Blakeley studied at the Royal Academy and other schools and joined Madame Tussaud's, sculpting such personages as Elton John, Ella Fitzgerald, and P. G. Wodehouse. His other film credits include sculpting on Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, Richard E. Grant's other head in How to Get Ahead in Advertising, the ship's masthead and other designs for Pan, a statue of Stalin for Enemy at the Gates, and Hogwarts statuary for the Harry Potter movies.