Kate Nelligan, a Canadian actress, has had a successful acting career in her native Canada, Britain, and the United States. Born Patricia Colleen Nelligan on March 16, 1950, in London, Ontario, she was the daughter of Patrick Nelligan, a blue-collar worker, and his wife Josephine (née Deir),a schoolteacher who struggled with alcoholism and mental illness.
Nelligan studied at Toronto's Glendon College, but left to attend the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She quickly established herself in the United Kingdom, both on stage and television. As a member of the National Theatre, she received widespread acclaim for her performance in "Tales from the Vienna Woods" and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for David Hare's "Plenty" (1985).
In 1979, Nelligan performed as Isabella in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure," which received high praise. She then had her shot at movie stardom with "Dracula" (1979) and "Eye of the Needle" (1981),but did not achieve stardom. In the early 1980s, she moved to Manhattan, dropped her English accent, and won stardom on the Broadway boards, earning four Tony Award nominations for Best Actress.
On the screen, both big and small, Nelligan established herself as a top-notch and in-demand supporting player and character actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress in "The Prince of Tides" (1991). Her performances in movies and television in her native Canada have brought her five Gemini Awards nominations.
