Portrait of Penny Downie

Penny Downie

Acting

Biography

Penny Downie is an Australian actress known for her stage and television appearances in the United Kingdom. From 2017 until 2021 she played Ellen in the British TV sitcom Back. She plays the US ambassador’s house manager Frances Munning in the 2023 Netflix political thriller series The Diplomat.

Born: January 1, 1954

Place of Birth: Queensland, Australia

Filmography

2023
The Diplomat

as Frances Munning

2022
The Chelsea Detective

as Hilary Carmichael

2021
2020
2017
Breathe

as Tid

2017
Absentia

as Valerie Chandris

2017
Back

as Ellen

2016
Jackie

as Janet Lee

2016
The Crown

as Duchess of Gloucester

2016
Houdini & Doyle

as Mrs. Sulzbach

2016
London Has Fallen

as Home Secretary Rose Kenter

2013
Father Brown

as Rev. Mother Augustine

2012
Ripper Street

as Flora Gable

2011
W.E.

as Dr. Vargas

2011
Vera

as Veronica

2010
Downton Abbey

as Lady Sinderby

2009
Hamlet

as Gertrude

2009
Invictus

as Mrs. Pienaar

2006
New Street Law

as Honor Scammel

2005
2005
Falling

as Hazel Kent

2005
Murder in Rome

as Caecilia

2003
Byron

as Lady Judith Milbanke

2003
Byron

as Lady Judith Milbanke

2002
Spooks

as Prosecution QC

2001
2001
Waking the Dead

as Bonnie Yorke

2000
The House of Mirth

as Judy Trenor

1999
Lost for Words

as Aileen Longden

1998
1997
1997
The Ice House

as Phoebe Maybury

1995
Kavanagh Q.C.

as Mrs. Rosalind McEnery

1994
Paradise

as Linda

1991
1991
Ex

as Sheila

1989
Agatha Christie's Poirot

as Frances Cloade

1988
A Taste for Death

as Kate Miskin

1987
Lionheart

as Madelaine

1987
Inspector Morse

as Nurse Wendy Hazlitt

1985
Wetherby

as Chrissie

1983
Dalgliesh

as Kate Miskin

1982
Crosstalk

as Cindy

1982
Timewatch

as Caecilia

1979
Minder

as Dee Rogers