Fiona Shaw can give a supporting role intelligence and an edge without needing to be the centre of the story. We rate her highly; our frustration with IF is how little it asks of her.
Fi1m perspective
Bea arrives at her grandmother’s flat in IF (2024), her father in hospital and her mind made up that she is finished with childish things. Shaw plays the grandmother and is given too little to do. We were frustrated by that waste, because her authority ought to be useful in a story about a child trying to cope when the adults cannot. Cailey Fleming holds John Krasinski’s fantasy together, playing capability and grief straight while the film struggles to decide what its imaginary friends are for. Its sincerity is welcome, but there is room here for more than one actor to do the difficult work.
Shaw’s distinctive voice and physical presence suit commanding women, and she brings intelligence to parts that might otherwise settle for sternness. Her long collaboration with director Deborah Warner includes Electra, Hedda Gabler and Richard II. Those demanding stage roles help explain why an underwritten screen part feels such a poor use of her. Her film debut was My Left Foot (1989), playing Eileen Cole alongside Daniel Day-Lewis. Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter series brought wider recognition from 2001, without exhausting what she had to offer.
In The Tree of Life (2011), she is again a grandmother, this time in a film we recommend warmly. Terrence Malick’s childhood scenes earn the cosmic scale, though some passages repeat themselves after the point is clear. We would choose it for those childhood scenes; Shaw’s presence alone is not the reason to spend an evening with it.
Her later career has included more television work, with Carolyn Martens in Killing Eve (2018) and Maarva Andor in Andor (2022). Maarva offers another example of the depth she can bring to a supporting part, something the films should make better use of. Her own assessment in 2024 was encouraging: “I feel I’m just starting in film and television and I’m loving it.” More films should take that enthusiasm seriously and give her something substantial to play.
Biography
Fiona Shaw is an Irish actress. She was born Fiona Mary Wilson on 10 July 1958 in Cobh, County Cork. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and has worked extensively in theatre, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.
Shaw is known for playing Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2010) and for her role as Grandmother in IF (2024). Other film credits include My Left Foot (1989), Enola Holmes (2020) and Ammonite (2020). On television she has appeared in Killing Eve (2018–2022) as Carolyn Martens and True Detective (2014, 2024). She received the CBE in 2001 and has won multiple Laurence Olivier Awards for stage performances.
