Tara Fitzgerald
Encyclopedia
Tara Anne Cassandra Fitzgerald (born 18 September 1967) is an English actress who has appeared in feature films, television, radio and the stage.
Fitzgerald won the New York Drama Desk Award
for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in 1995 as Ophelia
opposite Ralph Fiennes
in Hamlet
. She won the Best Actress Award at The Reims International Television Festival in 1999 for her role of Lady Dona St. Columb in Frenchman's Creek. Fitzgerald’s most recent role has been in the West End
production of The Misanthrope
at the Comedy Theatre with Damian Lewis
and Keira Knightley
, and in Henrik Ibsen
’s A Doll's House
at the Donmar Warehouse
. Since 2007, Fitzgerald has appeared in more than 30 episodes of the BBC television series Waking The Dead
.
, West Sussex
to Irish portrait photographer Sarah Geraldine Fitzgerald and Italian artist Michael Callaby. When she was still a child her family moved to Freeport, Bahamas
, where her grandfather, David Fitzgerald, practised law. Returning to England, her parents divorced when she was three. She and her mother lived in a basement flat off the Old Brompton Road
in Kensington
. When Tara was six, her mother married Irish actor Norman Rodway
and the family began several years of journeying across the British Isles.
and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
, but she was not accepted. She spent two years as a waitress before entering drama school. She graduated from Drama Centre London in July 1990.
. She came to international attention in 1993 when she starred with Hugh Grant
in the Australian comedy Sirens
. The film landed Fitzgerald an Australian Film Institute
nomination for Best Actress in a Lead Role. Two years later she again appeared with Grant in the comedy The 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 them the all-star cast in A Man of No Importance
(1994), the early Ewan McGregor
film Brassed Off
(1996), the Czech World War II fighter pilot drama Dark Blue World
(2001), and a 2004 drama set in the Spanish Inquisition
, Secret Passage (UK title The Lion’s Mouth) with John Turturro
.
. She has alternated between stage and screen for almost two decades, with frequent theater roles. In 1995 Fitzgerald starred as Ophelia
opposite Ralph Fiennes
in Hamlet
at London’s Almeida Theatre
, which led to her American stage debut. The award-winning production transferred across the Atlantic and played more than 90 performances on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre
. Since then she has played Antigone
in a national UK tour, the Blanche Du Bois in Tennessee Williams's
A Streetcar Named Desire
at the Bristol Old Vic
and with Gillian Anderson
in A Doll’s House at Donmar Warehouse
.
heroines and modern police detectives. Her first TV role was in the 1991 BBC production The Black Candle, set in Yorkshire
in the 1880s. The following year she was featured in The Camomile Lawn
. After her feature film success, Fitzgerald landed her first starring role in a TV film, The Vacillations of Poppy Carew, a romantic comedy with Joseph Fiennes
. She won Best Actress at the 1999 Reims International Television Festival for the costumes-and-pirates love story Frenchman's Creek. In 2006 she was featured in The Virgin Queen, before taking on her biggest role to date: Dr. Eve Lockhart, on the police procedural
Waking The Dead
. She joined the cast in 2007. Following the BBC's decision to end the show after one more series in 2011, it was announced that the character of Eve will star in spin-off series The Body Farm
.
, who directed her in The Snatching of Bookie Bob. The couple separated in May 2003 and were later divorced.
Her partner is actor Richard Clothier. Fitzgerald resides in the Shepherd's Bush
area and has a holiday home near Penzance
.
Fitzgerald has one sister, Arabella, and one half-sister, Bianca, both younger. She is the great-niece of the Irish actress Geraldine Fitzgerald
.
Fitzgerald won the New York Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in 1995 as Ophelia
Ophelia
Ophelia is a fictional character in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and potential wife of Prince Hamlet.-Plot:...
opposite Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. She won the Best Actress Award at The Reims International Television Festival in 1999 for her role of Lady Dona St. Columb in Frenchman's Creek. Fitzgerald’s most recent role has been in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production of The Misanthrope
The Misanthrope
The Misanthrope is the first EP from metal band Darkest Hour. It was released in 1996 on the defunct label Death Truck Records. It is much more hardcore orientated metalcore unlike their later releases.- Track listing :# "Vise" - 5:30...
at the Comedy Theatre with Damian Lewis
Damian Lewis
Lewis was born in St John's Wood, London, the son of Charlotte Mary and J. Watcyn Lewis, a City broker. His paternal grandparents were Welsh. His maternal grandfather was Lord Mayor of London Ian Frank Bowater and his maternal grandmother's ancestors include Bertrand Dawson, 1st Viscount Dawson of...
and Keira Knightley
Keira Knightley
Keira Christina Knightley born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and model. She began acting as a child and came to international notice in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham...
, and in Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
’s A Doll's House
A Doll's House
A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
at the Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
. Since 2007, Fitzgerald has appeared in more than 30 episodes of the BBC television series Waking The Dead
Waking the Dead (TV series)
Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case Unit comprising CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000 and there have been a total of nine series...
.
Early life
Tara Fitzgerald was born in CuckfieldCuckfield
Cuckfield is a large village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Haywards Heath to the southeast and Burgess...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
to Irish portrait photographer Sarah Geraldine Fitzgerald and Italian artist Michael Callaby. When she was still a child her family moved to Freeport, Bahamas
Freeport, Bahamas
Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone located on the island of Grand Bahama of the North-west Bahamas. In 1955, Wallace Groves, a Virginian financier with lumber interests in Grand Bahama, was granted 50,000 acres Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone located on the island of...
, where her grandfather, David Fitzgerald, practised law. Returning to England, her parents divorced when she was three. She and her mother lived in a basement flat off the Old Brompton Road
Old Brompton Road
Old Brompton Road is a major street in the South Kensington district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London.It starts from South Kensington tube station and runs south-west, through a mainly residential area, until it reaches West Brompton and the area around Earl's Court tube station...
in Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
. When Tara was six, her mother married Irish actor Norman Rodway
Norman Rodway
-Early life:Rodway was born in Dublin to English parents, Frank and Lillian Rodway. He studied classics, graduating at Trinity College. He worked as an accountant, teacher, and university lecturer before acting.-Career:...
and the family began several years of journeying across the British Isles.
Education and acting
Because of her stepfather’s acting career, Fitzgerald attended primary schools in London, Glasgow, Dublin and Stratford-upon-Avon. When she was in her teens she and her family returned to South London. She was a student at Walsingham Girls' School in Clapham (now Thomas's Preparatory School, Clapham), but left at age 16 after passing her "O" level examinations to pursue acting. At 17 she left a course at Richmond College, Middlesex to audition for the Royal Academy of Dramatic ArtRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
, but she was not accepted. She spent two years as a waitress before entering drama school. She graduated from Drama Centre London in July 1990.
Film
Only months after graduation from drama school Fitzgerald appeared as the daughter of a beauty queen in the comedy Hear My SongHear My Song
Hear My Song is a 1991 film, written by the actors Peter Chelsom and Adrian Dunbar , based on the story of Irish tenor Josef Locke...
. She came to international attention in 1993 when she starred with Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
in the Australian comedy Sirens
Sirens (film)
Sirens is a 1993 film, written and directed by John Duigan, and set in Australia between the two World Wars.Sirens, along with Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bitter Moon—all released in the U.S...
. The film landed Fitzgerald an Australian Film Institute
Australian Film Institute
The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...
nomination for Best Actress in a Lead Role. Two years later she again appeared with Grant in the comedy The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain
The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain
The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain is a 1995 film written by Ivor Monger and directed by Christopher Monger. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival....
. Fitzgerald appeared in a steady stream of independent feature films through the 1990s and 2000s, among them the all-star cast in A Man of No Importance
A Man of No Importance (film)
A Man of No Importance is a 1994 comedy drama film directed by Suri Krishnamma and starring Albert Finney.-Synopsis:Alfred Byrne is a closeted homosexual bus conductor in 1963 Dublin. His sister tries to find him a suitable woman, but his real passion is putting on amateur theater productions of...
(1994), the early Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
film Brassed Off
Brassed Off
Brassed Off is a 1996 British film written and directed by Mark Herman. The film, a British-American co-production made between Channel Four Films, Miramax Films and Prominent Films, is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure of their pit...
(1996), the Czech World War II fighter pilot drama Dark Blue World
Dark Blue World
Dark Blue World is a 2001 film by Czech director Jan Svěrák about Czechoslovak pilots who fought for the British Royal Air Force during World War II. The screenplay was written by Zdeněk Svěrák, the father of the director....
(2001), and a 2004 drama set in the Spanish Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
, Secret Passage (UK title The Lion’s Mouth) with John Turturro
John Turturro
John Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series...
.
Stage
Fitzgerald’s first major stage role came in 1992 when she appeared opposite Peter O’Toole in Our Song at the Apollo TheatreApollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...
. She has alternated between stage and screen for almost two decades, with frequent theater roles. In 1995 Fitzgerald starred as Ophelia
Ophelia
Ophelia is a fictional character in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and potential wife of Prince Hamlet.-Plot:...
opposite Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
at London’s Almeida Theatre
Almeida Theatre
The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...
, which led to her American stage debut. The award-winning production transferred across the Atlantic and played more than 90 performances on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre
Belasco Theatre
The Belasco Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals by American artist...
. Since then she has played Antigone
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Oedipus' mother. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood", "in place of a mother", or "anti-generative", based from the root...
in a national UK tour, the Blanche Du Bois in Tennessee Williams's
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
at the Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
and with Gillian Anderson
Gillian Anderson
Gillian Leigh Anderson is an American actress.After beginning her career in theatre, Anderson achieved international recognition for her role as Special Agent Dana Scully on the American television series The X-Files. During the show's nine seasons, Anderson won Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen...
in A Doll’s House at Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse
Donmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
.
Television
A veteran of more than twenty television programmes and mini-series, Fitzgerald has portrayed VictorianVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
heroines and modern police detectives. Her first TV role was in the 1991 BBC production The Black Candle, set in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
in the 1880s. The following year she was featured in The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn is a novel by Mary Wesley about the lives of Richard and Helena Cuthbertson and their five nieces and nephews; Calypso, Walter, Polly, Oliver and Sophy. The title refers to a fragrant camomile lawn stretching down to the Cornish cliffs in the garden of the main characters' aunt's...
. After her feature film success, Fitzgerald landed her first starring role in a TV film, The Vacillations of Poppy Carew, a romantic comedy with Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes
Joseph Fiennes is an English film and stage actor. He is perhaps best known for his portrayals of William Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love, Sir Robert Dudley in Elizabeth, Commisar Danilov in Enemy at the Gates, Martin Luther in Luther, Merlin in Camelot, and his portrayal of Mark Benford in the...
. She won Best Actress at the 1999 Reims International Television Festival for the costumes-and-pirates love story Frenchman's Creek. In 2006 she was featured in The Virgin Queen, before taking on her biggest role to date: Dr. Eve Lockhart, on the police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
Waking The Dead
Waking the Dead (TV series)
Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series produced by the BBC featuring a fictional Cold Case Unit comprising CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000 and there have been a total of nine series...
. She joined the cast in 2007. Following the BBC's decision to end the show after one more series in 2011, it was announced that the character of Eve will star in spin-off series The Body Farm
The Body Farm (TV series)
The Body Farm is a British police procedural crime drama series for the BBC network, featuring a fictional private forensic pathology facility that conducts scientific research to help solve crimes, lead by Dr...
.
Personal life
In 2001 Fitzgerald married American actor-director John SharianJohn Sharian
John Sharian is an American actor whose film credits include The Machinist and Saving Private Ryan and whose television credits include CSI: Miami and Spooks.-Education:...
, who directed her in The Snatching of Bookie Bob. The couple separated in May 2003 and were later divorced.
Her partner is actor Richard Clothier. Fitzgerald resides in the Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush
-Commerce:Commercial activity in Shepherd's Bush is now focused on the Westfield shopping centre next to Shepherd's Bush Central line station and on the many small shops which run along the northern side of the Green....
area and has a holiday home near Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
.
Fitzgerald has one sister, Arabella, and one half-sister, Bianca, both younger. She is the great-niece of the Irish actress Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lady Lindsay-Hogg was an Irish-American actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame.-Early life:...
.