Kathy Burke

Infobox actor
name = Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke

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birthname =
birthdate = birth date and age|1964|6|13|df=y
location = Royal Free Hospital, London, England, U.K
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othername = Kathy Burke, Cathy Burke
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homepage = http://www.kathyburke.co.uk/
notable role =
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tonyawards =
awards = Best Actress Cannes Film Festival1997 "Nil By Mouth"

Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke (born 13 June 1964, Hampstead) is an English actress, comedienne, playwright and theatre director.

Family and upbringing

She was born at the Royal Free Hospital in London to Irish immigrant parentsFact|date=May 2008, and raised in Islington. Her mother died of cancer when she was two, and she was raised by neighbours for the subsequent few years. Subsequently, she returned to live with her father, a violent alcoholic, who died of cancer in the 1990s. Burke attended the Maria Fidelis RC Convent School. She has two brothers.

Career

Burke's first role was in the controversial film "Scrubbers", directed by Swedish actress Mai Zetterling and featuring Pam St. Clement, Robbie Coltrane, Miriam Margolyes, Honey Bane, Debby Bishop and Eva Mottley. The movie was set in a young offenders' institute for girls and was seen as a female version of the infamous "Scum".

Burke first became familiar to television audiences as a player of minor roles in sketches by better-known performers such as Harry Enfield, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Along with French & Saunders, she has contributed to two Comic Relief charity singles. She first appeared as a member of Bananarama parody band Lananeeneenoonoo in 1989, and then as a member of Spice Girls' lookalike band The Sugar Lumps in 1997. In real life Burke is a big fan of Morrissey and appeared in the video for his 1989 single "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" and later in the 2002 Channel 4 documentary "The Importance Of Being Morrissey".

She quickly became successful in her own right and although mainly associated with comedy, she has played several serious roles including that of Queen Mary I of England in "Elizabeth".

In 1997 Burke won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in the gritty drama "Nil by Mouth". Since then she has appeared as Perry in "Kevin and Perry Go Large", and as Linda La Hughes in "Gimme Gimme Gimme". In 2000 She appeared in the cult film "Love Honour and Obey" with Ray Burdis.

In 2003, she was listed in "The Observer" as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.

Since 2001 she has refrained from acting and has thrown herself into theatre directing; something she considers to be one of her true passions. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/10/19/btburke19.xml&sSheet=/arts/2004/10/19/ixtop.html My acting days are over - Telegraph ] ] She said in an interview with Dawn French in "Dawn French's Girls Who do Comedy" that she no longer felt the same creative energy associated with acting that she used to (she described it as a "feeling in my belly") and that this was the reason she had stopped acting. However, she has done some voiceover work in the past few years, including adverts for Ski yoghurt (in the UK) as well as "Flushed Away" (2006). She also appeared in the 2007 Christmas Special of "The Catherine Tate Show" as Nan's daughter.

In 2007, Burke contracted Clostridium difficile while in hospital for an operation, resulting in her having to pass directing duties on "Dying for It" at the Almeida theatre (which starred Charlie Condou and Sophie Stanton who she worked with on Gimme, Gimme, Gimme). [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-507138/I-died-superbug-says-actress-Kathy-Burke.html I almost died from superbug, says actress Kathy Burke | Mail Online ] ]

Filmography

*"Scrubbers" (1983)
*"Sid and Nancy" (1986)
*"Straight to Hell" (1987)
*"Eat the Rich" (1987)
*"Two of Us" (1987)
*"Work Experience" (1989)
*"Nil by Mouth" (1997)
*"Dancing at Lughnasa" (1998)
*"Elizabeth" (1998)
*"This Year's Love" (1999)
*"Kevin and Perry Go Large" (2000)
*"Love, Honour and Obey" (2000)
*"The Martins" (2001)
*"Once Upon a Time in the Midlands" (2002)
*"Anita and Me" (2002)
*"Flushed Away" (2006) (voiceover)
*"A Very Peculiar Practice" (Episode 7)
*"Absolutely Fabulous" (1992)
*"Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy" (2006)
*"French and Saunders" (1987)
*"Gimme Gimme Gimme" (1999-2001) (co-wrote)
*"Harry Enfield and Chums" (1994)
*"Harry Enfield's Television Programme" (1990)
*"Have I Got News For You" (1990)
*"Let Them Eat Cake" (1999)
*"Mr Wroe's Virgins" (1993)
*"Never Mind The Buzzcocks" (1996)
*"Pleasure Island" (1999)
*"Rex the Runt" (1998)
*"Room 101" (2000)
*"Shooting Gallery" (1999)
*"Ted & Ralph" (1998)
*"The Martins (2001)
*"The Importance of Being Morrissey" (2002) (guest appearance)
*"The F-Word" (2006) (guest appearance)
*"V Graham Norton" (2002)
*"The Eejits" (2007) (As The Virgin Mary)
*"The Catherine Tate Show (2007) (Guest appearance)
*"The Rav Iodoe Show (2008) (Guest appearance)

Theatre

*"It's a Great Big Shame!" by Mike Leigh (Theatre Royal Stratford East, 1993)

References

External links

* [http://www.kathyburke.co.uk/ KathyBurke.co.uk ] - "Everything you could reasonably want to know about the actress and director"
*imdb name|id=0121755|name=Kathy Burke
* [http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/artwork/headshot_kathy_burke.jpgKathy Burke at finboroughtheatre.co.uk]

Persondata
NAME= Burke, Katherine Lucy Bridget
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= 1964-6-13
PLACE OF BIRTH= Royal Free Hospital, London, England, U.K
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=