Tracey Ullman (born Trace Ullman; 30 December 1959)[1] is a British and American actress, comedian, singer, dancer, screenwriter, producer, director, and author. Despite being frequently referred to as a comedian, Ullman considers herself a character actress. Critics have lauded her ability to shift seamlessly in and out of character and accents, with many dubbing her the "female Peter Sellers".[2][3][4]
Ullman began her career as a dramatic actress on stage, as well as in the British soap opera Mackenzie, playing Lisa Mackenzie. After an award-winning performance in the improvised play Four in a Million at the Royal Court Theatre, she branched out into comedy. She starred in the British television sketch comedies A Kick Up the Eighties (with Rik Mayall and Miriam Margolyes) and Three of a Kind (with Lenny Henry and David Copperfield), the latter winning her a BAFTA in 1984.[5] After a brief singing career (which garnered three top-ten singles), she appeared as Candice Valentine in Girls on Top with Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.
Ullman emigrated from the United Kingdom to the United States, where she starred in her own network television comedy series, The Tracey Ullman Show, from 1987 to 1990. The series famously featured the first appearances of the long-running animated media franchise The Simpsons. She later produced programmes for HBO, including Tracey Takes On... (1996–99), garnering numerous awards and critical acclaim. She has appeared in several feature films, including Plenty (1985), which earned her a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination.[6][7]
In 2016, she returned to British television with the BBC sketch comedy show Tracey Ullman's Show, her first project for the broadcaster in over 30 years.[8] This led to the creation of the topical comedy series Tracey Breaks the News in 2017.
In 2017, Ullman was reportedly Britain's richest comedian and the second-richest British actress,[9] with an estimated wealth of £80 million.[10] She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including twelve American Comedy Awards, seven Primetime Emmy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, four Satellite Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Early life
Tracey Ullman was born in Slough, Buckinghamshire (now Berkshire),[11] the younger of two daughters,[12] to Doreen (Cleaver; 1929–2015), who was of British and Roma extraction,[13] and Anthony John Ullman (1917–1966), a Roman Catholic Pole.[14] Anthony served in the Polish Army and took part in the Battle of Dunkirk during World War II.[15] After emigrating and marrying in England, he worked as a solicitor, a furniture salesman, and a travel agent. He also brokered marriages and translated among the émigré Polish community.
When Ullman was six, her father died of a heart attack in front of her while recovering from a heart operation.
Television career
Early years
Ullman began her television career in 1980 playing Lynda Bellingham's daughter in the television series Mackenzie. "I really thought I was great when I did a quite serious soap opera for the BBC. I played a nice girl from St John's Wood. 'Mummy, I think I'm pregnant. I don't know who's done it.' Then I would fall down a hill or something. 'EEEEE! Oh, no, lost another baby.' It seemed all I ever did was have miscarriages—or make yogurt."[25]
Ullman appeared in Les Blair's avant-garde Four in a Million, an improvised play about club acts, at London's Royal Court Theatre.[4] She won the London Critics Circle Theatre Award as Most Promising New Actress for her performance.[26]
In 1981, she was cast in the BBC Scotland sketch comedy programme A Kick Up the Eighties
Music career
A chance encounter with the wife of the head of Stiff Records led to Ullman getting a recording contract in 1983. Label owner Dave Robinson was taken with some of the musical parodies she had been doing on television in Three of a Kind and signed her.[75] Ullman recounted, "One day, I was at my hairdresser, and Dave Robinson's wife Rosemary leant over and said, 'Do you want to make a record?'... I went, 'Yeah I want to make a record.' I would have tried anything."[76]
Within 18 months, Ullman had scored five Top 30 hits on the UK Singles Chart. Her first two singles ("Breakaway" and "They Don't Know") were certified Silver by the BPI, as was her debut album. Ullman's songs were over-the-top evocations of 1960s and 1970s pop music with a 1980s edge, "somewhere between Minnie Mouse and the Supremes" as Melody Maker put it.[77]
Her 1983 debut album You Broke My Heart in 17 Places was a Top 20 hit in the UK, and featured three UK Top 10 hit singles.
Film career
Along with her television work, Ullman has featured in many films throughout her career. Her first theatrical film was a small role in Paul McCartney's film Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984).[82] This was followed by a supporting role in the drama Plenty (1985) starring Meryl Streep.[87] She made her big screen leading role debut in I Love You to Death (1990) acting alongside Kevin Kline, River Phoenix, and Joan Plowright. She appeared in lead and supporting roles in films such as Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993),[88] Nancy Savoca's Household Saints (1993),[89] Bullets Over Broadway (1994),[90]
Theatre
Ullman has an extensive stage career spanning back to the 1970s. In 1980, she appeared in Victoria Wood's Talent at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool.[99] In 1982, she played Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer.[22] In 1983, she took part in the workshop for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express, playing the part of Pearl,[100] and she performed in Snoo Wilson's The Grass Widow at the Royal Court Theatre with Alan Rickman.[101]
In 1990, she starred opposite actor Morgan Freeman as Kate in Shakespeare in the Park's production of Taming of the Shrew set in the Wild West for Joe Papp.[102]
Personal life
Ullman married producer Allan McKeown in 1983. The couple have two children.[110] On 24 December 2013, McKeown died at home from prostate cancer.[111]
Ullman's mother died in a fire at her flat on 23 March 2015.[112] An inquest ruled the death to be accidental.[113] She was 85 years old.[114]
In September 2018, Ullman revealed that her daughter was pregnant and that she was about to become a grandmother.[115]
Acting credits and awards
Discography
- You Broke My Heart in 17 Places (1983)
- You Caught Me Out (1984)
Bibliography
Further reading
- British music charts history for Tracey Ullman
- Guinness Book of British Hit Singles 7th Edition
- Archive of an Entertainment Weekly story by Frank Spotnitz on 1992 lawsuit
External links
References
- Ullman, Tracey 1959- Encyclopedia.com, Cengage, retrieved April 30, 2022^
- Tracey Ullman: 'My face is good for impersonations' The Guardian, 10 January 2016, retrieved 23 March 2024^
- Tracey Ullman: The Energy, The Talent