Pauline Quirke

Pauline

Pauline discovered acting at the age of 9 when a couple of after-school clubs were formed by local teachers. One was country dancing, the other was a drama club. Not fancying country dancing, Pauline joined the drama club and has not stopped entertaining the nation since.

From this start, professional work followed almost by accident. In that year, still aged 9, she was cast in her first professional role as a child arsonist in 'Dixon of Dock Green', with her career evolving from there. Pauline appeared in numerous TV programmes including her own chat show at the age of 15 entitled 'Pauline's People' and 'Pauline's Quirkes'. Subsequent productions included 'The Further Adventures of Oliver Twist', 1980's hospital drama, 'Angels', and TV series 'Shine on Harvey Moon'.

Her Roles

Her many TV roles include 'Our Boy', 'Last Christmas' (with Ray Winstone), 'Real Women', 'Maisie Raine', 'David Copperfield' (with Daniel Radcliffe), 'North & South', 'Emmerdale', not forgetting her BAFTA-nominated performance in 'The Sculptress' and her portrayal of Susan Wright in ITV's award-winning drama, 'Broadchurch' with David Tennant and Olivia Coleman (although we think her own dog 'Bailey' stole the show!).

Pauline is most famous for her role as Sharon Theodopolopodous in 'Birds of a Feather' running 127 episodes from 1986 to 2016. Pauline has won the Royal Television Society's Award for 'Best Comedy Newcomer', the coveted Fipa D'Or Biarritz Award at the Cannes Television Awards and a BAFTA nomination.

Pauline's Legacy

Pauline is an honorary member of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a patron of the Rennie Grove Hospice, a supporter of Children with Leukaemia, Children in Crisis, and Children's Hospices UK and has just launched her own Charity 'PQA Trust' to help deprived children get performing arts training to build confidence and learn skills for life.

In 2007 Pauline opened her very first Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts. Now there are over 200 Academies across the country, with more planned, teaching over 13,000 children aged between 4 and 18 the delights and disciplines of Comedy & Drama, Musical Theatre, and Film & Television.

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