More Fionnula Flanagan Bios & Profiles
The most recent Fionnula Flanagan biography is published on the main page.
Biography #2 (for Tears of the Sun)
A co-starring performance in the surprise box-office smash The Others brought award nominations and accolades designating the characterization as one of the most terrifying servants in film history. It threw focus on Fionnula Flanagan, one of the most varied actresses in film history. She recently teamed with Sandra Bullock, Maggie Smith and Ellen Burstyn in the comedy The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.Born and raised in Dublin, Flanagan, she was educated at Scoil Mhuire Marlborough Street, at Sandymount High School and at Scoil Caitriona, Dominican College. She studied languages in Switzerland at the Universite de Fribourg, worked as an interpreter and translator in Italy and trained in drama at the Abbey Theatre. She came to prominence in Tomas MacAnna's Irish language production An Trial (The Trial) at the 1966 Dublin Theatre Festival and later appeared in Brian Friel's Lovers at Dublin's Gate. She made her Broadway debut with the 1968 production of Lovers. Other Broadway appearances include Lovers by Brian Friel, The Incomparable Max, Ghosts and Molly Bloom, with Zero Mostel, in the 1974 production of Ulysses in Nighttown directed by Burgess Meredith, for which she won a Tony nomination.
On the Los Angeles stage she appeared in When You Coming Back Red Ryder and Unfinished Stories (world premiere) at the Mark Taper Forum.
Flanagan developed and produced a 1985 feature film version of the stage production James Joyce's Women, playing six women from the life and works of Joyce. For her stage portrayal she received the Los Angeles Critics' Award, the San Francisco Critics' Award and a DramaLogue Award. Other feature films include Youngblood, Sinful Davey, Ulysses, A State of Emergency, Reflections, Final Verdict, the Academy Award-winning In The Region of Ice, Death Dreams, Mad At the Moo and Money for Nothing.
Television plays and movies include An Trial (for which she won the Jacob's TV Award for Best Performance of the Year), Deirdre, King of the Castle, Why Aren't You Famous for the BBC, Cold Comfort Farm, "A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer's Assistant, and Five Women. American television credits include: Scorned and Swindled, The Ewok Adventure, Mary White, Lizzie Borden, Through Naked Eyes, Murder She Wrote, Star Trek: The Next Generation, How the West Was Won (Emmy nomination, Best Actress) and Rich Man, Poor Man" (Emmy award). She also starred in the CBS television series To Have and To Hold.
Flanagan and her husband Garrett currently divide their time between Los Angeles and Ireland.
Bio courtesy Columbia Pictures for "Tears of the Sun" (09-Mar-2003)
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