Dignified, with an exquisite voice, Marianne Jean-Baptiste was hardly known in her native Britain and completely unknown in the USA until the release of Mike Leigh's acclaimed "Secrets & Lies" (1996). Cast as Hortense, an Afro-British young woman who seeks out her birth mother and discovers the latter is a lower-class white woman. Hortense is then slowly integrated into her birth mother's family, a group filled with unstated emotions and buried truths all of which are manifested in anger and hostility. Jean-Baptiste had previously worked with director Leigh on the 1993 stage production of
Wrote and starred in one-woman show "Ave Africa" while still attending RADA
1991
Feature film debut in bit part in "London Kills Me", directed by Hanif Kureishi
1993
Appeared in the play "It's a Great Big Shame", directed by Mike Leigh
Appeared on stage with the Cheek By Jowl company
1996
Garnered international recognition for co-starring role in Leigh's "Secrets & Lies"; received Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as an adoptee who finds her birth mother
