Clare Higgins (1955)

 early life

Higgins, the second of five children, was born in Bradford, England 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 to adoption because she was unable to raise him.

 career

At 23, she achieved her dream of becoming an actress, graduating from LAMDA. Through the '80s, she became a dynamic stage actress, both in London and on Broadway, including the premiere of The Secret Rapture, and won the first of her three Olivier Awards in 1995. In 1983, she starred with Ben Cross in the BBC production of A. J. Cronin's The Citadel, playing the role of Christine Manson. For the big screen, Clare gave a landmark performance as Julia Cotton in the violent, harrowing Clive Barker directed Hellraiser. The film was made in 1987 and was based on Barker's original novel The Hellbound Heart.

Higgins reprised the role in 1988 for Tony Randel's Hellbound: Hellraiser II. A successful sequel to Hellraiser, Hellbound was considered a brutal horror film that shocked audiences around the world and, in general, collected good reviews. The landmark movie marked forever the careers of all involved — William Hope, who had the most difficult scene with Higgins, to this day claims that Hellbound: Hellraiser II was the finest film he has ever done to date.

In 2007, Higgins took the rôle of Ma Costa in Chris Weitz's The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Dakota Blue Richards.

Higgins recently appeared as Jocasta in the National Theatre's critically acclaimed production of Oedipus, opposite Ralph Fiennes in the title role. From April 2009 to May 2009, she appeared in Wallace Shawn's The Fever at the Royal Court Theatre.

From mid-May 2009 to September 2009, she is appearing as the Countess Rossillion in All's Well That Ends Well at the National Theatre .