Theatre Her first acting roles were at the
Abbey Theatre in Dublin. In 1975, she moved to London and joined the
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), starring in
Dion Boucicault's
London Assurance in the West End. Cusack's work with the RSC continued with an award-winning performance as Celia in
As You Like It which included the Clarence Derwent Award and her first
Olivier Award nomination. She secured a second Olivier Award nomination for her performance in ''
The Maid's Tragedy by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher in 1981, followed two years later with a third Olivier Award nomination as Kate in The Taming of the Shrew''. She made her Broadway debut in 1984, performing in repertory with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Starring opposite
Derek Jacobi, she played Roxane in
Anthony Burgess' translation of
Edmond Rostand's
Cyrano de Bergerac and
Beatrice in
William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, directed by
Terry Hands.
Much Ado was first produced at the
Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1982–83, then moved to London's
Barbican Theatre for the 1983–1984 season where it was joined by
Cyrano, before both plays transferred to New York's
Gershwin Theatre from October 1984 to January 1985, for which Cusack received a
Tony Award nomination for her performance as Beatrice, and costar Derek Jacobi won the award for his Benedick. The production of
Cyrano de Bergerac was later filmed in 1985. During this period, Cusack and her husband,
Jeremy Irons, appeared in a ''Shakespeare Winter's Eve'', a major fundraiser for the
Riverside Shakespeare Company in New York, along with other members of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Following the Broadway run, the plays toured the US, making stops in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. Cusack's connection with the Royal Shakespeare Company continued with a series of leading roles include Portia in
The Merchant of Venice opposite
David Suchet, Lady Macbeth opposite
Jonathan Pryce in
Macbeth and Cleopatra in
Antony and Cleopatra in Stratford-upon-Avon and at London's
Haymarket Theatre in the West End. In 1990, Cusack, in the role of Masha, joined two of her sisters, Niamh (as Irina) and Sorcha (as Olga), and her father, Cyril Cusack (as Chebutykin) for a well-received production of
Anton Chekhov's tragi-comedy
The Three Sisters in a new version by
Frank McGuinness, directed by
Adrian Noble at the Gate Theatre, Dublin before transferring to the
Royal Court Theatre in London. The production also featured Niamh's husband
Finbar Lynch as Solenyi and
Lesley Manville as Natasha. The production won the three real-life sisters the
Irish Life Award in 1992. One of her best-known stage roles was
Our Lady of Sligo by
Sebastian Barry in 1998, in which she played the principal role of Mai O'Hara in performances in Ireland, on Broadway and at the
National Theatre. For this, she won the 1998
Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Best Actress, the 1998
Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress and her fourth
Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress. In 2006/7, she starred with
Rufus Sewell in
Tom Stoppard's ''
Rock 'n' Roll'' at the Royal Court Theatre in London which transferred to the West End and Broadway, winning Cusack her fifth
Olivier Award nomination and her second
Tony Award nomination. In 2015, Cusack returned to Ireland's
Abbey Theatre, where she began her theatre career. She appeared in the world première of
Mark O'Rowe's play
Our Few And Evil Days, acting opposite long-time collaborator
Ciarán Hinds. She won the
Irish Times Theatre Award for
Best Actress.
Film and television Cusack starred with
Peter Sellers in the film
Hoffman (1970). She guest-starred in an episode of
The Persuaders! (1971), a TV series starring
Tony Curtis and
Roger Moore, as Jenny Lindley, a wealthy heiress who suspects that a man claiming to be her dead brother is in fact an impostor. In 1975, she made three appearances in the TV series
Quiller as the character Rosalind. The following year she was featured in the title role of
George du Maurier's
Trilby (1976), in an adaptation for the BBC's
Play of the Month, with
Alan Badel as Svengali. Cusack and her husband Jeremy Irons appeared together in the film
Waterland (1992), in a television adaptation of
Christopher Hampton's
Tales from Hollywood (also 1992), and again in
Bernardo Bertolucci's
Stealing Beauty (1996). Further film work includes
Passion of Mind (2000),
V for Vendetta (2005), and
Eastern Promises (2007), a thriller directed by
David Cronenberg. Her performance in ''
The Tiger's Tail (also 2007) won her a first IFTA Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She won the IFTA Award for her performance in The Sea'' (2013), adapted from the novel by
John Banville. Cusack was nominated once more for an IFTA Award for her performance in
John Boorman's drama film
Queen and Country (2014), which premièred at the
Cannes Film Festival. Further starring roles in productions for the BBC include lead roles in
Frank McGuinness's
The Hen House (1989), the five-part series ''
Oliver's Travels alongside Alan Bates (1995), and the miniseries Have Your Cake and Eat It (1997), for which she won the RTS Award for Best Actress. In 2004, Cusack played Mrs. Thornton in North and South,
an adaptation of the 1855 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell into a miniseries. She also appeared in a BBC sitcom called Home Again (2006). In 2011, the historical fantasy series Camelot was broadcast on Starz, in which she played the motherly nun Sibyl, who gets beheaded in the first seasons 10th and final episode. Cusack had featured roles in the mini-series The Deep (2014) and in the first season of the crime noir Marcella'' (2016). ==Publications==