British Actresses You Should Know: Samantha Morton

Samantha Morton may currently reign as the much-maligned French queen Catherine de Medici on Starz's The Serpent Queen, but this is hardly the first remarkable performance from this critically acclaimed actress who deserves much more mainstream attention than she tends to get.

She's been nominated for an Oscar twice and starred in everything from period pieces and crime thrillers to zombie apocalypse dramas. And if you don't know Morton's work, well…the time to fix that is right now.

Here are our picks for some of her best performances over the years.

Sweet and Lowdown

A 1999 American comedy-drama from Woody Allen, Sweet and Lowdown is a mockumentary-style film set in the 1930s that tells the story of a jazz guitarist (Sean Penn) who falls in love with a mute woman (Morton).

Morton garnered her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her complicated and physical performance as Hallie, and her chemistry with Penn is deeply odd and strangely charming.