Known for directing and writing such United Kingdom comedy films as Vinyl and Very Annie Mary, she also directed the musical movie Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and acted in such films as Mr. Nice and Sid and Nancy.
After performing during her teenage years in a punk band called The Fractures, she trained in the late 1980s at London's renowned Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
She acted in several BBC television series, including Grange Hill and A Very Peculiar Practice.
She grew up in Rhyl, Denbighshire, Wales and London, England and later lived in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Her marriage to British stage and screen actor David Thewlis lasted from 1992 until 1994.
Her 2001 comedy, Very Annie Mary, stars Australian Actress Rachel Griffiths and Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce.
