Actress Anne-Marie Duff ‘very grateful’ to be made an OBE for services to drama

Bafta-winning actress Anne-Marie Duff has said she feels “incredibly lucky and privileged” to do a job she loves as she is made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours list.

The stage and screen star, 54, made her name in hit comedy drama series Shameless and further established herself playing regal roles such as Queen Elizabeth I and Lady Macbeth.

On receiving the prestigious accolade for her services to drama, she told the PA news agency: “I feel incredibly lucky and privileged to do a job that I love, so to be acknowledged in any way always feels like an incredible blessing. I am very grateful.”

She was born in London in 1970 to Irish immigrant parents and later attended the Drama Centre London.

After featuring in a number of TV shows in the 1990s, including police drama Trial And Retribution and period show Aristocrats, she gained attention for her role in 2002 drama film The Magdalene Sisters about teenage girls who are sent to Magdalene laundries.

She broke through further playing Fiona Gallagher in Shameless, which followed the lives of a group of siblings and their father in a Manchester estate, for which she picked up a best actress Bafta nomination.

The following year in 2007, Duff was nominated again for the Bafta for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen.

In the world of film, her notable performances include 2009’s biopic Nowhere Boy about John Lennon’s teenage years in which she plays his mother Julia Lennon.

She was awarded the best supporting actress gong at the British Independent Film Awards (Bifa) as well as receiving Bafta and Irish Film and Television Award nominations for her portrayal.

Her role in 2015’s historical drama Suffragette alongside Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson and Meryl Streep also secured her a Bifa nod.

Duff has received critical acclaim for her theatre performances, including receiving a best actress nod at the Olivier Awards for an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan about Joan of Arc at the National Theatre.

She has also played the prestigious role of Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth on Broadway and at the National Theatre.

In recent years, she appeared in hit Netflix series Sex Education as Maeve Wiley’s addict mother Erin.

Last year, she finally secured the coveted best supporting actress Bafta award for her role in Apple TV+ dark comedy Bad Sisters.

In the series she plays Grace, a woman trapped in a controlling marriage until her husband, played by Danish actor Claes Bang, dies suddenly in mysterious circumstances.

During her acceptance speech, she said said she felt “all kinds of responsibilities” to victims of domestic abuse while filming the project.

She said: “If someone is watching this tonight who has in their life (a person) who is bullying them, who is telling them that who they are is wrong, that what they are isn’t enough – I am telling you now you are everything and please stand up and scream at the top of your lungs.”

Duff was previously married to Scottish actor James McAvoy, but the pair announced they were divorcing after 10 years of marriage in 2016.