Clare Higgins

Clare Frances Elizabeth Higgins (born 10 November 1955) is an English actress. Her film appearances include Hellraiser (1987), Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Small Faces (1996) and The Golden Compass (2007). A six-time Olivier Award nominee for her work in the theatre, Higgins received her first nomination in 1984 for her role as Stella Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. She has since won the Olivier Award for Best Actress three times; for Sweet Bird of Youth in 1995, Vincent in Brixton in 2003 and Hecuba in 2005. She made her Broadway debut in 2003 in Vincent in Brixton, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play. She returned to Broadway in the 2014 revival of A Delicate Balance. Early life Higgins, the first of six children, was born in Bradford, to Paula Cecilia (née Murphy) and James Stephen Higgins. Her parents were from working class Irish Catholic backgrounds, and worked as teachers. Higgins was interested in acting since her childhood. After being expelled from a convent school, she ran away from home at seventeen. At 19, she gave birth to a boy but gave him up for adoption at her social worker's insistence. Career At 23, Higgins graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Through the 1980s, she became a dynamic stage actress, both in London and on Broadway. She starred in the premiere of David Hare's The Secret Rapture, and won the first of her three Olivier Awards in 1995. In 1983, she starred with Ben Cross in the BBC's serial version of A.J. Cronin's The Citadel, playing the role of Christine Manson. For the big screen, Higgins played Julia Cotton in Clive Barker's Hellraiser (1987), based on Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart. She reprised the role for Tony Randel's Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988). Her other film credits include the Scottish film Small Faces (1996). In 2000 she appeared in Catherine Cookson's "The Secret" TV mini series as Maggie Hewitt, also in Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream (2007), and The Golden Compass (2007).