Irish actress Fiona Shaw nearly quit acting in 2013 after experiencing fatigue during a New York stage production, revealing she felt no joy in the profession and considered leaving the stage to teach instead.
The 2013 Career Crisis on Broadway
Shaw recounted running between a matinee and an evening performance when she noticed a theater sign featuring her own name.
“I was running one day between the matinee and the evening performance, and I saw the sign outside the theatre with my name on it,” Shaw told Good Housekeeping UK. “I felt no joy. I just felt tired. I thought I might stop acting and teach.”
Reflecting on Decades of Acclaim
Despite nearly walking away, Shaw maintained a prolific career spanning television, film, and theater. She earned widespread recognition for playing the repressed aunt Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter franchise and later received a BAFTA TV Award for best supporting actress in 2019 for portraying senior MI6 officer Carolyn Martens in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s BBC thriller Killing Eve.
Her stage honors include multiple Olivier Awards. She won Actress of the Year in 1989 and 1990 for her work in Electra, As You Like It, and The Good Person Of Sichuan, followed by a best actress win in 1994 for Machinal at the National Theatre.
Upcoming Projects and Evolving Perspective
Looking ahead, Shaw stars as wealthy widower and matchmaker Mrs Jennings in the upcoming Dolly Alderton film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense And Sensibility. In the production, she stars alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones, whom Shaw praised as a “lovely, enchanting girl” possessing withholding qualities she felt she lacked during her own early years in the industry.
“When I was in my late 20s, I was busy saying, ‘Watch me do this!’ It took a long time to learn that the camera doesn’t want you to do any of that. I’ve got it now, I think,” Shaw said.
Reflecting on her trajectory, the Cork-born actress noted that her life has surpassed any expectations she once held. Despite her extensive film and television credits, she describes herself as a “young old person” who feels entirely ordinary.
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