Fiona Shaw

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Fiona Shaw

Born July 10, 1958 (1958-07-10) (age 49)
County Cork, Ireland

Fiona Shaw, CBE (Hon) (born July 10, 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.[1][2] Shaw was awarded an honorary CBE in 2001.[3]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Shaw was born Fiona Mary Wilson in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, to a mixed-religious couple and was raised Catholic.[4][5] Her father was an eye surgeon[6] and her mother was a physicist.[7] 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.

[edit] 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.[8]

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.

Shaw had a brief but key role in Brian DePalma's The Black Dahlia. She also made an appearance in Sherlock Holmes as a family friend of the widow in The Crooked Man

[edit] Personal life

For a number of years, Shaw has been romantically linked in the press with actress Saffron Burrows.[9][10][11] Neither actress has publicly confirmed or denied the relationship; however, they do live together in a house in the small Essex town of Thaxted. The two appeared together in the National Theatre's production of The PowerBook,[12] a play based on the novel of the same name by Jeanette Winterson in which they played lovers.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Fiona Shaw | | guardian.co.uk Film
  2. ^ [1].
  3. ^ BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Honorary knighthood for Spike
  4. ^ DIDASKALIA: Ancient Theater Today
  5. ^ A Shaw Thing; Hot from playing Medea on Broadway, Fiona Shaw has just | Sunday Herald, The | Find Articles at BNET.com
  6. ^ Fiona Shaw Biography (1960?-)
  7. ^ PROFILE: FIONA SHAW: An actor who is determined to keep shouting | Independent, The (London) | Find Articles at BNET.com
  8. ^ Ben Brantly, Memory and Desire: Hearing Eliot's Passion, New York Times November 18, 1996
  9. ^ "Mad About Saffron", Sydney Morning Herald, May 15 2004
  10. ^ "Saffron Burrows Embraces Lesbian Relationships On-screen and Off", AfterEllen.com, October 2003
  11. ^ "A hint of Saffron", The Observer, May 5 2002
  12. ^ "The PowerBook" at the National Theatre

[edit] External links