Last night I saw Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and was delighted to see a most familiar, but nameless, face. Madame Hooch, professor and Quidditch official for Hogwart's School had sharp, piercing eyes and a short cropped haircut that I couldn't place, but knew I'd seen so many times before. A quick hop onto e2 gave me all the information I needed; ah, yes. Zoe Wanamaker. But what? Not noded? Preposterous!
Most often described as a British actress (probably because of her accent), Ms. Wanamaker is a US citizen and incredible thespian. She studied at the Central School for Speech and Drama and spent 25+ years as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Wanamaker had extended her acting to radio, television and film long before she began work on the Potter movie. Here's proof:
Theatre
Royal Shakespeare Company
National Theatre
Tony Award nominations
Television
- Prime Suspect (BAFTA nomination)
- Love Hurts (BAFTA nomination)
- Poor Little Rich Girl (Golden Globe nomination)
- Paradise Postponed
- Momento Mori
- The Countess Alice
- The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd
- The Blackheath Poisonings
- Edge of Darkness
Film
- The Hunger 1983
- Raggedy Rawney 1990
- Tales of the Unexpected 1991
- Swept from the Sea 1997
- Wilde 1997 (BAFTA nomination)
- David Copperfield 1999
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 2001
Whew! No wonder she looked familiar!
TheLady says: I think you'll find that wanamaker's most immediately recognisable TV performance, especially to young geeks, was in the recent production of Gormenghast.
lofidan says zoe wanamaker is also in My Family on BBC1..
Albert Herring says re: Zoe Wanamaker: Also seemed to appear in every second or third episode of Inspector Morse, although it may have been slightly fewer.
Thanks guys! :)