‘I just felt tired’: Fiona Shaw reveals how she nearly quit acting after feeling ‘no joy’
Fiona Shaw said her life has “surpassed any expectations” she had. Picture: Jonty Davies/Good Housekeeping UK
Cork actress Fiona Shaw has revealed how she nearly quit acting after feeling “no joy” at one point in her career.
The 68-year-old is best known for starring in and the franchise as the cold and repressed aunt Petunia Dursley.
Despite her long and acclaimed career, the award-winning actress said she considered quitting in 2013 while she was performing in a New York production of a stage adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novella.
Speaking to she said: “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.
“I felt no joy. I just felt tired.
“I thought I might stop acting and teach.”
The actress stars as wealthy widower and eager matchmaker Mrs Jennings alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones in the upcoming Dolly Alderton film adaptation of Jane Austen’s
Shaw said Edgar-Jones was a “lovely, enchanting girl” and that she has “every quality that I didn’t have at her age; she can withhold”.
“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,” she added.
The actress said her life has “surpassed any expectations” she had, and that despite being a film and TV star, she feels she is “quite ordinary”, describing herself as a “young old person”.
Shaw was named best supporting actress at the Bafta TV awards in 2019 for her role as senior MI6 officer Carolyn Martens in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s BBC thriller
She also has won a number of Olivier awards including Actress of the Year in 1989/1990 for her performances in and followed by the best actress gong in 1994 for her role in at the National Theatre.
