11 Roles Samantha Morton Played Before The Odyssey

However, before the film had even been released, there was one supporting cast member whose performance was already being singled out for praise.

British actor Samantha Morton plays Circe in Christopher Nolan’s new take on Homer’s Greek epic, and has repeatedly been mentioned as a stand-out.

In fact, her performance in the movie was so jaw-dropping, the cast and crew apparently stood around and gave her a round of applause when she was done shooting.

“This was a massive film and she is someone who comes in and changes the dynamic,” Nolan told the LA Times. “In some weird way, the film lived or died over that character. She was the fulcrum.”

While The Odyssey might be one of Samantha’s most high-profile projects to date, the Bafta winner has been working steadily in both film and TV since the early 90s – and anyone who has seen her work over the last 35 years won’t be surprised to hear that she is a highlight in Nolan’s film.

In honour of her work in The Odyssey, here are 11 Samantha Morton roles you might well have forgotten all about…

Samantha’s very first role was in the ITV drama Soldier Soldier.

Nottingham-born Samantha discovered acting when a teacher recommended she apply to the Central Junior Television Workshop, which led to her playing Clare Anderson in four episodes of the first series.

The future Oscar nominee was just 14 when she appeared in the series, which starred Robson Green and Jerome Flynn, and took place in the aftermath of the Cold War.

Samantha followed her role in Soldier Soldier with a smart part in Robbie Coltrane’s crime drama Cracker, before being cast in Kay Mellor’s iconic series Band Of Gold.

Samantha was just 16 years old when she started filming her breakout role as Tracy Richards in the drama, alongside the likes of Geraldine James, Ray Stevenson and Cathy Tyson.

Band Of Gold centred around a group of sex workers in Bradford, with Samantha portraying a teen runaway who was hooked on drugs supplied to her by a pimp.

Years later, Samantha disclosed that there had been uncomfortable moments while shooting this series.

She told The Big Issue in 2019: “When I was in Band Of Gold, there was a scene a particular director wanted me to do topless, though that wasn’t in the script. I was 16 years old. 16! And I was having a sex scene with a man in his 60s.

“I was sobbing in the trailer and it was all, ‘Sam’s being tricky…’ I didn’t understand that I had a right to say I didn’t feel comfortable. I felt I was from the streets and I’d won the lottery even being in the show, rather than feeling I had earned the right to be there.”

“Some of the male directors working in TV drama in the 90s were delicate and kind,” she added. “And some were bullies and brutal.”

A year after her performance in Band Of Gold, Samantha appeared in the British indie film Under The Skin.

She co-starred with Claire Rushbrook in the drama, which told the story of two sisters coping with the sudden death of their mother.

Following its release, she was lauded for her performance as the grieving teen, and winning multiple awards.

As Samantha became more well-known, she appeared in Jesus’ Son, a film based on Denis Johnson’s collection of short stories of the same name.

The drama followed a hopelessly lost man – played by Billy Crudup, and known as just FH – through his stint as an orderly in a hospital, and his time in rehab to treat his addiction to heroin.

Dennis Hopper, Jack Black and Holly Hunter were among the cast who played the colourful characters FH met in his life, while Samantha played Michelle, his love interest.

By the early 2000s, Samantha had racked up a role in the Hollywood blockbuster Minority Report and earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film In America.

Around this time, she starred in Michael Winterbottom’s Code 46, a dystopian love story set in the year 2077.

The high concept sci-fi flick takes place in a divided society, split up into those “inside”, who live in high-density cities, and the others, who live in sprawling concentration camps “outside”.

Access to the “inside” is forbidden to anyone without the right paperwork – with Samantha starring as Maria, a forger who works on creating fake versions of these documents.

Meanwhile, Tim Robbins plays a detective sent to investigate this forgery operation, only to wind up falling in love with Samantha’s character.

While the film itself received a lukewarm reaction, Samantha and Tiim were praised for their performances, with Empire calling them “two fine actors at the top of their game”.

The Libertine is one of many period dramas Samantha has starred in over the years, having also appeared in the likes of Harlots, The Seepent Queen and The Burning Girls.

In the film, she plays Elizabeth Barry, a struggling actor in 17th-century London. Her strong-willed character is taken under the wing of the titular libertine himself, Johnny Depp’s John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, and their subsequent affair leads to both of their downfalls.

Once again, the intoxicating biopic of the real-life poet and playboy received mixed reviews, but Samantha received widespread acclaim for her performance, in particular her moving Ophelia monologue.

In this biopic about British musician Ian Curtis, Samantha played Deborah, the late Joy Division singer’s wife.

Control charts the ups and downs of the couple’s lives, beginning with the formation of Joy Division in 1973, all the way to his death by suicide in 1980.

Co-starring Sam Riley, the musical biopic was described by the BBC as a “gritty” tribute, “with enough wit and credibility to entertain as well as educate”.

Meanwhile, The Guardian singled out Samantha’s work as Deborah as an “intelligent, sympathetic performance”.

The historical drama was a sequel to 1998’s Elizabeth, and followed the English queen as she faced the Spanish Armada, survived an assassination attempt and embarked on a forbidden romance with explorer Sir Walter Raleigh.

Samantha Morton played Mary Queen of Scots in the Queen Elizabeth biopic, which starred Cate Blanchett as the English monarch.

Joining them in the movie were impressive British names including Clive Owen, Rhys Ifans and Eddie Redmayne – not to mention a small role from a young actor by the name of Jonathan Bailey, still in the early stages of his own acting career.

You might not realise it, but The Odyssey is not the first time Samantha Morton has appeared in the same film as Robert Pattinson.

The two previously shared the screen in 2012’s Cosmopolis, a trippy adaptation of Don DeLillo’s book of the same name.

Samantha played Vija Kinsky in the David Cronenberg film, an advisor to Robert’s billionaire currency trader.

The eccentric film took place almost exclusively in the back of a limo, as Rob’s tycoon character was driven around New York with visits from various key figures in his life.

The same year as Cosmopolis, Samantha appeared in a very different type of film, providing both the voice and motion capture for a key role in John Carter (which, sadly, was thrashed by critics and went on to become considered one of the biggest flops of the 2010s).

In the ambitious sci-fi adventure movie, she played Sola, a kind-hearted Martian who helps Taylor Kitsch’s titular character navigate the red planet.

Samantha played a small, though memorable role, in the film which won Brendan Fraser his Academy Award in the early 2020s.

The divisive film focussed on a reclusive English teacher nearing the end of his life, who hopes to bond with his disillusioned teenage daughter before it’s too late.

Near the end of the film, Samantha appears in one key scene, sharing the screen with Brendan Fraser when she storms into his character’s apartment to give him a piece of her mind.

The Odyssey is in cinemas now.