began her longtime collaboration with Mike Leigh for the #92;comedy High Hopes, followed by Secrets and Lies and Topsy-Turvy. She married actor Gary Oldman and had a son, but the couple divorced soon after they both appeared in the made-for-TV movie The Firm in 1988. She continued to work in British miniseries, TV movies, and short films throughout the '90s, including an appearance as Mrs. Micawber in a TNT version of David Copperfield. Manville finally gained a lead role in Leigh's All or Nothing in 2002, as Penny, a grocery store clerk married to taxi cab driver Phil (frequent Leigh leading man Timothy Spall). ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide