# Fiona Shaw

Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She did extensive work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, as well as in film and television. In 2020, she was listed at No. 29 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors. She was made an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001.
She won both the 1990 and 1994 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for roles in the plays Electra, As You Like It, The Good Person of Szechwan (1990), and Machinal (1994) and received a further three Olivier Award nominations for her roles in Mephisto (1986), Hedda Gabler (1992), and Happy Days (2008). She made her Broadway debut playing the title role in Medea (2002) for which she earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She returned to Broadway in the Colm Tóibín play The Testament of Mary (2013).
In film, she played Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2010). Other notable film roles include in My Left Foot (1989), Persuasion (1995), Jane Eyre (1996), The Tree of Life (2011), Colette (2018), Ammonite (2020), and Enola Holmes (2020).
Her television roles include Hedda Hopper in the HBO film RKO 281 (1999), and Marnie Stonebrook in the HBO series True Blood (2011). She played Carolyn Martens in the BBC series Killing Eve (2018–22), for which she received the 2019 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. For her role as a counselor in Fleabag (2019), she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series nomination. She starred in the BBC One series Baptiste (2021), and the Disney+ series Andor (2022).

## Early life

Shaw was born Fiona Mary Wilson on 10 July 1958 in Cobh, County Cork, Ireland, the daughter of physicist Mary T. Wilson (née Flynn, born 1927) and ophthalmic surgeon Denis Joseph Wilson (1922–2011), who wed in 1952. They maintained a home in Montenotte. Her father was of half English descent. The second of four children, she has an older brother, John, and two younger brothers, Mark and Peter, the latter of whom was killed in a car accident aged 18. She attended secondary school at Scoil Mhuire in Cork, and received her degree in philosophy at University College Cork. Shaw studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, graduating in 1982 with an Acting (RADA Diploma). On joining Equity, she had to change her name because they already had a member named Fiona Wilson. She adopted the surname Shaw, which was her grandmother's maiden name, also doing so in tribute to George Bernard Shaw.

## Career
### Theatre

In 1983, she starred as Julia in the National Theatre production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals (1983). Her 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), Lady Franjul in The New Inn (1987), Young Woman in Machinal (1993), for which she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress.
Shaw notably played the male lead in Richard II, directed by Deborah Warner in 1995. 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, winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for her performance.
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).
In 2009, Shaw collaborated with Deborah Warner again, taking the lead role in Tony Kushner's translation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children. In a 2002 article for The Daily Telegraph, Rupert Christiansen described their professional relationship as "surely one of the most richly creative partnerships in theatrical history." Other collaborations between the two women include productions of Brecht's The Good Woman of Szechuan and Ibsen's Hedda Gabler, the latter was adapted for television.
In 2010, Shaw appeared in The Waste Land at Wilton's Music Hall, and in a National Theatre revival of London Assurance. In November 2010, Shaw starred in Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin alongside Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan. The play was also staged in New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2011. In 2012, Shaw appeared in the National Theatre revival of Scenes from an Execution by Howard Barker. The world's largest solo theatre festival, United Solo, recognised her performance in The Testament of Mary on Broadway with the 2013 United Solo Special Award.

### Television and film

In 1984, Shaw played Miss Morrison in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes episode The Adventure of the Crooked Man. She appeared in My Left Foot (1989), Mountains of the Moon (1990), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), Super Mario Bros. (1993), Undercover Blues (1993), Persuasion (1995), Jane Eyre (1996), The Butcher Boy (1997), The Avengers (1998), Gormenghast (2000), and five of the Harry Potter films in which she played Petunia Dursley, Harry Potter's repressed maternal aunt. Shaw had a brief but key role in Brian DePalma's The Black Dahlia (2006).
Shaw appeared in season four of the American TV show True Blood. Shaw's character, Marnie Stonebrook, has been described as an underachieving palm reader who is spiritually possessed by an actual witch.
In 2013, she starred as Catherine Greenshaw in Agatha Christie's Marple episode "Greenshaw's Folly".
In 2018, Shaw began portraying Carolyn Martens, the head of MI6's Russia-focused branch, in BBC America's Killing Eve. For her performance, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Television Series. Later the same year, she played a senior MI6 officer in Mrs Wilson. For her role as a counselor in Phoebe Waller-Bridge series Fleabag (2019) she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series nomination.
In 2020, she was listed at No. 29 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.
Shaw starred in the Star Wars television series Andor as the titular character's adoptive mother, Maarva Andor. For her work in Andor, Shaw was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In October 2022, Shaw was awarded an AudioFile Magazine Earphone Award for her performance of The Bullet That Missed, the third book in Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club series.
In 2024, she portrayed Rose Aguineau, a woman with a mysterious past who aids the protagonists, in season 4 of True Detective.

## Personal life

Shaw is a lesbian, although she had been in two long-term relationships with men before realising her sexual orientation, stating "It was a shock. I was full of self-hatred and thought I would come back into the fold shortly. But I just didn't."
From 2002 to 2005, Shaw was the partner of English actress Saffron Burrows. She met Sri Lankan economist Sonali Deraniyagala after reading Deraniyagala's memoir, and they married in 2018. Shaw lives in Islington, North London, having previously lived in nearby Primrose Hill, "within earshot of London Zoo".
Shaw was raised Catholic, and in January 1997, she spent two weeks with the Tyburn Nuns at their convent.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1984 | The Man Who Shot Christmas | Laura | Short film |
| 1985 | Sacred Hearts | Sister Felicity | |
| 1989 | My Left Foot | Dr. Eileen Cole | |
| 1990 | Mountains of the Moon | Isabel | |
| 1990 | Three Men and a Little Lady | Miss Lomax | |
| 1991 | London Kills Me | Headley | |
| 1992 | The Big Fish | Unknown role | Short film |
| 1992 | Ridin' High: The Video | Dancer | Direct-to-video |
| 1993 | Super Mario Bros. | Lena | |
| 1993 | Undercover Blues | Novacek | |
| 1995 | Persuasion | Mrs Croft | |
| 1995 | The Waste Land | Unknown role | Short film |
| 1996 | Jane Eyre | Mrs Reede | |
| 1997 | Anna Karenina | Lydia | |
| 1997 | The Butcher Boy | Mrs Nugent | |
| 1998 | The Avengers | Father | |
| 1999 | The Last September | Marda Norton | |
| 2001 | The Triumph of Love | Leontine | |
| 2001 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Petunia Dursley | |
| 2002 | Close Your Eyes | Catherine Lebourg | |
| 2002 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Petunia Dursley | |
| 2004 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Petunia Dursley | |
| 2005 | Midsummer Dream | The Witches (voices) | English version only |
| 2006 | The Black Dahlia | Ramona Linscott | |
| 2006 | Catch and Release | Mrs Douglas | |
| 2007 | Fracture | Judge Robinson | |
| 2007 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Petunia Dursley | |
| 2009 | Dorian Gray | Agatha | |
| 2010 | National Theatre Live: London Assurance | Lady Gay Spanker | |
| 2010 | We Believed | Emilie Ashurst | |
| 2010 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | Petunia Dursley | |
| 2010 | Tell Me | Martha | Short film |
| 2011 | The Tree of Life | Grandmother | |
| 2013 | The English Teacher | Narrator | |
| 2013 | The Daisy Chain | Narrator | Short film |
| 2015 | Pixels | Prime Minister (uncredited) | |
| 2016 | The White King | Kathrin Fitz | |
| 2016 | Out of Innocence | Catherine Flynn | |
| 2017 | The Hippopotamus | Anne Logan | |
| 2018 | Lizzie | Abby Borden | |
| 2018 | Colette | Sido | |
| 2020 | Ammonite | Elizabeth Philpot | |
| 2020 | Enola Holmes | Miss Harrison | |
| 2020 | Kindred | Margaret | |
| 2024 | IF | Margaret | |
| 2024 | That Christmas | Miss Trapper (voice) | |
| 2025 | Hot Milk | Rose | Post-production |
| TBA | Echo Valley | Jessie Oliver | Post-production |
| TBA | Ladies First | | Filming |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983 | All for Love | Elspeth | Episode: "Fireworks for Elspeth" |
| 1984 | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | Miss Morrison | Episode: "The Crooked Man" |
| 1985 | Love Song | Young Deirdre | TV movie |
| 1990 | Theatre Night | Clytemnestra | Episode: "Iphigenia at Aulis" |
| 1991 | For the Greater Good | Gillian Savage | 2 episodes |
| 1992 | Shakespeare: The Animated Tales | Viola | Voice; Episode: "Twelfth Night" |
| 1992, 1995 | Screen Two | Pauline | Episode: "Maria's Child" |
| 1992, 1995 | Screen Two | Mrs Croft | Episode: "Persuasion" |
| 1993, 1997 | Performance | Hedda Gabler | Episode: "Hedda Gabler" |
| 1993, 1997 | Performance | Richard II | Episode: "Richard II" |
| 1994 | Seascape | Unknown role | TV movie |
| 1999 | RKO 281 | Hedda Hopper | TV movie |
| 2000 | Gormenghast | Irma Prunesquallor | Miniseries (4 episodes) |
| 2001 | Mind Games | Frances O'Neil | TV movie |
| 2001 | The Seventh Stream | Mrs Gourdon | TV movie |
| 2005 | Empire | Fulvia | Miniseries (3 episodes) |
| 2007 | Trial & Retribution | Jo Wilson QC | Episode: "Mirror Image: Part 2" |
| 2009 | Dido and Aeneas – Didon et Énée | Comédienne dans le prologue | TV movie |
| 2011 | True Blood | Marnie Stonebrook | Recurring role (12 episodes) |
| 2013 | Marple | Miss Katherine Greenshaw | Episode: "Greenshaw's Folly" |
| 2014 | Masterpiece Mystery | Miss Katherine Greenshaw | Episode: "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple VII: Greenshaw's Folly" |
| 2015 | Lumen | D'Laria | TV movie |
| 2015–17 | Sarah & Duck | Music Lady | 2 episodes |
| 2016 | Maigret Sets a Trap | Madam Moncin | TV movie |
| 2016 | Channel Zero | Marla Painter | Series regular (6 episodes) |
| 2017 | Emerald City | Mombi | 2 episodes |
| 2017 | Inside No. 9 | Jean | Episode: "Private View" |
| 2017 | Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero | Hedwin | Voice; Episode: "Mr. Rippen" |
| 2018 | Mrs Wilson | Coleman | Miniseries (3 episodes) |
| 2018 | 3Below: Tales of Arcadia | Birdie / Halcon | Voice; Episode: "Flying the Coop" |
| 2018–22 | Killing Eve | Carolyn Martens | Series regular (31 episodes) |
| 2019 | Fleabag | Counsellor | Episode: "#2.2" |
| 2021 | Baptiste | Emma Chambers | Series regular (6 episodes) |
| 2022 | Andor | Maarva Andor | Series regular (5 episodes) |
| 2024 | True Detective: Night Country | Rose Aguineau | Main role |
| 2024 | Bad Sisters | Angelica Collins | Main role |
| TBA | Anansi Boys | Maeve Livingstone | Upcoming series |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role(s) | Venue |
| 1982 | Woyzeck | Margret/Showman | Epworth Hall, Edinburgh |
| 1983 | The Rivals | Julia Melville | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 1985 | As You Like It | Celia | Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 1985 | Philistines | Tatyana Vasilyevna | The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 1985 | Les Liaisons Dangereuses | Mme de Volanges | The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 1985 | Barnes' People | Performer | The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 1985 | Gone to Heaven (Back Soon) | Performer | The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 1985 | As You Like It | Celia | Barbican Theatre, London |
| 1986 | Philistines | Tatyana Vasilyevna | The Pit, London |
| 1986 | Les Liaisons Dangereuses | Mme de Volanges | The Pit, London |
| 1986 | Mephisto | Erika Bruckner | Barbican Theatre, London |
| 1986 | Missa Super L'Homme Arme | Performer | Almeida Theatre, London |
| 1986 | Blood on the Neck of the Cat | Performer | Almeida Theatre, London |
| 1986 | The Merchant of Venice | Portia | UK tour |
| 1986 | Much Ado About Nothing | Beatrice | UK tour |
| 1987 | Hyde Park | Mistress Carol | Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 1987 | The Taming of the Shrew | Katherina | Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 1987 | The New Inn | Lady Frampul | Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon |
| 1988 | The New Inn | Lady Frampul | The People's Theatre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
| 1988 | The Taming of the Shrew | Katherina | Theatre Royal, Newcastle-upon-Tyne |
| 1988 | The Taming of the Shrew | Katherina | Barbican Theatre, London |
| 1988 | Hyde Park | Mistress Carol | The Pit, London |
| 1988 | Electra | Electra | The Pit, London |
| 1989 | As You Like It | Rosalind | The Old Vic, London |
| 1989 | The Good Person of Sichuan | Shen Te | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 1991 | Hedda Gabler | Hedda Gabler | Abbey Theatre, Dublin |
| 1991 | Hedda Gabler | Hedda Gabler | MI Group Playhouse, West End |
| 1991 | Electra | Electra | Riverside Studios, London |
| 1992 | Electra | Electra | Bobigny Theatre, Paris |
| 1992 | Electra | Electra | Templemore Sports Complex, Derry |
| 1993 | Machinal | Young Woman | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 1994 | Footfalls | May | Garrick Theatre, London |
| 1994 | Shakespeare's Language | Performer | The Pit, London |
| 1995 | Richard II | Richard II | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 1995 | The Way of the World | Mistress Millamant | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 1996 | The Waste Land | Performer | Liberty Theatre, Off-Broadway |
| 1998 | The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie | Jean Brodie | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2000 | Medea | Medea | Abbey Theatre, Dublin |
| 2001 | Medea | Medea | Queen's Theatre, West End |
| 2002 | The Powerbook | Performer | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2002 | Medea | Medea | Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway |
| 2003 | The Seagull | Arkadina | King's Theatre, Edinburgh |
| 2005 | Julius Caesar | Portia | Barbican Theatre, London |
| 2006 | Woman and Scarecrow | Woman | Royal Court Theatre, London |
| 2007 | Happy Days | Winnie | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2008 | Happy Days | Winnie | Abbey Theatre, Dublin |
| 2008 | Happy Days | Winnie | Brooklyn Academy of Music |
| 2009 | Mother Courage and Her Children | Mother Courage | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2010 | London Assurance | Lady Gay Spanker | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2010 | John Gabriel Borkman | Gunhild | Abbey Theatre, Dublin |
| 2011 | John Gabriel Borkman | Gunhild | Brooklyn Academy of Music |
| 2012 | Scenes from an Execution | Galactia | Royal National Theatre, London |
| 2013 | The Testament of Mary | Performer | Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway |
| 2013 | The Rime of the Ancient Mariner | Performer | Brooklyn Academy of Music |
| 2022 | The Tempest | Ariel (voice) | Ustinov Studio, Bath |

### Other projects

* When Love Speaks (2002, EMI Classics): "It is thy will thy image should keep open"
* Simon Schama's John Donne: 2009

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Work | Category |
| 1986 | Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role | As You Like It / Mephisto | Nominated |
| 1990 | Olivier Award for Best Actress | Electra / As You Like It / The Good Person of Szechwan | Won |
| 1992 | Olivier Award for Best Actress | Hedda Gabler | Nominated |
| 1993 | Evening Standard Award for Best Actress | Machinal | Won |
| 1994 | Olivier Award for Best Actress | Machinal | Won |
| 1997 | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance | The Waste Land | Won |
| 2001 | Evening Standard Award for Best Actress | Medea | Won |
| 2003 | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play | Medea | Nominated |
| 2003 | Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play | Medea | Nominated |
| 2008 | Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play | Happy Days | Nominated |
| 2008 | Olivier Award for Best Actress | Happy Days | Nominated |
| 2017 | Fangoria Chainsaw Awards for Best TV Supporting Actress | Channel Zero | Nominated |
| 2019 | British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress | Killing Eve | Won |
| 2019 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Killing Eve | Nominated |
| 2019 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series | Fleabag | Nominated |
| 2020 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Killing Eve | Nominated |
| 2022 | Peabody Award | Andor | Won |
| 2023 | Critics' Choice Super Award for Best Actress in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Series | Andor | Nominated |
| 2023 | British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress | Andor | Nominated |