Fiona Shaw, CBE is an Irish actress and theatre director. Although to international audiences she is probably most familiar for her role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films, she is an accomplished classical actress. Shaw was awarded an honorary CBE in 2001. Shaw was born in County Cork, Ireland to a mixed-religious couple, and was raised Roman Catholic. Her father was an optic surgeon and her mother was a physicist. She attended secondary school at Scoil Mhuire in Cork City. She received her degree in University College Cork. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in... London and was part of 'new wave’ of actors to emerge from the Academy. She received much acclaim as Julia in the National Theatre production of Richard Sheridan's The Rivals . Her notable theatrical roles include Young Woman in Machinal, Celia in As You Like It , Madame de Volanges in Les Liaisons Dangereuses , Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew , Winnie in Happy Days , and the title roles in Electra , The Good Person of Sechuan , Hedda Gabler , The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Medea .
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