Samantha Morton (born 13 May 1977) is an English actress and film director. She is also a campaigner for Social justice and she is an ambassador for the Save the Children organisation. Because of both her acting excellence and her commitment to political activism, a The Sunday Times journalist described her as "a Working class Vanessa Redgrave".

Morton was born in Clifton, Nottingham, England; the daughter of Pamela Freebury, a factory worker, and Peter Morton. Her parents divorced in 1979. At the age of seven, she was made a ward of the court and never lived with her natural parents again. The next nine years were spent in and out of Foster care and children's homes. She attended West Bridgford Comprehensive School, and, for a while, Haywood Comprehensive School, and was known for always getting in trouble. Under the effects of drugs, she threatened an older girl who had been bullying her. She was convicted of making threats to kill. She served 16 weeks in an attendance centre. Morton said in an interview, "as a child I had a serious anger problem but from the age of 16 I've been trying to turn bad things into positives". After leaving care, she lived in a Homeless Hostel and worked on a Youth Training Scheme in hairdressing.

Morton took up acting as a child. She joined the Central Junior Television Workshop when she was thirteen and was soon being offered small-screen roles. In 1991 she was cast as Clare Anderson in the first series of Lucy Gannon's Soldier Soldier and also made a guest appearance, as Mandy, in an episode of Boon — both were Central TV productions.