Joyce Redman was born in Northumberland[5] and grew up in County Mayo, Ireland.

[4][6] She was born into an Anglo-Irish family, and educated by a private governess in Ireland, along with her three sisters.

She trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, graduating in 1936.

In 1974, Redman played Sophie Dupin, the mother of George Sand, in the BBC serial Notorious Woman.

Redman married Charles Wynne Roberts in New York City in 1949; he predeceased her.