Brenda Fricker

Infobox Actor
name = Brenda Fricker

---

caption = Brenda Fricker at the 62nd Annual Academy Awards, 3/26/90
birthdate = birth date and age|1945|2|17
location = Dublin, Ireland
spouse = Barrie Davies
yearsactive = 1964 - present
academyawards = Best Supporting Actress
1989 "My Left Foot"
awards = LAFCA Award for Best Supporting Actress
1989 "My Left Foot"

Brenda Fricker (born February 17, 1945 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Academy Award-winning Irish actress.

Career

Before becoming an actress, Fricker was assistant to the art editor of the "Irish Times", with hopes to become a reporter. At age 19, she became an actress "by chance" [http://www.holby.tv/db/index.php?id=38,87,0,0,1,0 holby.tv | Casualty | Brenda Fricker ] ] her feature film career started with a small uncredited part in the 1964 film "Of Human Bondage", based on the 1915 novel by William Somerset Maugham of the same name.

Initially better known in the United Kingdom for her role as Megan Roach in the BBC One television drama series "Casualty", she won the 1989 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Christy Brown's mother in "My Left Foot"; among others, she thanked Christy Brown in her acceptance speech, simply for "being alive".Fact|date=April 2008 She next co-starred in the 1990 film "The Field". After a string of successful films, she returned to television, co-starring in the 1992 TV miniseries "Seekers" alongside Josette Simon, produced by Sarah Lawson. She subsequently joined and remained with "Casualty", before going on to star in a series of hit movies, including "" and "So I Married an Axe Murderer", as a "Weekly World News"-obsessed Scottish immigrant. In 2003 she played Bernie Guerin, mother of Veronica Guerin (played by Cate Blanchett) in the film of the same name. She then played nurse Eileen in the film "Inside I'm Dancing".

Having left it because she believed her character had "started off with a wonderful sense of humour, [but] lost it all and all she ever seemed to do was push a trolley around and offer tea and sympathy", she later returned to "Casualty" for two guest appearances - the first was in February 1998, for the two-parter Everlasting Love in which Megan attended the wedding of her former colleagues Charlie Fairhead and Barbara 'Baz' Samuels; the second was in 2007 for a single episode for Red Nose Day. The episode was penned by Richard Curtis. [ [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article19109.ece Brenda's Red Nose return | The Sun |Showbiz|TV ] ]

Most recently, Fricker has appeared in "Closing the Ring", Richard Attenborough's post World War II drama, also starring Shirley Maclaine, Christopher Plummer and Mischa Barton.

Personal life

Fricker was born on the 17th February 1945, in Dublin, Ireland, daughter to a journalist. In her teens, she aspired to follow her parent's footsteps into journalism. Aged 19, she was Assistant to the Art Editor of the "Irish Times", hoping to become a reporter. She then fell into acting almost by mistake, working largely on the Irish stage.

She currently lives in Bristol with her partner Joe; she was previously married to director Barry Davies. She says that her loves include her pet dogs, drinking Guinness, reading poetry and playing snooker (she once said that she had taken 'on the whole crew of "My Left Foot", I played pool against 17 of them, and beat them all').

Real life quotes

*If you're doing a scene and you think you're doing it wrong, just swear in the middle of it and then the director can't use it. It's an arrogant way of doing it, but unfortunately it's the only way of self-protection. You have to be a bit anarchic sometimes.
*When you are lying drunk at the airport you're Irish. When you win an Oscar you're British.
*(on her character in "Casualty") Megan was the mother we all want, full of love and understanding, I'm none of that, I'm not a mother and never will be and I wasn't even a very good wife, I'm not even a good nurse to my father now he's old and frail. I'm much more rebellious that Megan. I couldn't do her job ever. Just go down to the hospital and watch what they do for an eight of the salary I earned pretending to be a nurse. It makes you blush. You break your heart with people being kicked in the teeth by life. I couldn't handle it, I'd be reduced to tears.

Filmography

elected theatreography

* At the National Theatre
**"The Plough and the Stars"
**"Lavender Blue"
*At the Royal Court Theatre
**"Within Two Shadows"
**"A Pagan's Place"
*At the Geffen Playhouse
**"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
*Other
**"Typhad Mary"
**"Macbeth"
**"Outskirts"
**"TV Times"
**"The Accrington Pals"
**"The Irish Play"
**"Lost World"
**"The Weeping of Angels"

ee also

* List of people on stamps of Ireland

References

External links

*
* [http://movies.msn.com/celebs/celeb.aspx?c=287010 MSN Movies profile]
* [http://www.holby.tv/db/index.php?id=38,87,0,0,1,0 Fricker at HOLBY.TV]

Persondata
NAME= Fricker, Brenda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actress
DATE OF BIRTH= February 17, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH= Dublin, Ireland
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=