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Lisa
Harrow | Roger Payne
 Lisa
Harrow was born in New Zealand. In 1966 she was awarded a scholarship
from the N.Z. Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council to study acting
abroad, and was accepted by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
in London. Upon leaving RADA she was invited to audition for
the Shakespeare Company and in her first season with them played
Olivia in Twelfth Night (opposite Judi Dench). Other
roles with the RSC included Desdemona in Othello, Anne
Bullen in Henry VIII, Portia in Merchant Of Venice,
(opposite Patrick Stewart), and Lady Amaranth in Wild Oats
(opposite Alan Howard). Other English theatrical highlights
include Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (opposite John Hurt),
Eliza in Pygmalion, The Queen in The Eagle has
Two Heads (directed by Susannah York), and Anne Whitfield
in Man and Superman opposite Peter O’Toole.
Her film career started in Rome, playing opposite Glenda Jackson
in The Tempter for which she won the Variety Club’s
Most Promising Newcomer award. She saved the world by killing
Damien in The Final Conflict (Omen III), and
played Helen Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small
and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet. Gillian Armstrong’s
film, The Last Days of Chez Nous earned Lisa an Australian
Oscar for Best Actress. In 1997 her film Sunday (opposite
David Suchet), won The Grand Jury Award at the Sundance
Film Festival, as well as an Independent Spirit Award
nomination for Lisa for Best Actress.
Lisa’s many TV credits include starring roles in Sense
of Guilt, The Strawberry Tree, Inspector Morse, and Come
In Spinner. She played Nancy Astor in the PBS/BBC series
of the same name and the title role in Lizzies’ Pictures.
Act of Betrayal cast her opposite Elliot Gould. Playing
Shakespeare (popularly known as the John Barton tapes),
introduced her to countless drama students in colleges all over
America. In Kavanagh QC on PBS she plays opposite John
Thaw, and her most recent miniseries, Jessica, made
in Australia won the award for Best Miniseries at the 40th Chicago
Film Festival.
In 1997 Lisa moved from London to Vermont with her husband,
whale-biologist Roger Payne, and her son Tim (by actor Sam Neill).
Her theatrical work since then has included: Vivian Bearing
in Wit (New York, Vermont’s Northern Stage, and the Pittsburgh
Public Theater); Celia in The Late Middle Classes at
the Williamstown Theatre Festival; Anna in Old Times
at the George St Playhouse; Margaret in The Last True Believer
at the Seattle Rep; Medea in Medea at the Pittsburgh
Public Theater (for which she won the Performer of the Year
award); Margrethe in Copenhagen at Santa Fe Stages;
Kate Keller in All My Sons at both Northern Stage and
the Chautauqua Theatre; Elizabeth I in Mary Stuart
at the Pittsburgh Public Theater; Raynevskya in two productions
of The Cherry Orchard (Yale Repertory Company, and
the Chautauqua Theatre); and Eleanor of Aquitaine in The
Lion in Winter (Northern Stage in Vermont).
Lisa’s and Roger’s shared environmental interests
have led to the creation of SeaChange: Reversing the
Tide, a performance piece that uses science and poetry
to urge us all to make sustainable living our primary goal.
Lisa is also the author of the environmental handbook What
Can I Do?, separate editions of which have been published
in the US, Australia New Zealand and the UK. |
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