Who are Samantha Morton’s parents? The Odyssey star opens up about being homeless amid parents' health issues

Samantha Morton has discussed her experiences of homelessness during her childhood and teenage years, which occurred against the backdrop of her parents’ significant health and personal challenges.

During an interview with The Sunday Times, the 49 year old actress promoted her role as Circe in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and described periods of instability in her life. She said:

“I went pillar to post with foster families, homeless hostels, sleeping by the bins at the back of the Co-op, because it was too dangerous to go back to the children’s home because of the abuse. I have made choices that have always been about survival, because I watched my mum trying to survive and I watched my dad trying to survive.”

Samantha Morton is the daughter of late Pamela (née Mallek) and late Peter Morton. Her mother was a factory worker who passed away in 2017. Her father was a coal miner and alcoholic.

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Everything you need to know about Samantha Morton’s parents

Samantha Morton’s parents gained attention when she recently opened up about her past struggles with homelessness and her parents' health issues.

The Odyssey actress was born in Nottingham in 1977 to parents Pamela and Peter Morton. She grew up alongside eight brothers and sisters, with some of them born from her parents’ subsequent relationships after their divorce.

Her parents divorced and separated when she was a toddler. The separation followed Peter’s relationship with a 15-year-old babysitter, whom he later married when she got pregnant. Morton spoke about her father’s abusive nature in interviews. She said he subjected her to physical punishments like "a good hiding" when she was young. He reportedly passed away in early 2025.

The English actress told The Sunday Times:

“Someone told me I was resilient when I was younger. But sometimes you’ve got no choice other than to be resilient because if you are not you’re dead.”

While Samantha Morton’s mother was involved in a violent relationship with her second husband. She mother suffered from severe mental health breakdowns. Morton’s stepfather has been described as an alcoholic who served time in prison.

Morton’s mother was a “kind, subservient. vulnerable, funny” and “beautiful” woman who was abused in her childhood. Morton said that she was a saint to her before she passed away due to cancer.

Morton spent much of her childhood in foster system as her parents struggled to take care of a large family. At the age of eight, the actress was made a ward of court. By the age of 11, she was transferred to a children’s home called Redtiles in Nottingham. She explained in an interview with The Guardian how she used to be terrified to be sent to Redtiles but somehow ended up loving the place. It was a place with just nine kids who looked out for each other.

At the age of 13, Samantha Morton was s*xually abused by two residential care workers at a council-run children’s home. A few weeks after the assault, she told her mother, who took her to Oxclose Lane police station in Nottingham. Officers took her statement, and she was eventually removed from Redtiles, but the residential care workers were not removed from their jobs.

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While discussing the abuse with the BBC in 2014, Samantha Morton said that "there was no support, no offer of counselling, no wanting to delve deeper". She said not only she but many of her friends were also the victims, who were abused by “people in very, very top jobs within the social services.”

Samantha Morton has three children. She shares her daughter, Esmé Creed-Miles, with actor Charlie Creed-Miles. She has two children with her partner and filmmaker Harry Holm – a daughter named Edie and a son named Theodore.

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