Miriam Margolyes

Miriam Margolyes is a British-Australian actress of enormous warmth and comic ability, known for Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Age of Innocence (1993), and Blackadder (1983). She has been openly lesbian throughout her public life, one of the earliest British actresses to be so, and met historian Heather Sutherland in 1967; the two have been partners ever since, entering a civil partnership in 2013 -- one of the longest-running same-sex partnerships in British public life, notable also for the couple's unconventional choice to live largely apart, dividing their time between London, Tuscany, and Australia. Margolyes is known for her complete candor in interviews, frequent profanity, and warm advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights and visibility.