Alison Steadman Plessey, an electronics firm. Steadman was educated at Childwall Valley High School for Girls, a state grammar school in the Liverpool suburb of Childwall, followed by East 15 Acting School, to which she secured a place in the autumn of 1966 and where she met Mike Leigh during her second year. Having left the East 15 Acting School in Loughton, Essex, Steadman worked in various regional repertory theatres, starting at Lincoln in 1968, where her first role was that of the seductive schoolgirl Sandy in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie". She created the role of the monstrous Beverly in
Alison Steadman Noël Coward's "Blithe Spirit", which was scheduled for a national tour from November 2010 to March 2011. In 2014, Steadman appeared as Madame Raquin in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Emile Zola's "Therese Raquin". Steadman has appeared in many films, including "P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang" (1982), "Champions" (1983), "A Private Function" (1984), "Number One" (1985), "Clockwise" (1986), "Stormy Monday" (1988), "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (1988), "Shirley Valentine" (1989), "Wilt" (1989), "Life Is Sweet" (1990), "Blame It on the Bellboy" (1992), "Secrets & Lies" (1996), "Topsy-Turvy" (1999), "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" (2004), "Confetti" (2006) and "Burn Burn Burn" (2015).