Cando-American actress Kate Nelligan has had a successful acting career in her native Canada, in Britain and in the United States. Born Patricia Colleen Nelligan on March 16, 1950 in London, Ontario, Kate was the daughter of blue collar-worker Patrick Nelligan and his wife Josephine (née Deir), a schoolteacher who suffered from 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 on stage and on television. As a member of the National Theatre, she gave a much lauded performance in "Tales from the Vienna Woods" and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for
David Hare's
Plenty (1985). (Ironically, she was beaten by Lady Olivier,
Joan Plowright, but would soon play opposite of her husband and
Frank Langella in the 1979 version of "Dracula".) Her performance as Isabella in Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" (1979) also was highly acclaimed.
She had her shot at movie stardom with
Dracula (1979) and
Eye of the Needle (1981), but did not become a star. She moved to Manhattan in the early 1980s, dropped the English accent, and won stardom on the Broadway boards, racking up four Tony Award nominations for Best Actress. On the screen, both big and small, she established herself as a top-notch and in-demand supporting player and character actress. Nelligan 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.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit(1999)as Trial Judge Sylvia Quinn
Eleventh Hour(2008)as Gepetto
Premonition(2007)as Joanne
In from the Night(2006)as Vera Miller
Human Cargo(2004)as Nina Wade
Frankenpimp's Revenge: The Romeo and Juliet Massacre(2020)
Wigstock: The Movie(1995)
Stolen Moments(1997)as Narrator
The Rosie O'Donnell Show(1996)as Self - Guest
Weird Sex and Snowshoes: A Trek Through the Canadian Cinematic Psyche(2004)as Catherine
The Revamping of Dracula(2004)
