Kathy Burke


Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke is an English actress, comedian, writer, producer, and director. She achieved fame with her appearances on sketch shows such as French and Saunders and her recurring role as Magda on the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, as well as her frequent collaborations with fellow comedian Harry Enfield. For her portrayal of Valerie in the 1997 film Nil by Mouth, she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Burke made her film debut in the 1982 drama Scrubbers, and played Queen Mary I in the award-winning biographical film Elizabeth. Her other film appearances include Sid and Nancy, Dancing at Lughnasa, This Year's Love, Kevin & Perry Go Large, The Martins, Anita and Me, and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands. From 1999 to 2001, she starred as Linda La Hughes on the BBC sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme, for which she received a British Comedy Award and two BAFTA nominations. Having spent most of the 2000s concentrating on her work as a theatre director, she returned to film roles in the 2010s with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Pan, and .

Early life

Burke was born into an Irish family in Islington, London. She has two elder brothers, John and Barry. Her mother, Bridget, died of cancer when she was 18 months old, and she was brought up by neighbours for the following few years. Subsequently, she returned to live with her Irish father, Patrick, a builder who died of cancer in 1994, a week after Kathy's mentor and first director Mia Zetterling. Burke attended the Maria Fidelis RC Convent School. Burke then went on to study at the Anna Scher Theatre School.

Career

Burke's first role was in the 1982 film Scrubbers, directed by Swedish actress Mai Zetterling and featuring Pam St. Clement, Robbie Coltrane, Miriam Margolyes, Honey Bane, Debby Bishop and Eva Mottley. The film was set in a young offenders' institute for girls and was seen as a female version of the film Scum.
Burke appeared in a non-speaking role in a 1985 public information film about heroin addiction. The following year she appeared in a non-speaking role as 'witness in doorway' in an award-winning advert for The Guardian's' Points of View'.
Burke first became familiar to television audiences as a player of minor roles in sketches by better-known performers such as Harry Enfield, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Early TV work included regular appearances on the chat show The Last Resort hosted by Jonathan Ross on UK Channel 4 in the mid-1980s, playing the characters 'Tina Bishop' and 'Perry the Pre-pubescent Schoolboy". Bishop was a continually pregnant "expert" offering advice on household chores, always with disastrous results. Along with French and Saunders, she has contributed to two Comic Relief charity singles. She first appeared as a member of Bananarama parody band Lananeeneenoonoo in 1989, and then as a member of Spice Girls' look-alike band the Sugar Lumps in 1997. In real life Burke is a big fan of Morrissey and appeared in the video for his 1989 single "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" and later in the 2002 Channel 4 documentary The Importance of Being Morrissey.
She quickly became successful in her own right and although mainly associated with comedy, she has played several serious roles including that of Queen Mary I of England in Elizabeth.
Burke was awarded the Royal Television Society Award for Best Actress, for her performance as the mute Martha in the 1993 BBC TV series Mr. Wroe's Virgins.
Burke won the Best Actress award at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for her role in the gritty drama Nil by Mouth. Burke was so convinced she would not win that she made no plans to attend the ceremony; when told shortly beforehand she had won, she found her passport was out of date. The film also earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Since then she has appeared as Perry in Kevin & Perry Go Large, and as Linda La Hughes in Gimme Gimme Gimme where she was nominated for 3 British Comedy Awards, 2 BAFTA TV Awards and a National Television Award for her performance. In 2000, she appeared in the cult film Love Honour and Obey with Ray Burdis.
In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.
Beginning in 2001, she refrained from acting and threw herself into theatre directing; something she considers to be one of her true passions. She said in an interview with Dawn French in Dawn French's Girls Who do Comedy that she no longer felt the same creative energy associated with acting that she used to and that this was the reason she had stopped acting. However, she has done some voiceover work in the past few years, including adverts for Ski yoghurt as well as Flushed Away. She also appeared in the 2007 Christmas Special of The Catherine Tate Show as Nan's daughter.
In February 1990 she wrote and directed her first play, Mr Thomas, at the Old Red Lion Theatre. It was subsequently filmed and shown on Channel 4 the next year.
In 2007, Burke contracted Clostridium difficile while in hospital for an operation, resulting in her having to pass directing duties on Dying for It at the Almeida Theatre.
In 2009, Burke made her television directorial debut with the BBC Three sketch show series Horne & Corden, starring Mathew Horne and James Corden.
In 2010, Burke completed a short autobiographical film, "Better Than Christmas", for Little Crackers, a collection of comic shorts. Burke plays a nun. On 19 January 2012, it was announced that Burke's short for Little Crackers would be turned into a four-part series, "Walking and Talking", written by Burke. Burke appeared as a nun in each of the episodes. The series aired in the summer of 2012 on Sky Atlantic.
In 2011, Burke played Connie Sachs in the film adaptation of the novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. She was long-listed for a BAFTA nomination for her performance as Supporting Actress in 2012.
Burke appeared in the 2015 Peter Pan prequel film, Pan, as Mother Barnabas. In November 2015 Burke presented the BBC topical news panel show Have I Got News for You.
In 2019, Burke starred in her own self-titled three part documentary, Kathy Burke's All Woman''. The programme aired on Channel 4 and focused on the stereotypes and expectations of modern women. Burke touched on subjects such as marriage, pregnancy and cosmetic surgery.

Filmography

Theatre