Samantha Morton gets Nottingham Trent honorary degree

Morton trained as an actress at the Central Junior Television Workshop

Award-winning actress Samantha Morton is being given an honorary degree by Nottingham Trent University.

The Nottingham-born star is one of eight figures from the worlds of business, the arts, academia and media being honoured.

Pop artist Sir Peter Blake, the man behind the cover of the Beatle's Sgt Pepper album, and art critic Adrian Searle will also be receiving awards.

The degrees will be handed out at ceremonies from Monday to 22 July.

Morton is receiving the degree of Doctor of Letters "in recognition of her internationally successful acting career", said the university.

She has received two Oscar nominations for her performances in Jim Sheridan's In America (2002) and Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999).

Morton won Bafta and Emmy nominations for the role of Myra Hindley in Channel 4's Longford.

And as a director she won a Bafta for her debut feature film, The Unloved, in 2010 - a semi-autobiographical drama about children in the care system.

Oscar nominee

The actress, who trained at the Central Junior Television Workshop in Nottingham and got her first television role at the age of 13, is currently filming Cosmopolis, directed by David Cronenberg.

Each year the university awards a small number of honorary degrees to individuals who have achieved outstanding success and distinction in their chosen fields.

Honorary degrees are also being given to forensic scientist Dr Angela Gallop and Eleanor Sharpston QC, one of Europe's senior law officers.

The first children's commissioner for England, Professor Sir Albert Aynsley-Green, the chair of the East Midlands Development Agency Dr Bryan Jackson OBE, Baron Parekh, a political scientist, will also be recognised.