Niamh Cusack

Niamh Cusack (/ˈ n iː v / NEEV ; born 20 October 1959) is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, and many others. Her most notable television role was as Dr. Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995). Other TV and film credits include Always and Everyone (1999–2002), The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995), The Closer You Get (2000), Agatha Christie's Marple ("4:50 from Paddington", 2004), Midsomer Murders (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), In Love with Alma Cogan (2011), Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015), Chick Lit, The Ghoul (2016), The Virtues (2019), Death in Paradise (2021), The Tower (2023). She has been nominated at IFTA for her performance in Too Good to be True (2004).

Born 1959, in Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland, she is daughter of the Irish actor Cyril Cusack. She has two sisters, Sinéad Cusack and Sorcha Cusack, and half-sister Catherine Cusack. She has two brothers, Paul Cusack, a television producer, and Pádraig Cusack, a producer for the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain. Cusack's husband is the actor Finbar Lynch; they have a son, Calam.

Niamh Cusack was educated bi-lingually (Irish and English) in Dublin. She trained as a professional flautist, winning a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music. Subsequently, she worked as a freelance musician with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, and Concert Orchestra before winning a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to train as an actor.

In 1985, Cusack played the role of Irina in Kasparov Wrede's production of Three Sisters at Royal Exchange, Manchester, before playing Desdemona opposite Ben Kingsley in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of Othello. She starred opposite Sean Bean in the 1986 RSC production of Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the 1990s Cusack worked regularly on the London stage in a series of leading roles including Nora Clitheroe in Sam Mendes's acclaimed production of The Plough and the Stars (Young Vic) opposite Judi Dench, Rosalind in As You Like It (Barbican), Flora in Tom Stoppard's Indian Ink (Aldwych) and The Maids (Donmar Warehouse). In the summer of 2003, she appeared as Portia in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice at the Chichester Festival Theatre, directed by Gale Edwards.

In 2004, Cusack joined the National Theatre for a stage adaptation (by Nicholas Wright) of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials as Serafina Pekkala. The production also featured Anna Maxwell Martin, Ben Wishaw and Patricia Hodge. In 2007, Cusack returned to National Theatre to appear in Victoria Benedictsson's The Enchantment, and played Alison Ellis in Crestfall by Mark O'Rowe at Theatre503. In 2009, she played Maggie in the first major revival in London of Brian Friel's multi award-winning Dancing at Lughnasa alongside her husband Finbar Lynch at the Old Vic. In 2010, she played Catherine Dickens in Andersen's English, a play by Sebastian Barry.

In 2011, she appeared in The Painter by Rebecca Lenkiewicz,[10] opposite Toby Jones and followed it with the role of Edith Davenport in Cause Célèbre by Terence Rattigan and The Widow Quin in The Playboy of the Western World by J.M. Synge, both at the Old Vic.[11]

In August 2012, Niamh Cusack rejoined the National Theatre to create the role of Siobhan in the world première of the stage adaptation of Mark Haddon's book The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-Time adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Marianne Elliott. The show premièred on 2 August 2012. It also starred Luke Treadaway as Christopher, Nicola Walker as his mother Judy, Paul Ritter as his father Ed and Una Stubbs as Mrs. Alexander.

The production, which ran until late October 2012, was broadcast live to cinemas worldwide on 6 September 2012 through the National Theatre Live programme. Niamh was nominated for a Whatsonstage.com Award in 2012 in the Best Supporting Actress in a Play category for her role in Playboy of the Western World at the Old Vic. The nominations for the 2013 Olivier Awards, which recognise excellence in professional productions staged in London, were announced on 26 March 2013; The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-Time secured the most nominations with eight, including Best New Play, Best Director (Elliott), Best Actor (Treadaway),[12] Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and other categories including Best Set Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Sound Design and Best Choreographer.[13] The show transferred to the Apollo Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, London on 1 March 2013 with Cusack reprising her role of Siobhan. Cusack returned to the London stage in 2016 as Paulina in The Winter's Tale at the Globe and Owen McCafferty's Unfaithful at Found 111 in the West End.

In 2017, she was cast in the leading role of Lenú in the world premiere of the stage adaptation of the multi award-winning tetralogy of books My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante at the Rose Theatre which transferred to the Olivier Theatre of the Royal National Theatre in 2019. In between the transfer in 2018, Cusack returned to the Royal Shakespeare Company in another leading role as Lady Macbeth opposite Christopher Eccleston which transferred to London's Barbican Theatre. In the first stage adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Remains of the Day by Barney Norris, Cusack was cast as Miss Kenton, the role previously made famous on screen by Emma Thompson. During this busy period of theatre work, Cusack returned to the small screen as Janine in the acclaimed 4-part series The Virtues directed by Shane Meadows.

In April 2020, Cusack was scheduled to make her long-awaited debut at the Abbey Theatre in Brian Friel's Faith Healer opposite Aidan Gillen and directed by Joe Dowling.[14] Due to COVID-19, the production was postponed to 2022. For her performance she was nominated Best Actress in a Support Role at the Irish Times Theatre Awards. In 2022, she starred as Gertrude in Hamlet by Bristol Old Vic along with her real life husband Finbar Lynch.[15] Most recently in 2023, she led the cast in the first major revival of Polly Stenham's That Face at London's Orange Tree Theatre.

In 1989 Cusack took the part of an actress, Valerie Saintclair, in the ninth episode of the first series of Agatha Christie's Poirot entitled The King of Clubs.[16] Cusack came to the wider public's attention when she starred as Dr. Kate Rowan in the popular 1990s television drama series Heartbeat (1992–1995), set in the 1960s in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Her character died from leukaemia in series 5 leaving her policeman husband Nick, played by Nick Berry, a widower. She had decided to leave the show after becoming pregnant. Cusack was nominated in the category of Best Actress in a TV Drama in 2004 at the 2nd Irish Film & Television Awards for her performance in the Cartlon Television TV film Too Good to be True.[17]

She played Christine Fletcher in Always and Everyone (1999–2002), a British accident and emergency medical series alongside Martin Shaw; Grace Haslett in the miniseries State of Mind,[16] alongside Andrew Lincoln; Julie Flynn in the one off drama Rhinoceros alongside Robson Green and the small but important role of Beatrix Potter in the TV series The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995).[16] She played Wodehouse's Bobbie Wickham in the ITV series Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993). She played a character in an Agatha Christie's Marple series,[16] ("4:50 from Paddington", 2004),[16] and has starred in episodes of Midsomer Murders (2008) and A Touch of Frost (2010),[16] alongside David Jason. She starred in the film The Closer You Get (2000),[16] alongside Seán McGinley. She appeared in Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015),[16] Chick Lit,[16] and in the British psychological crime horror The Ghoul (2016).[16]

In 2021, she starred as Maggie O'Connellin two episodes of Death in Paradise (2021).[16] In 2023, she starred as Claire Mills in Series two of The Tower, alongside Tamzin Outhwaite.[18]

In January 2013, she was nominated for a BBC Audio Drama Award in the Best Supporting Actress category for The Man with Wings by Rachel Joyce, produced by Gordon House, Goldhawk Essential Productions for Radio 4. Cusack played Molly Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses for BBC Radio 4 which aired a new 9-part adaptation dramatised by Robin Brooks, produced and directed by Jeremy Mortimer. The series began on Bloomsday (16 June) 2012.[19]

Cusack is married to the actor Finbar Lynch. They met when rehearsing in Dublin in the theatre production of Three Sisters in 1990. They have one son, actor Calam Lynch. Cusack is a keen athlete and has run the London Marathon for the charity St Joseph's Hospice in 2003.[20]