Brid Brennan

Brid Brennan (born 1955) is an Irish film, stage and television actress, known for her theatre work.

Early life and education

She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Career

Theatre work

Brennan created the role of Agnes Mundy in Brian Friel's play Dancing at Lughnasa (1990). She played the role in the original Dublin, West End and Broadway (1992–1992) productions, winning the 1992 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She reprised her performance on screen in Noel Pearson's film adaptation of the same name (1998), starring Meryl Streep, for which Brennan won an Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actress.^[1]

In 1999, Brennan played Maisie Madigan in Pearson's production of Juno and the Paycock at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, and starred as Sister Aloysius in a production of Doubt at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

She has received two Olivier Award nominations: for Rutherford and Son at the Royal National Theatre and for The Little Foxes at the Donmar Warehouse, both in London.

She has also played roles in productions of Dallas Streetman, Woman and Scarecrow, By the Bog of Cats, The Pillars of the Community, Man Beast and Virtue, Macbeth, La Lupa, Bliss, Bone Bailegangaire, A Kind of Alaska, Intemperance, Smelling a Rat, The Playboy of the Western World and Holy Days.

In 2010,^[2] she played Madge in Pearson's revival of Philadelphia, Here I Come! at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin.

Radio and television work

For RTÉ Radio 1, Brennan played the role of Lucia Joyce in Thomas Kilroy's In the Garden of the Asylum in 2009.^[3]

Brennan also featured as a guest star in the British television series Cracker as a prostitute-hating killer in the episode "Brotherly Love". Coincidentally, she co-starred in this particular episode with fellow Irish actor Lorcan Cranitch (DS Jimmy Beck), with whom she would later co-star in Dancing at Lughnasa.

Awards

• 1992 – Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Dancing at Lughnasa
• 1999 – Irish Film & Television Award for Best Actress for Dancing at Lughnasa (film)
• 2012 – Edinburgh International Film Festival for Best Performance in a British Feature Film for Shadow Dancer (shared with Andrea Riseborough) ^[4]
• 2013 – Irish Film & Television Award for Best Supporting Actress Film for Shadow Dancer (film)^[5]

Filmography and television work

References

External links

• Brid Brennan at the Internet Broadway Database
• Brid Brennan at the Internet Movie Database