Brenda Fricker

This frumpy, maternal, Irish character actress gained experience in Irish theatre and with the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Court Theatre Company in Great Britain. Brenda Fricker received great acclaim for her Oscar-winning supporting performance as the determined mother of a son afflicted with cerebral palsy in "My Left Foot" (1989). Venturing to Hollywood in the 1990s, she played a homeless woman befriended by kid-on-the-loose Macaulay Culkin in the sequel "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" (1992) and followed up with a more zany mother role in the little-seen "So I Married an Axe Murderer" (1993). Having acted on English TV on the BBC series "Casualty", Fricker began conquering US TV with roles in the "American Playhouse" presentation "Lethal Innocence" (1991) and the miniseries "The Sound and the Silence" (1993). Fricker offered memorable support as Albert Finney's exasperated sister in "A Man of No Importance" (1994) and appeared in support of Robin Wright in Pen Densham's "Moll Flanders" and as Matthew McConaughey's secretary in Joel Schumacher's "A Time to Kill" (both 1996).

• Born:
  February 17, 1945 in Dublin, Ireland
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Journalist

Milestones

• 1969 Film debut in small role in Sinful Davey
• 1979 Had regular role in the British TV series Quartermass
• 1985 Acted in the Irish short film, The Woman Who Married Clark Gable , opposite Bob Hoskins
• 1986 Played Megan Roach on the popular BBC hospital drama series, Casualty
• 1989 Breakthrough screen role as Mrs. Brown in My Left Foot ; received Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress
• 1990 Co-starred with Richard Harris in The Field
• 1991 Had featured role in the Australian-produced miniseries Brides of Christ ; aired in 1993 in USA
• 1991 US television dramatic debut on the PBS American Playhouse presentation, Lethal Innocence
• 1992 First American film, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
• 1993 Cast as the mother of Mike Myer s character in the comedy So I Married an Axe Murderer
• 1994 Appeared with Albert Finney in A Man of No Importance
• 1995 Co-stared in the NBC miniseries A Woman of Independent Means , starring Sally Field
• 1996 Acted in the feature film Moll Flanders
• 1996 Appeared as a secretary in A Time to Kill
• 1999 Had co-starring role in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation Durango (CBS)
• 2000 Co-starred in a second Hallmark Hall of Fame production, Cupid and Cate (CBS)
• 2001 Had featured role in The War Bride
• 2002 Co-starred with Janet McTeer and Olympia Dukakis in The Intended, directed by Kristian Levering
• 2003 Cast opposite Cate Blanchett in Veronica Guerin
• 2004 Featured in the made for TV movie Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss
• 2005 Portrayed Big Mama in Tennessee Williams Pulitzer Prize-winning Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Geffen Playhouse
• Acted with the National Theater in plays including The Plough and the Stars and Lavender Blue , with the Royal Court Theater in Within Two Shadows and A Pagan s Place and with the Royal Shakespeare Company in works including TV Times and The Irish Play
• As a teenager, was seriously injured in car accident
• Contracted tuberculosis in her teens
• Raised in Dublin, Ireland
• Spent childhood summers in County Kerry
• Still a teenager, suffered the loss of kidney
• Ventured into acting while employed as a journalist for The Irish Times
• Worked extensively on the Irish stage before moving to London