Kathy Burke

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Kathy Burke (born June 13, 1964) is an English actress and theatre director.

Born at The Royal Free Hospital in London to Irish immigrant parents, Burke's first role was in the controversial film Scrubbers, directed by Swedish actress Mai Zetterling and featuring Pam St. Clement, Robbie Coltrane, Miriam Margolyes, Honey Bane, Debby Bishop and Eva Mottley. The movie was set in a young offenders' institute for girls and was seen as a female version of the infamous Scum.

Burke first became familiar to television audiences as a player of minor roles in sketches by better-known performers such as Harry Enfield, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Along with French & Saunders, she has contributed to two Comic Relief charity singles. She first appeared as a member of Bananarama parody band Lananeeneenoonoo in 1989, and then as a member of Spice Girls' lookalike band 'The Sugar Lumps' in 1997. She quickly became successful in her own right and although mainly associated with comedy, she has played several serious roles including that of Queen Mary I of England in Elizabeth.

In 1997 Burke won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in the gritty drama Nil by Mouth. Since then she has appeared as Perry in Kevin and Perry Go Large, and as Linda La Hughes in Gimme Gimme Gimme.

In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.

Since 2001 she has concentrated on her career as a theatre director. [1] She said in an interview with Dawn French in "Dawn French's girls who do comedy" that she no longer felt the same creative energy associated with acting that she used to (she described it as a "feeling in my belly") and that this was the reason she had stopped acting. However, she has done some voiceover work in the past few years, including adverts for Ski yoghurt (in the UK) as well as Flushed Away (2006).

[edit] Films

• Scrubbers (1983)
• Sid and Nancy (1986)
• Straight to Hell (1987)
• Eat the Rich (1987)
• The Two of Us (1987) -A BBC Production, initially produced for schools. It was edited soon after its release because of its highly controversial themes. It has since been made available un-cut.
• Nil by Mouth (1997)
• Dancing at Lughnasa (1998)
• Elizabeth (1998)
• This Year's Love (1999)
• Kevin and Perry Go Large (2000)
• Love, Honour and Obey (2000)
• The Martins (2001)
• Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002)
• Anita and Me (2002)
• Flushed Away (2006) (voiceover)

[edit] Television

• A Very Peculiar Practice (Episode 7)
• Absolutely Fabulous (1992)
• French and Saunders (1987)
• Gimme Gimme Gimme (1999-2001) (co-wrote)
• Harry Enfield and Chums (1994)
• Harry Enfield's Television Programme (1990)
• Have I Got News For You (1990)
• Let Them Eat Cake (1999)
• Never Mind The Buzzcocks (1996)
• Pleasure Island (1999)
• Room 101 (2000)
• Shooting Gallery (1999)
• Ted & Ralph (1998)
• V Graham Norton (2002)
• The Importance of Being Morrissey Guest Appearance (2002)
• The F Word Guest Appearance (2006)
• Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy (2006)

[edit] External links

• KathyBurke.co.uk - "Everything you could reasonably want to know about the actress and director"
• Kathy Burke at the Internet Movie Database