Michelle Fairley

Michelle Fairley, 2013
Michelle Fairley (2013)
Born	(1964-01-17) 17 January 1964 Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1988–present

Michelle Fairley (born 17 January 1964) is a Northern Irish actress, best known for her role as Catelyn Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

Early life

Born in Coleraine, Northern Ireland to locally renowned publicans Theresa and Brian Fairley. She attended a Roman Catholic grammar school. As a teenager, she became a member of the Ulster Youth Theatre, where she fell in love with acting. Upon graduation, she moved to Belfast where she honed her skills with the repertory company Fringe Benefits, alongside a fellow alumnus of the Ulster Youth Theatre, Conleth Hill.

Career

She appeared in a range of British television shows, including The Bill, Holby City and Heartbeat. Some of her earlier roles were as Cathy Michaels on ITV1's Inspector Morse in the episode titled "The Way Through The Woods" and as Nancy Phelan in Lovejoy in the episode 9 of Season 3 titled "Smoke Your Nose".

She took over the role of Mrs. Granger from Heather Bleasdale (who had played Mrs. Granger in Chamber of Secrets) in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows films. On 19 March 2010, it was announced that she would play the role of Catelyn Stark in the HBO series Game of Thrones replacing Jennifer Ehle who played the character in the original pilot episode.

On 4 June 2013, E! news confirmed that she had joined the cast of the USA Network series Suits for its third season. Fairley will take on the recurring role of Ava Hessington.

Personal life

Fairley maintains a home in London when not working abroad.

Stage credits

Year	Play	Role	Notes
2007	Othello (Donmar Warehouse)	Emilia	Olivier Award Nomination
2009	Dancing at Lughnasa (Old Vic)	Kate
2010	Greta Garbo Came to Donegal	Paulie Hennessy
2006	The Wild Duck (Donmar Warehouse)	Gina
2000	The Weir	Valerie
2003	Scenes From The Big Picture (on Broadway)	Helan
2007	Macbeth	Lady Macbeth
2003	Loyal Women, Neverland (Royal Court Theatre)	Brenda
2006	Gates Of Gold (Trafalgar Studios)	Alma
1993	Oleanna (Royal Court Theatre)	Carol
2004	Ashes To Ashes Pinter (Lyric Theatre)

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1988	Hidden City	Cleaner
1990	Hidden Agenda	Teresa Doyle
1998	A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries	Miss O'Shaunessy
1998	Hideous Kinky	Patricia	Known as Marrakech Express in France
2000	The Second Death	Aisling
2001	The Others	Mrs Marlish	Also known as Les autres (France) and Los otros (Spain)
2001	Byw yn dy Groen (Living in your Skin)	Gina	Welsh language film, set primarily in Pembrokeshire
2002	Shearing	Yvonne	2002 Cannes Film Festival premiere (directed by Eicke Bettinga)
2006	The Catherine Tate Show: Series 3	Rosemary	Sketch character about a Northern Irish mother with a gay son
2009	Best: His Mother's Son	Ann Best
2009	Misfits	Louise Young
2010	Cup Cake	Annie McNabb
2010	Anton Chekhov's The Duel	Marya
2010	Chatroom	Rosie
2010	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1	Mrs. Granger
2010	Midsomer Murders	Iris Holman	Episode "The Noble Art"
2011	Silent Witness	DI Suzy Harte	Episode "First Casualty"
2011–2013	Game of Thrones	Lady Catelyn Stark	25 episodes Nominated—Scream Award for Best Ensemble Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2013	The Invisible Woman	Caroline Graves	post production
2013	Suits	Ava Hessington	Season 3 Recurring Character

External links

• Michelle Fairley at IMDb
• Fairley Mad - Michelle Fairley fansite featuring news, photos, and fan art.