Bio
Lesley Nicol is an English actress best known for her starring role as cook Mrs. Patmore in the period drama television series Downton Abbey.
Since graduating from London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the early 1970s, Nicol has been a fixture in the British drama and comedy scene.
But before her foray into film and television, she was a well known as a stage actress, appearing in numerous musicals and plays on the London stage.
She has also acted in numerous television series including Black-Adder II, Peak Practice, A Touch of Frost, Hotel Babylon, Casualty, Shameless, The Bill, Heartbeat, Doctors and Holby City.
Lesley's film career is small but well formed – the multi-award winning UK feature East is East, and the sequel West is West which was released in 2011.