Glenda Jackson

Who is Glenda Jackson?

Glenda May Jackson, CBE is a British Labour Party politician and former actress. She first became a Member of Parliament in 1992, and currently represents Hampstead and Kilburn.

As a professional actress from the late 1950s, she spent four years as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1964, being particularly associated with the work of director Peter Brook. During her film career, she won two Academy Awards for Best Actress: for Women in Love and A Touch of Class. She appeared in several other award winning performances such as Alex in the film Sunday Bloody Sunday and the BBC television serial Elizabeth R; for the latter she received an Emmy.

Before 2010, Jackson was the MP for Hampstead and Highgate, and early in the government of Tony Blair served as a Junior Transport minister from 1997 to 1999, later becoming critical of Blair. After constituency boundary changes for the 2010 general election, her majority of 42 votes was one of the closest results of the entire election. She announced in 2011 that she will stand down as an MP at the next general election.