Kathryn Hunter

Aikaterini Hadjipateras (; born 9 April 1957), known professionally as Kathryn Hunter, is a British-American actress and theatre director, known for her work in physical theatre. Hunter has appeared as Arabella Figg in the '' ''Harry Potter'''' film series, as Eedy Karn in the Disney+ ''Star Wars'' series '' Andor'', and as the Three Witches in Joel Coen's '' The Tragedy of Macbeth''.

Early life and education

Hunter was born in New York to Greek parents, and was raised in England. She has a twin sister and two brothers. Hunter trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where she later became an associate and directed student productions; she also studied clowning with Philippe Gaulier.

Hunter experienced depression in her early life. During her time at RADA, she was in an automobile collision that "left her with a broken back, pelvis and arm, a smashed elbow, a crushed foot and a collapsed lung. She was told she would never walk again and was left with a crooked back, a bent elbow and a permanent limp". In 2022, Hunter stated in an interview that the automobile collision was not an accident, but a suicide attempt.

Career

Stage work

In her stage work, Hunter is particularly associated with physical theatre, having been described as a "virtuoso physical performer."

She has worked with renowned companies in that field including Shared Experience and Complicité. She won an Olivier Award in 1991 for playing the millionairess in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's '' The Visit''.

Critics have noted Hunter's unusual physical presence and her range. Charles Spencer of '' The Telegraph'' wrote, "diminutive in stature, and slightly lame, she has a deep, guttural voice, eyes like black olives and the most expressive of faces. Almost nothing seems beyond her range, from farcical clowning to deepest, darkest tragedy."

Hunter's "uncommon ability to shape-shift" has led her to play roles typically reserved for male actors. She was the first British woman to play ''King Lear'' professionally.

Hunter's portrayal of Lear conscientiously challenged the audience to separate character and performer: her voice and clothing read as male, but she physicalized lines such as "Down from the waist they are Centaurs/Though women all above" to remind the audience of the female body playing the part. Another male role she played was in ''The Bee'', directed by Hideki Noda, which played at the Soho Theatre in June 2006 and 2012.

Hunter has also played animals and other creatures. In ''Kafka's Monkey'', a solo piece based on Franz Kafka's " A Report to an Academy," she played a monkey delivering a speech to a scientific society about its transformation from a monkey to a man. The piece was a highly acclaimed sell-out success at the Young Vic in 2009, where it was reprised in May 2011. It toured to the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York in April 2013. According to Charles Isherwood of ''The New York Times'', Hunter's performance had "wry wisdom, a touch of cheeky humor and, above all, a sense of dignity."

In November 2013, she co-starred as the fairy Puck in Julie Taymor's production of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream,'' the show that opened the Theatre for a New Audience in Brooklyn. Ben Brantley of ''The New York Times'' described Hunter's Puck as "genuinely original" and "part music-hall comedian, part fairground contortionist."

In 2008, Hunter co-starred in ''Fragments'', a collection of short plays by Samuel Beckett that was directed by Peter Brook. Of the London run at the Young Vic, Andrew Dickson of ''The Guardian'' wrote, "the evening belongs to Kathryn Hunter, who crams into a few minutes of stage time more than most actors achieve in a career." The piece toured internationally, appearing in New York in 2011.

Hunter was made an Artistic Associate at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 2008.

From January to March 2009, she debuted as an RSC director with a production of '' Othello'' at the Warwick Arts Centre, Hackney Empire, Northern Stage, Oxford Playhouse and Liverpool Playhouse. Her husband, Marcello Magni, was movement director on the production and appeared in it as Roderigo. Other cast members included Michael Gould as Iago, Patrice Naiambana as Othello, and Natalia Tena as Desdemona.

In 2010, Hunter played Cleopatra in a production of '' Antony and Cleopatra'' and the Fool in a production of ''King Lear'' at the RSC's Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The latter performance was described as "outstanding".

In January 2011, she withdrew from these roles shortly before the plays were due to be revived.

In February 2016, Hunter took the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Southwark Playhouse, London. ''Guardian'' critic Michael Billington wrote, "Hunter is an astonishing shape-shifting performer who can play just about anything" but ''Telegraph'' critic Jane Schilling called Russell Bolam's production "an opportunity squandered." In 2017, she starred in the title role in '' The House of Bernarda Alba'' at the Royal Exchange in Manchester.

In 2018, Hunter returned to the RSC to play the title role in '' Timon of Athens'', directed by Simon Godwin.

From December 2022 to June 2023, Hunter played the lead role of Janina Duszejko in a stage adaptation of the Polish mystery novel '' Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead'', adapted for the stage by Complicité.

TV and film

Hunter's screen work includes a supporting role in the TV series ''Rome'' as Cleopatra's companion, Charmian, and voicing Gorn in '' Tron: Uprising''. In a 2001 '' Silent Witness'' story titled "Faith" (BBC), Hunter played the role of Sister Geraldine Catterson. In 2018, she starred in the BBC Two drama '' Black Earth Rising'' as Capi Petridis, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Beginning in 2022, Hunter portrayed Eedy Karn in the television series '' Andor''.

Notable film work includes Mike Leigh's '' All or Nothing'' (2002) and Harry Potter's neighbour, Arabella Figg, in the fifth film of the ''Harry Potter'' series, '' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' (2007).In 2021, she earned acclaim in her portrayal of the Three Witches in Joel Coen's '' The Tragedy of Macbeth''; for her performance, she was awarded the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Personal life

Hunter married actor Marcello Magni, the co-founder of Complicité, in 2011. The couple remained married until Magni's death in 2022.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Kathryn
1957 births
English film actresses
English television actresses
English stage actresses
English Shakespearean actresses
English people of Greek descent
Royal Shakespeare Company members
Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Laurence Olivier Award winners
English theatre directors
British women theatre directors
Living people
Actresses from New York City
American emigrants to England
American theatre directors
American women theatre directors
American people of Greek descent
20th-century English actresses
21st-century English actresses