Ann started her career with training at the pioneering E15 acting school under the guidance of Joan Littlewood. Since then she has worked solidly in theatre, television, film and radio, starting with "Diary of a Young Man", a series written for her by John McGrath and Troy Kennedy Martin, directed by Ken Loach.

Her work spans drama and comedy and also includes direction, writing and teaching.

Ann has taught many of today’s leading younger actors through her involvement with respected drama schools and colleges including RADA, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, E15 Acting School, Rose Bruford, Weekend Arts College (WAC), the London Dramatic Academy (the London campus of Fordham University) and the Jesuit University of New York.

In 2016 Ann was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Arts by the University of East London. You can watch her acceptance speech here.

Ann is Patron of Clean Break, Citizens of the World Choir, Trauma Foundation South West, Trustee of Unity Theatre Trust.

Ann has two sons and lives in London.

Honorary Doctorate of Arts 2016 - University of East London
Laurence Olivier Awards 2004 - Nominee for Best Actress for her performance in Through The Leaves
Evening Standard Drama Awards 2003 - Nominee for Best Actress for her performance in Through The Leaves
Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Awards 2003 - Nominee for Best Actress for her performance in Through The Leaves
Independent on Sunday 1992 - Performance of the Year for Hecuba, by the Independent on Sunday newspaper
PYE Television Award 1985 - For the female who made the greatest impact on television for her role as Dolly Rawlins in Widows
Susan Smith Blackburn prize 1981-82 - Nominated for the Susan Smith Blackburn prize for her co-written play "Kiss and Kill"

Ann is perhaps best known for her role as Cora Cross in Eastenders and for award winning role as the strong, vulnerable Dolly Rawlins in Lynda La Plante's Widows, Widows II and She's Out, which was written for her by Lynda.

In "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" by Jonathan Harvey the role of "Miss Twitch" was created specifically for her.

Ann has appeared in many of the most popular UK television series ranging from drama to comedy including Z Cars, The Bill, French & Saunders, The Detectives, Play for Today.

Since the 1960s, Ann has starred in many leading theatrical productions in the UK and Europe, and in the USA where she received great acclaim for her three roles (Hecuba, Nurse, Aethra) in the Royal Shakespeare Company's mammoth production of "Tantalus".

The plays Summit Conference (Eva Braun) by Robert David McDonald and Guinevere (Guinevere) by Pam Gems were written specifically for her.

As Marína Timaféevna in Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov, commissioned version by Sir David Hare, at The Theatre Royal Bath, 2019, Directed by Rupert Everett



The Guardian - Arifa Akbar: “Marina is made big with characterful humour in Ann Mitchell's hands". The Stage - Natasha Tripney: “Ann Mitchell makes the most of every single line as Marina.”

As Ayn Rand in Ayn Rand Takes A Stand by Sir David Hare, at The Arts Theatre, London, 2016, British Premiere, Directed by Max Stafford-Clark

The Guardian - Michael Billington: “Magnificently played by Ann Mitchell as a throaty, entrepreneurial Mae West”. What’s On Stage - Alun Hood: “Hare's writing is exquisite - playful, trenchant, frequently hilarious - and he is exceptionally well served by Ann Mitchell whose barnstormingly extravagant performance as Rand is the stuff that theatregoers' memories are made of.” The Stage - Mark Shenton: Ann Mitchell in hilarious, outrageous form as the Russian-born novelist and political operator of the title.” The Independent - Paul Taylor: “Ann Mitchell's magnificent performance, is an hilarious/terrifying monstre sacree of ruthless seductiveness, accoutred as if for Dynasty.” The Sunday Times: “Ann Mitchell’s magnetic turn as Rand – zealous, kittenish, cackling – saves the evening: ‘What’s wrong with you people?’” Time Out - Tom Wicker: “It’s worth it for Ann Mitchell’s gloriously batty performance as Rand.” The Arts Desk - Aleks Sierz: “A fine performance by Ann Mitchell as Ayn, complete with a maniacal laugh. “ Total Politics - Sebastian Whale: “Brilliantly portrayed by Ann Mitchell.”

As Margaret at The Lyric Hammersmith, London, 2010, British Premiere, Directed by Sean Holmes

2010 - What's on Stage: “A magnificent Ann Mitchell". The Observer - Susannah Clapp: “A Thousand Stars is lit up by an important actress: Ann Mitchell's matriarch makes most stoics look like wimps”. The Guardian - Michael Billington: “Impeccably acted. Unforgettable: Ann Mitchell as the tough matriarch.”. The Times - Benedict Nightingale: “It's about Ann Mitchell's Margaret, the family matriarch, and her accusing, loving, guilty, possessive and hopeless relationships with sons”. The Independent - Paul Taylor: “Beautifully acted. In a lovely, largely wordless sequence Ann Mitchell's fiercely repining Matriarch tenderly bathes the naked, dying William."

As Frau Zucker at The Arcola Theatre, London, 2010, British Premiere, Directed by Helena Kaut-Howson

2010 - The Guardian - What to see: Lyn Gardner's theatre tips: “Innocence at the Arcola is by German writer Dea Loher, translated by David Tushingham and with Ann Mitchell leading the cast – always a good sign." - The Independent - Rhoda Koenig - Theatre & Dance: “Loher's liveliest character is also her most decrepit and appalling. Ann Mitchell gobbles up the part of a diabetic who gleefully torments her daughter and son-in-law – "Hello, Franz. Still unemployed?" – chattering about her amputated limbs and dreaming of blowing up petrol stations." - The Times Online - Benedict Nightingale - theatre: "Loher creates some striking characters...there’s Ann Mitchell’s self-obsessed, self-pitying Frau Zucker, who weirdly dreams of burning down petrol stations while using her diabetes to manipulate her hapless daughter-in-law: “I don’t want a grandchild — you can do that when there’s nothing of me left to amputate.” - Curtain Up - Lizzie Loveridge: “There are outstanding performances from Ann Mitchell who is brilliant as the sour, inconsiderate, crusty old woman...the ghastly Frau Zucker, whose foot is being eroded by diabetic foot disease."

As Bernarda at The Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, 2009, Directed by Patrick Sandford

2009 - The Guardian - Lyn Gardner” “…Best of all, though, is Ann Mitchell's superb Bernarda Alba, who presides over her daughters like a malevolent mother superior. As polished and shiny as her own furniture, Mitchell is a genuine black widow, a husk of a woman who puts pride and honour before love and generosity, and who is so out of touch with her own heart that she ignores all signs of the coming disaster, content to rule her house with her eyes wide shut." - The Sunday Times - David Jays: ”…Bernarda’s vicious respectability makes her a domestic Franco. Motherhood becomes a process of withering repression: her first and last words here are “Silence!”. Ann Mitchell makes a lethal tyrant, eyes in the back of her head and a smile as thin as razor wire."

photograph by Mike Eddowes

As Hannah at The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, London, 2007, Directed by Daniel Kramer

2007 - What's On Stage - Michael Coveney: “…A surrounding panoply of ghosts and angels – played by the riveting Ann Mitchell... creates a heady mix of other-worldliness." - Scotland on Sunday - Mark Fisher: “…With a compact cast of eight - including Citizens' and RSC favourites Greg Hicks and Ann Mitchell - and the ambition to take the spiritual temperature of a nation, the show is one very big deal." "If you want a masterclass in acting and stagecraft, not to mention the joy of a thrillingly ambitious piece of writing, clear your diary for Angels In America...with a flawless cast of eight compels you to savour every minute... "You don't make assumptions about me, mister; I won't make them about you," says Ann Mitchell's Mormon matriarch to the homosexual Prior Walter in a liberating challenge to prejudice." - The Herald - Neil Cooper: “…All eight actors excel, from Ann Mitchell's series of matriarchs...be they black, gay, Jewish or, even, right-wing Republican Mormon. Common ground comes through each character's hyper-articulate ability to chase their own tails en route to finding out who they are and where they belong. The world's search for faith was ever thus."

As Sister Anderson at The Comedy Theatre, London 2005, Directed by Sir Peter Hall

The British Theatre Guide - Philip Fisher: “…in the hospital scenes, one of several award-winning actors on show, Ann Mitchell, has given a nice portrayal as the grim hospital matron with a heart of gold and well-hidden sense of humour. William Chubb is the nervous senior doctor bearing deep religious scruples and they, together with Alexander Siddig and Jotham Annan, help to ensure that the production has real humanity and wit.

As Martha at The Duchess Theatre, London 2004 and the Southwark Playhouse, London, 2003, Directed by Daniel Kramer

Laurence Olivier Awards 2004 - Nominee for Best Actress for her performance
Evening Standard Drama Awards 2003 - Nominee for Best Actress for her performance

2003 - Financial Times - B Alastair Macaulay: “As Martha, a tough middle-aged self-employed butcher in Through the Leaves, Ann Mitchell delivers a remarkable performance. She shows you the vulnerabilities that Martha herself scarcely knows she has...The play is set in her shop and in her back room, and during its 100 minutes she scarcely leaves the stage. But Otto comes and goes.  In Otto's presence, she is almost casual, scarcely affectionate. Once out of the room, however, she leans her head on the wall, her whole body showing her desire for him, one hand miming his shape and gently feeling his genitals. At other times she recites her diary entries: tenderly blunt, revealingly terse. "- Guardian Unlimited - Lyn Gardner: “Ann Mitchell is quiet and raw. Everything is internalised. It is an X-ray performance that lets you peer into Martha's lonely, yearning soul.  It is a fantastic play, and it is terrific to see the West End embracing something worthwhile."- The Stage - Barbara Lewis: “ Simon Callow has been lured from the big screen back to the fringe by a fresh chance to act with friend and eminent character actress Ann Mitchell in Franz Xaver Kroetz's masterpiece of inarticulate eloquence. It is an inspired decision.  It depicts a coarse-textured affair between Otto (Callow) and Martha (Mitchell). It is a commentary on every relationship.  Gutting a rabbit, scrubbing down her shop, Mitchell is every inch the professional butcher.  Martha has well-founded pride as a business-woman who craves affection but can survive without it.  Most effective is the device of Martha reading aloud her diary, complete with punctuation. "Is a big romance still possible when you're past 50. Question mark," she asks, rhetorically. "- The Guardian- Michael Billington: “Ann Mitchell is just about perfect as Martha. The set of her features and her slightly turned-down mouth suggest a woman conditioned to solitude - yet she always implies Martha's vivid inner life, and flares wonderfully into skittishness when she goes to a fancy-dress ball as a black-bonneted Eliza Doolittle...The performances, like the play itself, remind you that theatre is never better than when it conveys the texture of reality."- Time Out - Dominic Maxwell: “Ann Mitchell totally convinces as Martha, by turns doughty and vulnerable, dryly witty and sensible, yet always utterly credible.  Acting doesn't get much better than this."- The Independent - Paul Taylor: “Ann Mitchell is pretty much perfection in this deeply eloquent revival...She plays – and brings out all the inner beauty of – Martha, a plain, self-employed tripe butcher (and there aren't many of those roles in the female repertoire) who, in her lonely fifties, starts an affair with Otto, a boorish, chauvinist, and slightly younger factory worker, ripely embodied by Simon Callow."

As Hecuba, Aethra and The Nurse at The Royal Shakespeare Company, at The Barbican Theatre, London, 2001 and world premiere at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Denver, 2000, Directed by Sir Peter Hall & Edward Hall

2001 - The Spectator - Patrick Carnegie: “Ann Mitchell is outstanding as Hecuba..." - 2000 - Daily Telegraph  - John Whitley: “…Tantalus remains a substantially British production, four of his leading actors are distinguished stalwarts of British drama...Ann Mitchell, the star of ITV's Widows, is Hecuba." -- Talkinbroadway.com  - Rodney Anderson: “My particular favourites were...Ann Mitchell as Hecuba, the Nurse, Aethra.   Ann Mitchell's Hecuba who refuses to accept her fate was formidable and terrifying before and after the war.  You wouldn't want to mess with her." - The North County Times  - Bill Fark: “Ann Mitchell is impressive...a standout as Hecuba and Nurse..." - Denver Rocky Mountain News  - Mike Pearson: “…while Ann Mitchell offers the show's most emotionally explosive moments as Hecuba.  Her descent into madness sends chills down your spine that still linger the following day." - Chicago Tribune  - Richard Christiansen“Ann Mitchell ignites the stage as the ferocious matriarch Queen Hecuba..." -- Los Angeles Times  - Michael Phillips - “Part three "The Homecomings", is dominated by Ann Mitchell's enslaved Queen Hecuba ..." - San Francisco Examiner  - Robert: “…Ann Mitchell's imperious Queen Hecuba." - The Times - Benedict Nightingale: “Ann Mitchell's Hecuba, a ferocious baglady who is bloodstreaked, tongueless and madly barking like a dog..." - The Guardian - Michael Billington: “Ann Mitchell's towering Hecuba..." - Daily Telegraph  - Charles Spencer: “The acting is outstanding...Ann Mitchell reaches the very heart of suffering as Hecuba..."

As Helen Martins at The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, 1997, Directed by Greg Hersov

1997 - The Express - Gerry Dempsey: “…Ann Mitchell is magnificent as Helen, ascending from quaking fear ("the darkness is inside and I can't light candles in there") to blazing assertion of the individual's ultimate freedom, the right to be herself…” - The Express Sunday - Alex Lindsay: “Ann Mitchell is superb as Helen Martin...If ever a play was performance-driven, this is one. Ann Mitchell, as Helen, this gentle, twitchy old lady with her bird-like fragility, summoning a hidden all-conquering strength from out of nowhere." - The Guardian Guide - Lynn Gardner: “…stars the excellent Ann Mitchell as the woman whose home, which she turned into a work of art, has now become one of South Africa's national monuments."

As Gertrude at The Citizen’s Theatre Glasgow, 1996, Directed by Philip Prowse

1996 - Plays International - Cordelia Oliver: “Heavy dark structures, set at angles, descend and ascend in different formations on a stage which is built out slantingly across the auditorium ('walls have ears’)…The scene with Ann Mitchell's Gertrude was as believable as I can remember. Likewise the scene with the Players and the whole of the play within the play."

As Hecuba, at The Gate Theatre, London, 1992, Directed by Laurence Boswell

Independent on Sunday 1992
Performance of the Year for Hecuba, by the Independent on Sunday newspaper

1992 - The Observer - Michael Coveney: “Maternal grief gives way to avenging madness and Mitchell's supercharged journey through naked grief, ribald sarcasm, glinting malevolence, vicious craziness and implacable resignations is one of the acting highlights of the year.”: - The Independent on Sunday - Irving Wardell: "Ann Mitchell's Hecuba reaches from Troy to Auschwitz." - The Sunday Times - John Peter: “Ann Mitchell is never the "tragedy queen" shrieking at Fate: counterproductive in a small theatre. She says: "I am dead, I feel nothing," and her voice sustains this note of grim determination not to feel. . . .Only at the end does Mitchell's Hecuba permit her feelings to show, relishing her victory over Don Warrington's treacherous Polymestor." - Evening Standard - Rick Jones: “…The current programme notes intimate that Euripides played Hecuba in drag. One doubts he would have made as good a job of it as Ann Mitchell here, not least because he would have had to yell his head off throughout if Athenians at the back were to hear anything at all. Mitchell can afford to whisper, and she does. this has telling effect in contrast to the passages she screams. It's a fearsome portrayal of a woman clinging to her pride as a last dignity in the face of captors who are determined to stifle her spirit..." - City Limits - Matt Wolf: “…Playing a 'queen of tears' who is way beyond weeping, Mitchell portrays a Trojan ruler stripped of her city, her husband, her children; the actress inhabits the rending knife edge between fury and madness...lines like 'Control yourself. You're a wild animal' are understated to the extreme - but it conveys Hecuba's own seemingly rational surrender to extremes of irrationality…” - The Guardian - Claire Armistead: “This, then, is a play about the distorting power of war - on reason, on passion, and on personality: Hecuba, magnificently played by Ann Mitchell, is warped by her grief. But it is also about the power of language...Mitchell, hollow-eyed and ugly in grief, allows torment to well up from somewhere deep in her chest, as if her voicebox has imploded: her performance is a painful reminder of the corrosiveness of suffering..."

As Mrs. Malaprop at The Nottingham Playhouse, 1992, Directed by James McDonald

1992 - The Guardian - Pat Ashworth: “She doesn't make Mrs. Malaprop a clown or a figure of fun: rather she's droll, endearing, slightly batty in a very English way but with the makings of a great lady."

As Mrs. Warren at The Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow, 1990, Directed by Giles Havergal

1990 - The Times - Alasdair Cameron: “…Mitchell's Mrs Warren reverts to her native Cockney accent with the subtlety and precise calculation which underlie everything she does. Her performance throws new light on the character and universalises the relationship between mother and daughter. She is a mother, bad and demanding one...we can see clearly what Shaw actually wrote: a drama about the power politics between parents and children as much as any critique of the hypocrisy of society." - The Independent - Randall Stevenson: “… Ann Mitchell establishes a commanding stage presence for the corrupt but unashamed figure of Mrs Warren...frequent changes of manner and accent keep a menacing tension stretched beneath her surface sociability. Apparent sweetness alternates with glacial hardness, convincingly characterising a figure torn between the tenderness she seeks with her daughter Vivie and the rapacious energy required for unrepentant success in the international business of prostitution." - The Glasgow Herald - Mary Brennan: “…Quite thrilling natural, relaxed, modulated performances from...and Ann Mitchell (Mrs Warren) provide a cogent perspective on those elements within our society which we have still to reconcile..."

As Mary Stuart at The Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow, 1985, Directed by Phillip Prowse

1985 - The Times - Holly Hill: “Ann Mitchell's figure of the tragic queen at the Citizen's Theatre makes this femme palpably fatale...Daring to play Stuart with a French accent...she gives Mary the virtually irresistible charm of Katherine in Henry V."

As Cornelia at The Glasgow Citizens Theatre, Greenwich, 1984, Directed by Philip Prowse

1984 - The Guardian - Michael Billington: “Ann Mitchell as Cornelia has a lament for her dead son that is lyrically moving and when she summons Flamineo with fluttering fingers, it stops the heart." - The Observer - Michael Coveney: “Two great walls, containing hinged doors and evocative of city streets, secret gardens and domestic interiors, dominate the stage. The actors are dressed in beautifully cut costumes. . . Ann Mitchell is outstanding as the bloodily dribbling mother of doomed sons." - The Stage, Peter Heppic: “it is Ann Mitchell who most catches the eye as the mother Cornelia, in a moving portrayal of grief and despair.” - The Observer - Michael Ratcliffe: ". . Ann Mitchell gives the best performance of the night as the uniquely virtuous Cornelia."

As Mrs. Marwood at The Glasgow Citizens Theatre Greenwich, London 1984, Directed by Giles Havergal

As Ines at The Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 1972, Directed by Philip Prowse

1972 - The Guardian - Michael Billington: “Mr Prowse has created a retina-ravishing spectacle and from a large cast one must single out Ann Mitchell as a jealous Lesbian. They have played Coward and won." - The Financial Times - Michael Coveney: "Inez, raspingly played by Ann Mitchell, berates Cyril for taking singing lessons with Corelli, quoting the unfortunate case of another of Corelli's pupils - "Poor Griselda Mencken, the most constipated Carmen I've ever seen..."

As Mother Courage at The Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, 1970, Directed by Robert Walker

1970 - The Arts Guide - Cordelia Oliver: “…Ann Mitchell stamps a recognisably Cockney image, both fierce and funny, on the woman, utterly materialistic and yet utterly human who hauls her canteen cart in the wake of the army through the Thirty Years War, losing her children to it but not her indomitable will to survive, and, wearing the ugly dress of the early 1940's she suggests the timelessness of the character. It is an outsize performance."

As Lady Hamilton at The Round House, London, 1968, Written and Directed by John Arden & Margaretta D'Arcy