The Walking Dead Actress Samantha Morton was charged with attempted murder at age 14
Samantha Morton, the actress, has disclosed that she was charged with attempted murder and eventually convicted of making threats to kill at the age of 14.
Morton, 41, grew up in care where she was exposed to a tough and often violent environment.
She has decided to speak put about her criminal conviction after directing her first film – about a girl growing up in a children’s homes.
Morton was in a home in Nottingham when the incident occurred.
In an interview with the Guardian, she explained that there had been a riot and the building had been set on fire.
It was when the police had arrived that Morton picked up a knife and was accused of threatening to kill an older girl who had been bullying her for a long time.
“I was physically abused and I retaliated”, she said.
“The only person I hurt in the end was myself.
“I was locked in a cell for three days. It was terrible. I just sat there thinking, I don’t want this life – I’m not a petty criminal. I’m not a thug. I was so ashamed of myself.”
The charge of attempted murder was reduced to making threats to kill.
Morton was convicted and sentenced to 18 weeks at an attendance centre.
She said the experience turned her life around.
“I felt humbled, I felt remorse, I felt embarrassed.”
Morton plans to work with children in care in the future.
She said: “What shocks me is that so many people leave care and become homeless, and when you’re homeless you get into crime, prostitution and drugs, and it is a vicious circle. That’s what we need to change
The Walking Dead has cast its new big-bad for season nine: Samantha Morton, who joins the cast in a series-regular role as Alpha, leader of the Whisperers, one of the most iconic villains from the comic books on which the AMC drama is based.
As Alpha, the Oscar-nominated Morton (Sweet and Lowdown and In America) will embody the leader of the Whisperers, a ruthless woman who is bald beneath her zombie mask, charged with presiding over the rest of her people. In the comics, she’s close with two specific members of the clan: Beta, her enormous lieutenant, and Lydia, her daughter, who becomes a love interest for Carl. Given Chandler Riggs’ exit from the series in season eight, any and all future storylines involving Lydia will clearly need to undergo some alterations.
Outside of her relationships within the Whisperers, Alpha’s interactions with characters outside her group are notable. She’s very quickly at odds with Rick Grimes, with the two leaders fully opposed to each other’s way of life. Indeed, Alpha makes the full extent of her threat level known in a grand gesture to Rick that involves the deaths of several members of his society, including two characters who are still active in the AMC series. No spoilers on those specific casualties, though given news of Lincoln’s exit, one wonders if Rick himself will wind up on the receiving end of Alpha’s wrath.
Beyond Rick, Alpha has a few memorable interactions with another leader in the zombie apocalypse — but to say much more on that front would be getting way too far ahead of the game. Alpha represents the biggest villain to enter the Walking Dead fray since the series cast Jeffrey Dean Morgan as its first big-bad, Negan.
For her part, Morton counts Hulu’s Harlots,Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Minority Report, The Messenger and Her among her impressive lists of credits. She is repped by UTA and the U.K.’s Conway van Gelder Grant
