Fiona Shaw Biography (2)

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Fiona Shaw is one of the UK's most celebrated and respected stage actresses, this year receiving the Obie Award and a Tony nomination for her transfer of Medea to New York from London, where she won the Evening Standard Award.

In 1990 she received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Rosalind in As You Like it, followed by a further Olivier Award for Best Actress and London Critics Award for her performance in The Good Person of Sechuan. She received a further Laurence Olivier Award and London Critics Award for her portrayal of Electra, again in 1990. This was followed in 1992 by the London Critics Award for her eponymous portrayal of Hedda Gabler and in 1993 she again received the Laurence Olivier Award and Evening Standard Drama Award for Best Actress for Stephen Daldry's Machinal.

Other major stage productions include The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; The Way of the World and Richard II for the Royal National Theatre; a world tour of The Waste Land; The Rivals; Bloody Poetry and Philistines; Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Mephisto; Much Ado About Nothing; The Merchant of Venice; Hyde Park and The Taming of the Shrew for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In addition to her performances on stage, Shaw has also directed The Widowers Houses for the National Theatre Education Tour and Hamlet for the National Theatre of Ireland.

Shaw's memorable film credits include Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot; Bob Rafelson's Mountains of the Moon; Hanif Kureishi's London Kills Me; Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre; Neil Jordan's The Butcher Boy; Deborah Warner's The Last September and recently Clare Peploe's The Triumph of Love.

For television Shaw has reprised her roles in Hedda Gabler, The Waste Land and Richard II for the BBC, as well as starring in Danny Boyle's For the Greater Good; Roger Michell's Persuasian; Andy Wilson's Gormenghast and as the star of Lynda La Plante's Mind Games.

In 1997 Shaw was awarded a doctorate at the National University of Ireland and made an Honorary Professor of Drama at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. In 2001 she was awarded a doctorate from Trinity College Dublin and the French Government has awarded her an Officer des Artes et des Lettres. She also received a CBE in last year's New Year's Honours List. At present Shaw is rehearsing The Seagull for the Edinburgh Festival, directed by Peter Stein.

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