Baptiste, known for roles in "How to Get Away with Murder" and "Without a Trace," is receiving serious Oscar buzz for her performance in "Hard Truths." Reuniting with director Mike Leigh, Jean-Baptiste portrays Pansy Deacon,

Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays a very angry British woman named Pansy in Mike Leigh's “Hard Truths.” She walks through life like a tornado of discontent, lashing out at anyone who dares cross her path,

She reteams with her "Secret and Lies" director, Mike Leigh, for this brutally funny drama about a British woman consumed with anger.

The human psyche can contain irrational anger, leading to outbursts at strangers for minor offenses. Triggers for this rage can range from someone taking a parking spot before we’re ready

Yet that scene is a miracle precisely for what Jean-Baptiste does with it. The role couldn’t be more different from the actress’s Oscar-nominated turn in Leigh’s “Secrets & Lies” (1996), as a graceful and assured Black woman confronting her flummoxed White birth mother (Brenda Blethyn).

To say that the British actor and director Mike Leigh have given us their best collaboration to date is too mild a sentiment. They've gifted us with a masterpiece of bruised humanity