Known For: Irish actress (born 1958)
Category: Actresses
Occupation: actor, stage actor, film actor, performing artist
Country: Ireland
City: County Cork
Date of Birth: Thursday, 10 July 1958
Fiona Shaw 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.
BirthPlace | County Cork |
Education | Q523926, Q1574185 |
Awards | Q28470, Q12201477, Q1131356, Q2296147, Q2925695, Q106696935 |
Wikipedia | Fiona_Shaw |
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 and two younger brothers, John 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.