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Penny Downie

Acting

Born January 1, 1954 · Queensland, Australia

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.

Filmography32 titles

The Cazalets

as Sid

The Crown

2016as Duchess of Gloucester

Agatha Christie's Poirot

1989as Frances Cloade

Downton Abbey

2010as Lady Sinderby

Falling

2005as Hazel Kent

Inspector Morse

1987as Nurse Wendy Hazlitt

Spooks

2002as Prosecution QC

The Diplomat

2023as Frances Munning

Father Brown

2013as Rev. Mother Augustine

Murder in Suburbia

2004as Zenith

Silk

2011as Helen Guthrie

Breathe

2017as Tid

Ripper Street

2012as Flora Gable

Vera

2011as Veronica

Kavanagh QC

1995as Mrs. Rosalind McEnery

Back

2017as Ellen

Absentia

2017as Valerie Chandris

Invictus

2009as Mrs. Pienaar

Waking the Dead

2001as Bonnie Yorke

Whitstable Pearl

2021as Izzy

Jackie

2016as Janet Lee

Houdini and Doyle

2016as Mrs. Sulzbach

Lost for Words

1999as Aileen Longden

The Chelsea Detective

2022as Hilary Carmichael

W.E.

2011as Dr. Vargas

London Has Fallen

2016as Home Secretary Rose Kenter

The House of Mirth

2000as Judy Trenor

The Ice House

as Phoebe Maybury

Siblings

2014as Dr Barker

Wetherby

1985as Chrissie

Lionheart

1987as Madelaine

Byron

2003as Lady Judith Milbanke