Fiona Shaw reveals how she nearly quit acting after feeling ‘no joy’

Irish actress Fiona Shaw has revealed how she nearly quit acting after feeling “no joy” at one point in her career.

The 68-year-old is best known for starring in Killing Eve and the Harry Potter franchise as the cold and repressed aunt Petunia Dursley.

Despite her long and acclaimed career, the award-winning actress said she considered quitting in 2013 while she was performing in a New York production of The Testament Of Mary, a stage adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novella.

Fiona Shaw on the cover of the Good Housekeeping UK November 2026 issue (Jonty Davies/Good Housekeeping UK/PA)

Speaking to Good Houskeeping UK, she said: “I was running one day between the matinee and the evening performance, and I saw the sign outside the theatre with my name on it.

“I felt no joy. I just felt tired.

“I thought I might stop acting and teach.”

The actress stars as wealthy widower and eager matchmaker Mrs Jennings alongside Daisy Edgar-Jones in the upcoming Dolly Alderton film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense And Sensibility.

Shaw said Edgar-Jones was a “lovely, enchanting girl” and that she has “every quality that I didn’t have at her age; she can withhold”.

Fiona Shaw on the cover of the Good Housekeeping UK November 2026 issue (Jonty Davies/Good Housekeeping UK/PA)

“When I was in my late 20s, I was busy saying, ‘Watch me do this!’ It took a long time to learn that the camera doesn’t want you to do any of that. I’ve got it now, I think,” she added.

The actress said her life has “surpassed any expectations” she had, and that despite being a film and TV star, she feels she is “quite ordinary”, describing herself as a “young old person”.

Shaw was named best supporting actress at the Bafta TV awards in 2019 for her role as senior MI6 officer Carolyn Martens in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s BBC thriller Killing Eve.

She also has won a number of Olivier awards including Actress of the Year in 1989/1990 for her performances in Electra, As You Like It and The Good Person Of Sichuan followed by the best actress gong in 1994 for her role in Machinal at the National Theatre.