Celia Diana Savile Imrie (born 15 July 1952) is an English actress.
Imrie is best known for film roles including the Bridget Jones series (2001, 2004, 2016, 2025), Calendar Girls (2003), Nanny McPhee (2005), St Trinian's (2007), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), A Cure for Wellness (2016), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018), and The Thursday Murder Club (2025).
Imrie appeared in the FX series Better Things (2016–2022), the Netflix series The Diplomat (2023–present) and the first series of The Celebrity Traitors (2025) on BBC One. She is also known for her frequent collaborations with the comedian and actress Victoria Wood. In 2006, she won an Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical in Acorn Antiques: The Musical!.
Imrie was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to drama.
Celia Diana Savile Imrie was born on 15 July 1952 in Guildford, Surrey, the fourth of five children of Dr. David Andrew Imrie, a radiologist from Glasgow, Scotland, and Diana Elizabeth Imrie, née Cator. Her mother was a granddaughter of Sir John Ralph Blois, 8th Baronet, from an old Suffolk family. Imrie was educated at Guildford High School, an independent school for girls in her home town of Guildford, followed by the Guildford School of Acting.
Imrie's film credits include the mischievous Mrs. Selma Quickly in Nanny McPhee, Iris du Pré in Hilary and Jackie, Homily Clock in the 1997 film The Borrowers, House of Whipcord, Bridget Jones's Diary, Calendar Girls, Highlander and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Imrie played Fighter Pilot Bravo 5 in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Matron in St Trinian's (2007), Claudia Bing in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016), Victoria Watkins in A Cure for Wellness (2016), Bif in Finding Your Feet (2017), Vice-Chancellor in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018), Mimi in Love Sarah (2020), Imelda in Good Grief (2024) and Joyce in The Thursday Murder Club (2025).
Imrie's television credits include the original 1970s series of Upstairs, Downstairs; Bergerac; The Nightmare Man; Oranges are not the only Fruit; Casualty; Absolutely Fabulous; Still Game and The Darling Buds of May. She also played Vera in A Dark-Adapted Eye (1994) by Ruth Rendell.
Imrie first worked with Victoria Wood in the 1980s on Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, which included the popular sketch Acorn Antiques. In 1994, she reunited with Wood in the television film Pat and Margaret, and later appeared in Dinnerladies from 1998 to 1999.
Imrie's other roles include Still Game, Cloud Howe, Taggart, and Blue Black Permanent (1992).
In 2000, Imrie played Lady Gertrude in Gormenghast, while, in 2001, she was in Love in a Cold Climate with Alan Bates. In 2002, she played Mrs Violet Pearman to Albert Finney's Churchill in The Gathering Storm. She appeared in the BBC television drama Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle (2005), appeared opposite Nicholas Lyndhurst in the BBC sitcom After You've Gone (2007–2008), opposite Stephen Fry in the ITV1 drama Kingdom, and with Judi Dench in Cranford. In 2013, she guest-starred in the BBC's Doctor Who, playing the villainous Miss Kizlet in "The Bells of Saint John". In May 2016, she made her US television debut in the DC action-adventure series Legends of Tomorrow. In September 2016 she began starring as Phyllis in the FX series Better Things.
In 2025, Imrie appeared as a contestant on the first series of The Celebrity Traitors. Her nervous fart, while locked in a wooden cabin with the other celebrities in episode 3, was described as the "TV moment of the year". Imrie competed the game as a faithful before eventually being "murdered" in plain sight by traitor Alan Carr in episode 8.
After appearing as a chorus girl in many pantomimes, in 1975 Imrie got a job as an Assistant Stage Manager and understudy in the Royal Shakespeare Company with Glenda Jackson playing Hedda Gabler, directed by Trevor Nunn, on a world tour. Also in the company at that time were Patrick Stewart, Timothy West, Peter Eyre, Pam St Clement, Jennie Linden and Fidelis Morgan.
In 1979, Imrie played in her first revue, Performing Ceals with Celia Foxe, which first opened at The Bonne Crepe and played at various venues in London ending up in 1980 at The Comic Strip. Other plays include Seduced at the Royal Court Theatre, and Heaven and Hell at the Traverse Theatre. Imrie appeared with the company in the 1979, 1981 and 1983 seasons at the celebrated Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. In 1984 she played in Alfie with Adam Faith at the Liverpool Playhouse in a production directed by Alan Parker. In 1991 she appeared in The Sea with Dame Judi Dench at the National Theatre in London. In 2005, after a successful run at the King's Head Theatre, her one woman play Unsuspecting Susan written by Stewart Permutt transferred to 59E59 Theaters in New York. In 2009 she appeared in Plague Over England in the West End, while in the same year she appeared in the world premiere of Robin Soans's Mixed Up North, directed by Max Stafford-Clark. In 2010, she appeared alongside Robin Soans in a production of Sheridan's The Rivals.
In 2005, Imrie won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in Acorn Antiques: The Musical! playing Miss Babs. In 1995 she played in The Hothouse at the Chichester Festival Theatre with Harold Pinter, with the production after transferring to the West End. In 1990 she appeared in Hangover Square at the Lyric Hammersmith with Dudley Sutton, in Drama at Inish (2011) at the Finborough Theatre with Paul O'Grady, and in her cabaret Laughing Matters – all adapted and directed by Fidelis Morgan.
In 2010, Imrie played in Hay Fever, and during the 2011–2012 season she appeared in Noises Off at The Old Vic and the West End, for which performance she was nominated for an Olivier Award. In 2016 Imrie re-united with Glenda Jackson after 41 years since their RSC world tour, playing a "grimly determined Goneril" in King Lear at The Old Vic.
Imrie narrated during the ceremonial event held to mark the 75th anniversary of D-day at Portsmouth in 2019.
Imrie's radio work includes parts in BBC Radio 4's No Commitments and Bleak Expectations. In early 2007, she narrated the book Arabella, broadcast over two weeks as the Book at Bedtime. She was the guest on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 on 13 February 2011.
Imrie appeared on BBC Radio 4's The Museum of Curiosity in October 2019. Her hypothetical donation to this imaginary museum was "A half-burnt candle".