Theatre In 1983, she starred as Julia in the
National Theatre production of
Richard Brinsley Sheridan's
The Rivals (1983). Her theatrical roles include Celia in
As You Like It (1984), Madame de Volanges in
Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1985), Katherine in
The Taming of the Shrew (1987), Lady Franjul in
The New Inn (1987), Young Woman in
Machinal (1993), for which she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress. Shaw notably played the male lead in
Richard II, directed by
Deborah Warner in 1995. She performed
T. S. Eliot's poem
The Waste Land as a one-person show at the Liberty Theatre in New York to great acclaim in 1996, winning the
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for her performance. Winnie in
Happy Days (2007), and the title roles in
Electra (1988),
The Good Person of Sechuan (1989),
Hedda Gabler (1991),
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1998) and
Medea (2000). In 2009, Shaw collaborated with Deborah Warner again, taking the lead role in
Tony Kushner's translation of
Bertolt Brecht's
Mother Courage and Her Children. In a 2002 article for
The Daily Telegraph,
Rupert Christiansen described their professional relationship as "surely one of the most richly creative partnerships in theatrical history." Other collaborations between the two women include productions of Brecht's
The Good Woman of Szechuan and Ibsen's
Hedda Gabler, the latter was adapted for television. In 2010, Shaw appeared in
The Waste Land at
Wilton's Music Hall, and in a
National Theatre revival of
London Assurance. In November 2010, Shaw starred in
Ibsen's
John Gabriel Borkman at the
Abbey Theatre, Dublin alongside
Alan Rickman and
Lindsay Duncan. The play was also staged in New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2011. In 2012, Shaw appeared in the National Theatre revival of
Scenes from an Execution by
Howard Barker. The world's largest solo theatre festival,
United Solo, recognised her performance in
The Testament of Mary on Broadway with the 2013 United Solo Special Award.
Television and film In 1984, Shaw played Miss Morrison in
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes episode
The Adventure of the Crooked Man. She appeared in
My Left Foot (1989),
Mountains of the Moon (1990),
Three Men and a Little Lady (1990),
Super Mario Bros. (1993),
Undercover Blues (1993),
Persuasion (1995),
Jane Eyre (1996),
The Butcher Boy (1997),
The Avengers (1998),
Gormenghast (2000), and five of the
Harry Potter films in which she played Petunia Dursley,
Harry Potter's repressed maternal aunt. Shaw had a brief but key role in Brian DePalma's
The Black Dahlia (2006). Shaw appeared in
season four of the American TV show
True Blood. Shaw's character,
Marnie Stonebrook, has been described as an underachieving palm reader who is spiritually possessed by an actual witch. In 2013, she starred as Catherine Greenshaw in ''
Agatha Christie's Marple'' episode "Greenshaw's Folly". In 2018, Shaw began portraying Carolyn Martens, the head of
MI6's Russia-focused branch, in
BBC America's
Killing Eve. For her performance, she won the
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Television Series. Later the same year, she played a senior MI6 officer in
Mrs Wilson. For her role as a counselor in
Phoebe Waller-Bridge series
Fleabag (2019) she received a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series nomination. In 2020, she was listed at No. 29 on
The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Shaw starred in the
Star Wars television series Andor as the
titular character's adoptive mother, Maarva Andor. In 2024, she portrayed Rose Aguineau, a woman with a mysterious past who aids the protagonists, in
season 4 of
True Detective. ==Personal life==