Geraldine James OBE is a British actress who lives in London. Theatre director Peter Hall says Geraldine James ranks among the great English classical actresses. She was educated at Downe House, a girls' independent school in Newbury, Berkshire, and at Drama Centre London.

James played Portia opposite Dustin Hoffman in the London and Broadway productions of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.

Desert Island Discs

On 30 May 2004 Geraldine James was a guest on the BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs. She chose the following music to take with her if she was ever stranded on a desert island

• "Adagio from Concerto opus 9 No.2" by Tomaso Albinoni
• "Goodness Gracious Me" performed by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren
• "Love Me or Leave Me" performed by Nina Simone
• "Man in a Shed" performed by Nick Drake
• "The Times They are a Changin'" performed by Bob Dylan
• "Nana" performed by Pablo Casals (cello) and Eugene Istomin (piano)
• "By your Side" performed by Sade
• "In tears of grief, Dear Lord, we leave thee" by from St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) by Johann Sebastian Bach

Television appearances

• Played Sarah Layton in The Jewel in the Crown (1984)
• Played Lady Maud Lynchwood in Blott on the Landscape (1985)
• Played Rose the prostitute in Band of Gold
• Supporting actress in Moll Flanders
• Has a cameo role in Little Britain as the mother of a thirty-year old mummy's boy
• Guest starred as Lillith Hughes in 1 episode of Hex (2004).
• Former Lib Dem turned "Purple Alliance" Home Secretary in The Amazing Mrs Pritchard.
• The granny who plays dead in Stupid!.

Theatre appearances

• Played Portia opposite Dustin Hoffman in the London and Broadway productions of The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

Movie appearances

• Calendar Girls
• Gandhi
• The Tall Guy
• The Bridge
• If Looks Could Kill - Teen Agent, 1991 - Vendetta