Zoë Wanamaker

Zoë Wanamaker Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: May 13, 1949

Age: 75 years old

Birth Place: New York, New York

Parents: Sam Wanamaker

American-born character player Zoe Wanamaker, daughter of actor-director Sam Wanamaker, moved at the age of three to England, where her father championed the rebuilding of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. Not blessed with the cute nose or sensual mouth of the ingenue, she put her "interesting" looks to good service in repertory of the highest possible standard, performing extensively at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, in roles ranging from classical (Viola in "Twelfth Night") to musical comedy (Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls").

American audiences cheered her as Toine in "Piaf" (1981) and as Fay in "Loot" (1986), both performances earning her Tony nominations as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.

One of Wanamaker's earliest appearances on American TV was as Annemarie Kempf in the NBC miniseries "Inside the Third Reich" (1982), and her British TV series "Paradise Postponed" (1986) aired on "Masterpiece Theatre" (PBS). She became a national favorite in the UK for her continuing role opposite Adam Faith in the BBC-1's "Love Hurts" (1992-1994) and co-starred as the girlfriend of a possible killer in the first installment of the popular "Prime Suspect" series, seen in the USA in 1992 on PBS' "Mystery!".

Wanamaker then went on to act in three "Masterpiece Theatre" productions, "Memento Mori" (1992), "The Countess Alice" and "The Blackheath Poisonings," as well as in the "Fat Chance" episode of the "Inspector Morse" series on "Mystery!" (all 1993). Her work for the screen not withstanding, Wanamaker has remained first and foremost a stage actor. She lent her strong persona to a London production of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" and reinterpreted the role of Amanda Wingfield in an acclaimed 1995 revival of "The Glass Menagerie." After collecting three nominations for the Olivier Award, the actress finally took home 1998's honor for Best Actress in a Play as Sophocles' "Electra" (1997).

Though her appearances in features have been relatively infrequent, 1997 saw her in two, "Swept From the Sea" and "Wilde," for which she received a BAFTA nomination as a witty member of Oscar Wilde's circle who supported the writer and his family after accusations of gross indecency precipitated his fall from grace. She was also on hand that year for the official opening of the Globe Theatre, delivering a short prologue honoring the realization of her father's lifelong dream. In 2001, Wanamaker played Madame Hooch, the Quidditch referee, in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

Credits

Criminal RecordStream

Actor
Maureen
Series
2024
90%

Zoë Wanamaker Remembers... Bowie and Baal

Host
Show
2023

Britannia

Actor
Queen Antedia
Show
2020

Worzel Gummidge

Actor
Lady Bloomsbury Barton
Show
2019

1944: Should We Bomb Auschwitz?

Narrator
Show
2019

Manson: The Lost Tapes

Narrator
Show
2018

My Family and the Galapagos

Narrator
Show
2018

BritanniaStream

Actor
Queen Antedia
Series
2018
92%

GirlfriendsStream

Actor
Gail
Series
2018
86%

Forgotten Soldier

Narrator
Movie
2018

Babs

Actor
Joan Littlewood
Show
2017

Mr v Mrs: Call the Mediator

Narrator
Show
2016

Handmade: By Royal Appointment

Actor
Show
2016

Inside No. 9Stream

Actor
Paula
Series
2014
100%

Wodehouse in Exile

Actor
Ethel Wodehouse
Show
2013

Mr. SelfridgeStream

Actor
Princess Marie
Series
2013
69%

Muse of Fire

Actor
Movie
2013

Poirot: Dead Man's Folly

Actor
Ariadne Oliver
Movie
2013

Elephants Can Remember

Actor
Ariadne Oliver
Movie
2013

Dirty Britain

Narrator
Show
2012

The Blackheath Poisonings

Actor
Show
2011

Poirot: Hallowe'en Party

Actor
Ariadne Oliver
Movie
2011

My Week With MarilynStream

Actor
Paula Strasberg
Movie
2011
83%

It's a Wonderful Afterlife

Actor
Mrs. Goldman
Movie
2010

Masterpiece Mystery!

Actor
Show
2008

Masterpiece Mystery!

Guest Star
Show
2008

Ochberg's Orphans

Narrator
Show
2008

Poirot: Third Girl

Actor
Ariadne Oliver
Movie
2008

The Old Curiosity Shop

Actor
Mrs. Jarley
Movie
2007

The One Show

Guest
Show
2006

Johnny and the Bomb

Actor
Mrs. Tachyon
Movie
2006

My Family Christmas Special

Actor
Show
2005

Doctor WhoStream

Guest Star
Cassandra
Series
2005
90%

Doctor WhoStream

Guest Voice
Cassandra
Series
2005
90%

A Waste of Shame

Actor
Countess of Pembroke
Movie
2005

Miss Marple - Meurtre annoncé

Actor
Movie
2005

Agatha Christie's MarpleStream

Actor
Series
2004

Who Do You Think You Are?

Guest Star
Show
2004

Five Children and It

Actor
Martha
Movie
2004

My Family

Actor
Susan Harper
Show
2002

Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone: The Harry Potter Magical Movie Mode

Actor
Madame Hooch
Movie
2001

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's StoneStream

Actor
Madame Hooch
Movie
2001
81%

David Copperfield

Actor
Miss Murdstone
Show
2000

Storyville

Narrator
Show
2000

Gormenghast

Actor
Show
2000

David CopperfieldStream

Actor
Miss Murdstone
Miniseries
1999

The Magical Legend of the LeprechaunsStream

Actor
Mary Muldoon
Miniseries
1999

WildeStream

Actor
Ada Leverson
Movie
1997
72%

Swept From the Sea

Actor
Mary Foster
Movie
1997

The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd

Actor
Mrs. Holroyd
Show
1995

The English Wife

Actor
Caroline Griveau
Movie
1995

Love Hurts

Actor
Tessa Piggott
Show
1994

Prime SuspectStream

Actor
Moyra Henson
Series
1992
100%

Memento Mori

Actor
Olive Mannering
Movie
1992

The Countess Alice

Actor
Connie
Movie
1992

Fat Chance

Actor
Emma Pickford
Movie
1991

Gran Oportunidad

Actor
Movie
1991

Such Rotten Luck

Actor
Gila
Show
1989

Agatha Christie's PoirotStream

Actor
Ariadne Oliver
Series
1989

Le camping des Anglais perdus

Actor
Movie
1989

The Raggedy Rawney

Actor
Elle
Movie
1988

El Enigma del Hechicero

Actor
Movie
1988

Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story

Actor
Show
1987

Poor Little Rich Girl

Actor
Jean Kennerly
Movie
1987

Screen Two

Actor
Olive Mannering
Show
1985

Natural World

Narrator
Show
1983

Baal with David Bowie

Actor
Sophie
Show
1982

Enemy of the State

Actor
Movie
1981

Tales of the Unexpected

Actor
Margaret Smythe
Show
1979

A Christmas Carol

Actor
Belle
Movie
1977

Masterpiece

Actor
Franchise
1971

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