Ann Emery is a British actress. She is the sister of actor and comedian Dick Emery

Dick Emery

Richard Gilbert "Dick" Emery was an English comedian and actor. Beginning on radio in the 1950s, an eponymous television series ran from 1963 to 1981. He was the brother of Ann Emery.-Life and career:...

.

Educated at Mrs Smith's School for Young Ladies and the Cone Ripman School, she excelled in tap dancing, which led to her first stage role as a Babe in Babes In The Wood

Babes in the Wood

Babes in the Wood is a traditional children's tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. It has also been the name of some other unrelated works. The expression has passed into common language, referring to inexperienced innocents entering unawares into any potentially dangerous or hostile...

at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith.

During her career she has performed in various theatre roles, including Sir Trevor Nunn

Trevor Nunn

Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...

's production of My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...

(Royal National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

 and The Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Drury Lane

Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....

) and as Grandma in the musical Billy Elliot

Billy Elliot

Billy Elliot is a 2000 British drama film written by Lee Hall and directed by Stephen Daldry. Set in the fictional town of "Everington" in the real County Durham, UK, it stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, an aspiring dancer, Gary Lewis as his coal miner father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older...

from 2005 to 2010.

Emery is possibly best known for playing Ethel Meaker in the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 children's television programme Rentaghost

Rentaghost

Rentaghost is a British children's television comedy show, broadcast by the BBC between 6 January 1976 and 6 November 1984. The show's plot centred on the antics of a number of ghosts who worked for a firm called Rentaghost, which rented out the ghosts for various tasks.-Background:The company,...

. She also played Ethel Rocket in Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde

Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde

Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde was a British children's television series which aired on BBC One in the UK for 53 episodes between 1995 and 1998....

in 1995 and appeared in the 2007 film Wednesday

Wednesday (film)

Wednesday is a 2007 film, directed by award-winning British director Rob Sorrenti set around the meeting years later between a girl and boy born on the same day.-Cast:*Sinead Matthews - Lilya*Tom McClane - Sam*Ann Emery - Nan*David Kennedy - Dad...

.

Emery performed as Mother Dear in Cameron Mackintosh

Cameron Mackintosh

Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...

's West End musical comedy Betty Blue Eyes

Betty Blue Eyes

Betty Blue Eyes was a musical with music by George Stiles, lyrics by Anthony Drewe, and book by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman. The story was based on the Alan Bennett screenplay, A Private Function, and was set during a celebration of the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip.-...

. Sarah Lancashire

Sarah Lancashire

Sarah Lancashire is an English actress, probably best recognised for her role as Raquel Watts in Coronation Street. She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1986.-Television:...

 and Reece Shearsmith

Reece Shearsmith

Reeson "Reece" Shearsmith is an English actor and writer. He is most famous for his work as part of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...

 were her daughter and son-in-law Joyce and Gilbert Chilvers. The musical is based on the 1984 film A Private Function

A Private Function

A Private Function is a 1984 British comedy film starring Michael Palin and Maggie Smith. The film was predominantly filmed in Ilkley and Ben Rhydding, West Yorkshire. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival....

by Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...

 and Malcolm Mowbray

Malcolm Mowbray

Malcolm Mowbray is a British screenwriter and television and film director.Mowbray began his career in television, directing episodes of Premiere, BBC2 Playhouse, and Objects of Affection...

, which starred Liz Smith

Liz Smith (actress)

Liz Smith, MBE is a British actress, best-known for her roles in the sitcoms The Vicar of Dibley and The Royle Family. She also appeared in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...

 as Joyce's mother alongside Maggie Smith

Maggie Smith

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...

 and Michael Palin

Michael Palin

Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....

. Betty Blue Eyes ran at the Novello Theatre from April to September 2011, and was enthusiastically received by London critics, with many praising Emery's lively supporting turn.

Following the early closure of Betty Blue Eyes

Betty Blue Eyes

Betty Blue Eyes was a musical with music by George Stiles, lyrics by Anthony Drewe, and book by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman. The story was based on the Alan Bennett screenplay, A Private Function, and was set during a celebration of the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip.-...

, she will return to Billy Elliot from November 2011.