Fiona Shaw

Born: July 10 1958
Where: County Cork, Eire

The accomplished stage actress's forays into film range from Super Mario Bros to the Harry Potter series as Aunt Petunia.

After studying philisophy she switched to acting and studied drama at London's Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts.

She made her big screen debut in Sacred Hearts in 1985 and enjoyed a series of supporting roles in films including London Kills Me and Undercover Blues.

In 1996, she starred in Franco Zeffirelli's Jane Eyre and won plaudits for her performance as the pretentious Anglophile in The Butcher Boy.

Firstly a stage performer, her theatre awards, include three Laurence Olivier Awards for best actress, two London Critics's Awards and one New York Critics's Award for her performance in TS Eliot's The Waste Land.

In 1996, she spent two weeks in a convent with a contemplative order of Benedictine nuns and her diary of the experience was broadcast on Radio 4.

Subsequent roles include an ill-advised outing as Father in The Avengers and Leontine in the dire Triumph of Love with Ben Kingsley.

In 2001, she made her first appearance as Aunt Petunia in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (she reprised the role in the two sequels).