Susannah Harker (born 26 April 1965) is an English film, television, and theatre actor. She was nominated for a

BAFTA TV Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...

in 1990 for her role as

Mattie Storin This article is about characters in the ''House of Cards'' trilogy other than Francis Urquhart. The trilogy consists of three separate four part serials, '' House of Cards'', '' To Play the King'' and '' The Final Cut'', all based on identica ...

in ''

House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structu ...

''. She played

Jane Bennet The Bennet family is a fictional family created by the English novelist Jane Austen, in her 1813 novel, ''Pride and Prejudice''. The family consists of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, and their five daughters: Jane, Mary, Catherine, Lydia, and Elizabeth, ...

in the 1995 TV adaptation of ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...

.''

Early life and education

Harker was born in London. She is the daughter of actors

Polly Adams Pauline "Polly" Adams (born 27 August 1939) is an English actress best known for her work on the stage both in England and in the United States, and for her portrayal of Mrs. Brown on the television series ''Just William''. She made her Broadwa ...

and Richard Owens. She and her younger sister,

Caroline Caroline may refer to: People *Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

, were brought up as Catholics and educated at a "strict" independent convent boarding school run by nuns in Sussex, and at the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

in North London.

Acting career

Harker has acted in both contemporary and classic works, on stage, in movies and in TV series. In 1990–91 she appeared alongside

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series ''Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

in ''

Chancer ''Chancer'' is a British television crime drama serial, produced by Central Television for ITV, that first broadcast on 6 March 1990. Starring Clive Owen in the title role of Stephen Crane, ''Chancer'' tells the story of a likable conman and ...

'', and as the journalist Mattie Storin in the original ''

''. She later played Dinah Morris in the 1991 adaptation of ''Adam Bede''. She starred as

in the 1995 TV adaptation of

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

's ''

.'' She is featured as Emma Fitzgerald, the love interest of Superintendent Tyburn (

Trevor Eve Trevor John Eve (born 1 July 1951) is an English film and television actor. In 1979 he gained fame as the eponymous lead in the detective series ''Shoestring'' and is also known for his role as Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd in BBC televi ...

) in the BBC TV series, '' Heat of the Sun'' (1998). In 2003 she played Clare Keightley in the audio version of the ''Doctor Who'' adventure Shada, alongside

Paul McGann Paul John McGann (; born 14 November 1959) is an English actor. He came to prominence for portraying Percy Toplis in the television serial '' The Monocled Mutineer'' (1986), then starred in the dark comedy '' Withnail and I'' (1987), which wa ...

. On stage in 2005, she appeared in

Simon Stephens Simon Stephens (born 6 February 1971) is an English playwright and Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University. Having taught on the Young Writers' Programme at the Royal Court Theatre for many years, he is now an Artistic ...

's play ''

On the Shore of the Wide World ''On the Shore of the Wide World'' is a play by English playwright Simon Stephens. It opened 18 April 2005, at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, under the direction of Sarah Frankcom. On May 26, the production transferred to the Cottesloe s ...

'' at the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

. In 2008, she played Gwendoline in Charles Wood's ''Jingo'' at the

Finborough Theatre The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world pr ...

, where the

London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

reviewed her performance, saying "Susannah Harker, an actress who should appear more often in our major playhouses, is in beautifully crisp form as Gwendoline." She played Sapphire in

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include '' Doctor Who'', th ...

' audio revival of '' Sapphire & Steel'', in three series of plays released on CD between 2005 and 2008. In December 2011 Harker appeared in the BBC drama ''

Young James Herriot ''Young James Herriot'' is a three-part British television drama based on the early life of veterinary surgeon James Herriot. It is part of a series of movies and television series based on Herriot's novels. It features Iain De Caestecker as th ...

''. In 2012 she returned to the stage, playing the role of Sue in a London production of

Mike Leigh Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Des ...

's ''

Abigail's Party ''Abigail's Party'' is a play for stage and television, devised and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh. It is a suburban situation comedy of manners, and a satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class that emerged in Britain in the ...

.'' During early 2014 she starred in the

Gate Theatre, Dublin The Gate Theatre is a theatre on Cavendish Row in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1928. History Beginnings The Gate Theatre was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammóir with Daisy Bannard Cogley and Gearóid Ó Lochlainn. ...

production of ''

The Vortex ''The Vortex'' is a play in three acts by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The play depicts the sexual vanity of a rich, ageing beauty, her troubled relationship with her adult son, and drug abuse in British society circles after the ...

'' by

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

. She has also worked in radio. In 2015, she played Miss Ella Rentheim in a

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

production of

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's ''

John Gabriel Borkman ''John Gabriel Borkman'' is a 1896 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was his penultimate work. Plot The Borkman family fortunes have been brought low by the imprisonment of John Gabriel who used his position as a bank manager to ...

''. She played Kris in Radio 4’s 2021 drama ''Barred'' written by Thandi Lubimbi and Richard Kurti.

Personal life

Harker is a great-great-granddaughter of

Joseph Harker Joseph Cunningham Harker (17 October 1855 – 15 March 1927) was a British scene painter and theatrical designer in London. Bram Stoker, the author of ''Dracula'', named one of the leading characters (Jonathan Harker) in the novel after him. Caree ...

, an artist and theatrical scene designer. She was married to

Iain Glen Iain Alan Sutherland Glen (born 24 June 1961) is a Scottish actor. Glen is best known for his roles as Dr. Alexander Isaacs/Tyrant in three films of the ''Resident Evil'' film series (2004–2016) and as Ser Jorah Mormont in the HBO fantasy t ...

from 1993 to 2004; they have one son. She was later in a relationship with

from 2006 to 2008. Harker's sisters, Nelly Harker and

Caroline Harker Caroline Harker (born 1966) is an English stage and television actress, sister of actresses Nelly Harker and Susannah Harker, and daughter of actors Polly Adams and Richard Owens. She and her sisters are descended from theatrical designer Joseph ...

, are also actors.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harker, Susannah 1965 births Living people Actresses from London English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses

Susannah ''Susannah'' is an opera in two acts by the American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the ...

McGann family English radio actresses