Sally Mortemore is an English actress born in 1961 in Aylesbury, whose career spans film, television, and decades of continuous professional stage work. She trained at the Arts Educational Schools, graduating in 1981 with the Style in Acting award, and moved straight into repertory theatre. Wider audiences know her as Madam Irma Pince, the Hogwarts librarian from the Harry Potter film series, a role she later reprised for a mobile game alongside five other original cast members. Her stage work has ranged from Shakespeare’s Gertrude to Countess Groan in Gormenghast, with credits across London venues and touring productions.
Key facts
- Born: 1961
- Birthplace: Aylesbury
- Country: United Kingdom
- Occupation: actor; film actor; stage actor
Training and early career
Mortemore trained at the Arts Educational Schools and graduated in 1981, the same year she received the Style in Acting award, one of the school’s prestigious prizes. Rather than waiting for opportunities, she went directly into repertory theatre at Hornchurch, starting her professional stage career immediately after graduation.
Her early television work came in 1983 with an appearance in Give Us a Break, followed in 1984 by an uncredited role as Young Anna Freud in the TV series Freud.
Stage career
Mortemore has worked with several notable theatre companies across a wide range of productions. For Red Shift Theatre Company, she played Juliana Bordereau in The Aspern Papers, touring from April to June 1998. The following season, from September 1999 to March 2000, she toured with the same company in Hamlet: First Cut, playing both Gertrude (listed in the production as Gertred) and the Player Queen.
In the autumn of 2000, she joined Clean Break Theatre Company to play Sandy in Apache Tears, touring from September to November with performances at Battersea Arts Centre in London among other venues. Her stage credits also include work with the English Shakespeare Company and the David Glass Ensemble, for whom she played Countess Groan in a stage production of Gormenghast. That production ran at Battersea Arts Centre from 27 March to 15 April 2007 before going on tour.
Further London credits include Jarman Garden at Riverside Studios. In October 2013, she took on the role of Helen in a revival of Women of Twilight at the White Bear Theatre in London, a production that transferred to the Pleasance Theatre in Islington from 14 April 2014.
Screen work and Harry Potter
Mortemore is perhaps best known to general audiences for her role as Madam Irma Pince, the librarian of Hogwarts, in the Harry Potter film series. In 2018, she reprised that role as a voice actor in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, a mobile video game released on 25 April 2018 by Jam City, developed in partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
Her short film work brought her a festival honour in September 2014, when she won the Special Award for Best Performance at the Thurrock International Film Festival for her portrayal of Susan in A Cake for Mabel, a short film directed by Jane McGee.
Did you know
- Mortemore was one of only six actors from the original Harry Potter film series to reprise their voice roles for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery in 2018. The others were Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Warwick Davis, Gemma Jones, and Zoe Wanamaker. (hollywoodreporter.com)
- Her earliest documented stage credit traces back to 1984, when she appeared in Orphee for Floorboards Theatre Productions at the Upstream Theatre Club in London SE1, putting more than four decades of continuous professional stage work on record. (theatricalia.com)
Data sources
Data updated: 2026-11-01