She began appearing in movies while still very young but did not really attract attention until the late 1970s. Her movies include: "Caligula" (1979), "The Long Good Friday" (1980), "Excalibur" (1981), "Cal" (1981), "White Nights" (1985), "Pascali's Island" (1988), "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover" (1989), "The Madness of King George" (1994), "Gosford Park" (2001), and "The Queen" in 2007, for which she won the Academy Award for best actress, and several other awards (Golden Globe, BAFTA, etc.).