Tara Fitzgerald | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Fitzgerald in June 2012 | |
| Born | Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald Callaby (1967-09-18)18 September 1967 (age 57) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Spouse | |
Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald (born 18 September 1967)[1][failed verification] is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage. She won the New YorkDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in 1995 asOphelia inHamlet. She won the Best Actress Award at The Reims International Television Festival in 1999 for her role of Lady Dona St Columb inFrenchman's Creek. Fitzgerald has appeared in the West End production ofThe Misanthrope at theComedy Theatre, and inHenrik Ibsen'sA Doll's House at theDonmar Warehouse. Since 2007, Fitzgerald has appeared in more than 30 episodes of the BBC television seriesWaking the Dead and played the role ofSelyse Baratheon in theHBO seriesGame of Thrones.
Fitzgerald is the daughter of artist Michael Callaby[2][3] and Irish portrait photographer Sarah Geraldine Fitzgerald.[2][4][5] She spent part of her childhood inthe Bahamas, where her maternal grandfather ran a law firm. Her sister, Arabella, was born there. Following the family's return to England when she was three, Fitzgerald's parents separated, and her mother then married the Irish actorNorman Rodway. She has a half-sister from this marriage, Bianca Rodway.[6][7] Her father, Callaby, died when she was 11.[2] Her great-aunt was actressGeraldine Fitzgerald;[8][9] other cousins through the Fitzgerald family are the Irish novelistJennifer Johnston[5] and Irish actressSusan Fitzgerald.[10]
Following her graduation fromDrama Centre London, Fitzgerald appeared as the daughter of a beauty queen in the comedyHear My Song (1991). She came to international attention in 1993 when she starred withHugh Grant in the Australian comedySirens. The film landed Fitzgerald anAustralian Film Institute nomination for Best Actress in a Lead Role. Two years later she again appeared with Grant in the comedyThe Englishman who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain. Fitzgerald appeared in a steady stream of independent feature films through the 1990s and 2000s, among themA Man of No Importance (1994),Brassed Off (1996), the CzechWorld War II fighter pilot dramaDark Blue World (2001), and the 2004 drama,Secret Passage (UK title: The Lion's Mouth), set during theSpanish Inquisition. In 2006, she appeared inIn a Dark Place, and, in 2014, she playedMiriam inExodus: Gods and Kings.
Fitzgerald decided to expand her career into directing after becoming frustrated with what she saw as a lack of interesting roles for older actresses. She was one of 12 filmmakers selected forFilm London's 2015 Microwave scheme, which provides training and mentoring to filmmakers who then pitch their ideas to a panel that selects the two best ideas for production, with budgets of £150,000 each.[11]
Fitzgerald's first major stage role came in 1992 when she appeared oppositePeter O'Toole inOur Song at theApollo Theatre. She has alternated between stage and screen for almost two decades, with frequent theatre roles. In 1995, she starred asOphelia inHamlet at London'sAlmeida Theatre, which led to her American stage debut. The production transferred across the Atlantic and played more than 90 performances on Broadway at theBelasco Theatre.
Since then, she has playedAntigone[12][13] in a national UK tour and Blanche Du Bois inTennessee Williams'sA Streetcar Named Desire at theBristol Old Vic[14] and appeared inA Doll's House at theDonmar Warehouse. Fitzgerald has also appeared in Molière's The Misanthrope in 2009 at the Comedy Theatre (now the Pinter).[15] She appeared in The Winters Tale at the RSC in 2013, performed asLady Macbeth atShakespeare's Globe theatre and appeared in Gaslight at the Royal and Derngate Theatre in 2015.[16]
A veteran of more than twenty television programmes and mini-series, Fitzgerald has portrayedVictorian heroines and modern police detectives. Her first TV role was in the 1991 BBC productionThe Black Candle, set inYorkshire in the 1880s. In 1992, she was featured inThe Camomile Lawn. After her feature film success, she landed her first starring role in a television film,The Vacillations of Poppy Carew. She won Best Actress at the 1999 Reims International Television Festival for the costumes-and-pirates love storyFrenchman's Creek. In 2006, she was featured inThe Virgin Queen, before taking on the role of Eve Lockhart onWaking The Dead, joining that cast in 2007. She also had a recurring role onGame of Thrones, playingSelyse Baratheon.[17] In 2020 Tara Fitzgerald played a role as Lady Templemore in the ITV-seriesBelgravia, a historical drama based on the 2016 novel of the same name byJulian Fellowes.
In 2001, Fitzgerald married the English actor-directorJohn Sharian, who directed her in the short filmThe Snatching of Bookie Bob. They separated in May 2003 and later divorced.[18]
Fitzgerald lives inLondon.[19]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Hear My Song | Nancy Doyle | |
| 1993 | Sirens | Estella Campion | |
| 1993 | Galleria | Marie | |
| 1994 | A Man of No Importance | Adele Rice | |
| 1995 | The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain | Elizabeth aka Betty from Cardiff | |
| 1996 | Brassed Off | Gloria Mullins | |
| 1998 | Conquest | Daisy MacDonald | |
| 1998 | The Snatching of Bookie Bob | Silk | |
| 1999 | New World Disorder | Kris Paddock | |
| 1999 | Childhood | Ange | |
| 2000 | Rancid Aluminium | Masha | |
| 2001 | Dark Blue World | Susan Whitmore | Czech title:Tmavomodrý svět |
| 2003 | I Capture the Castle | Topaz Mortmain | |
| 2004 | Five Children and It | Mother | |
| 2004 | The Lion's Mouth | Clara | |
| 2006 | In a Dark Place | Mrs. Grose | |
| 2014 | Exodus: Gods and Kings | Miriam | |
| 2015 | Child 44 | Inessa Nesterov | |
| 2015 | Legend | Mrs Shea | |
| 2015 | We Are Happy | Rachel | |
| 2016 | Una | Andrea | |
| 2019 | The Runaways | Maggie | |
| 2019 | The King | Hooper | |
| 2020 | The Call Centre | Helen (Voice) | |
| 2021 | Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop | Diana Branson | |
| 2023 | The Undertaker | Vic | |
| Luther: The Fallen Sun | Georgette | Uncredited |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | The Black Candle | Victoria Mordaunt | Television film |
| 1992 | The Camomile Lawn | Young Polly | 4 episodes |
| 1992 | Anglo-Saxon Attitudes | Young Dollie Stokesay | 3 episodes |
| 1992 | Performance | Emily | Episode: "Six Characters in Search of an Author" |
| 1994 | Fall from Grace | Catherine Pradier | Television film |
| 1994 | Cadfael | Iveta de Massard | Episode: "The Leper of Saint Giles" |
| 1995 | The Vacillations of Poppy Carew | Poppy Carew | Television film |
| 1996 | The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | Helen Graham | 3 episodes |
| 1997 | The Student Prince | Grace | Television film |
| 1997 | The Woman in White | Marian Fairlie | Television film |
| 1998 | Little White Lies | Beth Marsh | Television film |
| 1998 | Frenchman's Creek | Dona, Lady St. Columb | Television film |
| 1999 | In the Name of Love | Zoe Walters | 2 episodes |
| 2003 | Murder in Mind | Liz Morton | Episode: "Echoes" |
| 2003 | Love Again | Monica Jones | Television film |
| 2004 | Agatha Christie's Marple: The Body in the Library | Adelaide Jefferson | Episode: #1.1 |
| 2005 | Like Father Like Son | D.I. Harkness | Television film |
| 2005 | Rose and Maloney | Annie Sorensen-Johnson | Episode: "Annie Johnson" |
| 2006 | The Virgin Queen | Kat Ashley | 3 episodes |
| 2006 | Jane Eyre | Mrs. Reed | 4 episodes |
| 2009 | U Be Dead | Debra Pemberton | Television film |
| 2007–2011 | Waking the Dead | Eve Lockhart | 42 episodes |
| 2011 | The Body Farm | Eve Lockhart | 6 episodes |
| 2014 | The Musketeers | Marie de Medici | Episode: "The Exiles" |
| 2013–2015 | Game of Thrones | Selyse Baratheon | 10 episodes |
| 2016 | Death in Paradise | Anouk Laban | Episode: "Dishing Up Murder" |
| 2014–2016 | In the Club | Susie | 7 episodes |
| 2017 | Strike | Tansy Bestigui | 3 episodes |
| 2018 | Requiem | Sylvia Walsh | 6 episodes |
| 2018 | Origin | Xavia Grey | Episode: "The Road Not Taken" |
| 2018 | The ABC Murders | Lady Hermione Clarke | 3 episodes |
| 2020 | Tangled: The Series | Zhan Tiri (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | Belgravia | Lady Templemore | 5 episodes |
| 2022 | Signora Volpe | Isabel Vitale | 4 episodes |
| Year | Title | Role | Theatre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Our Song | Angela Caxton | Apollo Theatre (London) and UK tour |
| 1995 | Hamlet | Ophelia | Almeida Theatre (London)Belasco Theatre (New York) |
| 1999 | Antigone | Antigone | Old Vic,Yvonne Arnaud Theatre,Oxford Playhouse |
| 2000 | A Streetcar Named Desire | Blanche Du Bois | Bristol Old Vic |
| 2004 | A Doll's House | Nora Helmer | UK tour |
| 2004 | Clouds | Mara Hill | National UK tour |
| 2005 | And Then There Were None | Vera Claythorne | Gielgud Theatre[20] |
| 2009 | A Doll's House | Christine Lyle | Donmar Warehouse |
| 2009 | The Misanthrope | Marcia | Comedy Theatre |
| 2011 | Broken Glass | Sylvia Gellburg | Vaudeville Theatre[21] |
| 2013 | The Winter's Tale | Hermione | Globe Theatre London and UK tour |
| 2019 | Shipwreck | Almeida Theatre, London | |
| 2019 | Prism | Nicola/Katie | UK tour |
| 2020 | Women Beware women | Livia | Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London |
| 2021 | Hamlet | Gertrude | Young Vic, London |
| 2023 | Duet for One | Stephanie Abrahams | Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond |
| 2024 | Suite in Three Keys | Linda Savignac, Maud Caragnani, Carlotta Gray | Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth | Queen Mia Greymane (voice) | |
| 2019 | Anthem | Renda, The Argentum, Aruna’s Mother (voices) |
