Shaw lands top role in True Blood

IRISH actress Fiona Shaw has landed a plum role in hit US TV series True Blood.

The Cork-born actress will appear in the upcoming fourth series of the show and will play Marnie, a medium and palm reader described as “mousy, timid and secretly self-loathing” who is taken over by the spirit of a powerful witch.

Ms Shaw’s character appears in the fourth book of The Southern Chronicles on which the show is based. Though the character was intended to be younger, the profile has been changed to fit the 52-year-old. True Blood is a HBO series depicting the co-existence of vampires and humans. The fourth series is expected to debut next summer.