Lesley Sharp (born 3 April 1960) is an English stage, film and television actress whose roles on British television include Clocking Off (2000–2001), Bob & Rose (2001) and Afterlife (2005–2006). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the 1997 film The Full Monty. Sharp was born in Manchester, England, and was adopted at 6 weeks old by a Scottish couple—the Sharps. Born Karen Makinson, she was renamed Lesley Sharp upon her adoption at 6 weeks old. She grew up in Formby, which is north of Liverpool. She has an older sister.

Sharp has stated that she started acting because, as a child, she felt "invisible" and did not "quite fit in".[3] She has said that her inspiration to act came from watching Dick Emery on television.[4]

Sharp attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the class of 1982. She traced her birth mother over twenty years ago and discovered that she was the result of her mother's affair with a married man.