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Actor:

Fiona Shaw

  • Born: Jul 10, 1958 in Cork, Ireland
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '90s-2000s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Fantasy
  • Career Highlights: My Left Foot, Persuasion, The Butcher Boy
  • First Major Screen Credit: Sacred Hearts (1984)

Biography

Thin-lipped and statuesque Irish actress Fiona Shaw frequently takes the lead on the theatrical stage but steers her talents toward supporting roles in feature films. Born in County Cork, she studied philosophy before moving on to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. During the '80s she worked mainly on-stage as part of the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Some of her stage credits include As You Like It, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and a one-woman reading of T.S. Eliot's epic poem The Waste Land, just to name a few. She made her film debut in 1984 as one of the nuns in the WWII drama Sacred Hearts, but her breakthrough role came in 1989 as the doctor whom Christy Brown grows infatuated with in My Left Foot. The next year, she played the wife of an explorer in the British Empire film Mountains of the Moon. She also excelled at comedy with memorable roles in Three Men and a Little Lady, London Kills Me, Super Mario Bros., and Undercover Blues. In 1995, she turned to literary adaptations and costume dramas with Persuasion, Jane Eyre, and Anna Karenina. She then played Francie's sharp-tongued mother in Neil Jordan's childhood drama The Butcher Boy. Around this time, her longtime colleague Deborah Warner directed the controversial television adaptation of Richard II, with Shaw in the lead role of the young king. Also on television, she played Hedda Hopper in the HBO movie RKO 281 and Irma Prunesquallor in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast. She collaborated with director Warner again for The Last September, based on the novel by Irish author Elizabeth Bowen. In 2001, she received the honorary Companion of the British Empire award and portrayed the spinster scientist Leontine in Clare Peploe's The Triumph of Love. Returning to the stage to play Medea on Broadway, she found herself well-costumed once again as the wretched Aunt Petunia Dursely in the series of Harry Potter feature films. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

 
 
Wikipedia: Fiona Shaw
Fiona Shaw
Born July 10 1958 (1958--) (age 49)
Flag of Ireland County Cork, Ireland

Fiona Shaw, CBE (Hon) (born 10 July, 1955[1] or 1958) is a leading Irish actress who regularly appears in London theatre, although to international audiences she is probably most familiar for her minor role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films. She has been regarded as one of the finest classical actresses of her generation.[2][3] Shaw was awarded an honorary CBE in 2001.[4]

Biography

Early life

Shaw was born Fiona Mary Wilson in County Cork, Republic of Ireland to a mixed-religious couple and was raised Catholic.[5][6] Her father was an eye surgeon[7] and her mother was a physicist.[8] She liked to be called "Fe Fe" in her childhood years and attended secondary school at Scoil Mhuire In Cork City. She received her degree in University College Cork. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, she received much acclaim as Julia in the National Theatre production of Richard Sheridan's The Rivals (1983), a role which demonstrated her gift for comedy. Despite her natural comic abilities, Shaw has opted more often than not for roles showcasing her extreme but unaffected emotional intensity. These performances have earned her numerous stage awards.

Career

Her notable theatrical roles include Celia in As You Like It (1984), Madame de Volanges in Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1985), Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew (1987), Winnie in Happy Days (2007), and the title roles in Electra (1988), The Good Person of Sechuan (1989), Hedda Gabler (1991), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1998) and Medea (2000). She performed T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land as a one-person show at the Liberty Theatre in New York to great acclaim in 1996.[9]

She controversially played the lead in Richard II, directed by Deborah Warner in 1995. Shaw has collaborated with Warner on a number of occasions, on both stage and screen. Shaw has also worked in film and television, including My Left Foot, Jane Eyre, Persuasion, Gormenghast, and a number of the Harry Potter films in which she plays the insufferable Aunt Petunia.

Personal life

For a number of years, Shaw has been romantically linked in the press with actress Saffron Burrows.[10][11][12] Neither actress has publicly confirmed or denied the relationship, however they do live together in a London flat. The two appeared together in the National Theatre's production of The PowerBook,[13] a play based on the novel of the same name by Jeanette Winterson in which they played lovers.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Fiona_Shaw/189442
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2].
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ http://www.didaskalia.net/issues/vol5no3/trans01.html
  6. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20030727/ai_n12583855/pg_4
  7. ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/46/Fiona-Shaw.html
  8. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20030809/ai_n12701933
  9. ^ Ben Brantly, Memory and Desire: Hearing Eliot's Passion, New York Times November 18, 1996
  10. ^ "Mad About Saffron", Sydney Morning Herald, May 15 2004
  11. ^ "Saffron Burrows Embraces Lesbian Relationships On-screen and Off", AfterEllen.com, October 2003
  12. ^ "A hint of Saffron", The Observer, May 5 2002
  13. ^ "The PowerBook" at the National Theatre

External links


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Actor. Copyright © 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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