Even before she starred as a Victorian lesbian pickpocket in the BBC's 2005 adaptation of Sarah Waters' Fingersmith, I was a fan of British actress Sally Hawkins. I had caught sight of her the year before in a very different role: as a shy, quiet, affluent girl called Susan in Mike Leigh's drama Vera Drake. Susan is raped by a man whom her mother was pushing her toward, and later has to go for an abortion. Hawkins' totally understated portrayal of her character's shame and misery — along with her inability to communicate with anyone about her experience in the England of the 1950s — was probably the most powerful thing in the film for me.

If I'd had a better memory, I might have realized that I'd seen Hawkins in a role even before that: as Diana Lethaby's feisty maid Zena Blake in the BBC's 2002 adaptation of Tipping the Velvet. Like her role in Vera Drake, however, that was a supporting part that only gave Hawkins a limited opportunity to show what she could do.

But now Hawkins has a role that puts her center-stage, as the lead character in Mike Leigh's new film, Happy-Go-Lucky. Currently screening in the U.K., the film has already won Hawkins the Silver Bear for best actress at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival and is due for release on Sept. 26 in the U.S. … continue reading