A Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for the actress Imelda Staunton.

We the undersigned request that the film, television and theatre actress Imelda Staunton is made a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Imelda Staunton was born on 9th January 1956 and is an underrated actress with a whole list of film, television and theatre credits to her name. She is perhaps best remembered to non theatre goers for playing Izzy Coman in the ITV television situation comedy series Up The Garden Path, a role she played from (1990-1993). She has also guest starred in many other television programmes over the years, The Ruth Rendall Mysteries and Midsomer Murders are a couple of examples. Her theatre work is also impressive. Stage plays include A Chorus of Disapproval (National Theatre), Fair Maid of the West (RSC), They Shoot Horses Don't They? (RSC), The Corn Is Green (Old Vic), The Wizard of Oz (as Dorothy RSC), Uncle Vanya (Vaudeville Theatre) and Into the Woods (Phoenix Theatre). Imelda is a three time recipient of Britain's highest theatre honour, the Olivier Award for roles in A Chorus of Disapproval, The Corn is Green and Into the Woods. In 2004 though, Imelda Staunton received the Best Actress honours at the European Film Awards, the BAFTAs and the Venice Film Festival for her performance in Vera Drake, which also won Best Picture. For the same role, she received Best Actress nominations for the 2005 Golden Globes and Academy Awards. Imelda has never received any official recognition whatsoever during her career and we feel it is time she did.

Please take this petition very seriously.