Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Lisa Harrow

Lisa Harrow, of the United States of America, received the insignia of an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the dramatic. Photo by New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General –Wikimedia commons

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Lisa Harrow

Lisa Harrow’s resume establishes her as one of New Zealand’s most prolific acting exports. She got serious about screen acting in the 1980s after featuring in Twelfth Night for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the age of 25, and continued to work everywhere including Iceland to Australia, including roles in Kiwi films Other Halves and Shaker Run. Along with her acting, Harrow now advocates for environment protection on both the stage and the page.

1.Harrow’s early upbringing and her educational background

Harrow was born on August 25, 1943, in the Auckland suburb of Mount Eden, the child of Kennedy Mayo Harrow and Eleanor Joan Harrow (née Stacpoole). She attended the University of Auckland before graduating from RADA in 1968 and joining the BBC Radio Repertory Company.

2.Lisa’s career in acting first started in the theatre

Her stage career began at the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she played Olivia opposite Judi Dench in John Barton’s production of Twelfth Night and Portia opposite Patrick Stewart in The Merchant of Venice.

Other notable parts in the UK theatre encompass of Juliet opposite John Hurt’s Romeo at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre and Ann Whitfield in Man and Superman opposite Peter O’Toole at London’s Theatre Royal, Haymarket.

Harrow has played on stages across the United States. As the end goal  off-Broadway production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Wit, she ran the key part of Vivian Bearing. She was labeled Pittsburgh’s 2001 Performer of the Year for Medea.

Raynevskya in The Cherry Orchard at Yale Rep and the Chautauqua Theatre Company, where she additionally performed as Kate Keller in All My Sons, are among her other credits. She portrayed Creusa in the Washington Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Euripides’ Ion, which ran from March 10 to December 12, 2009.

3.She started appearing on films and more screen time from the 1970’s

Lisa Harrow, of the United States of America, received the insignia of an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the dramatic. Photo by New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General –Wikimedia commons

Lisa started acting in movies in her mid-career. She co-starred with Glenda Jackson in the Italian-made film The Tempter (1974) [The Tempter], for which she received the Variety Club’s “Most Promising Newcomer” award, and made an emotional impact in the related period pieces All Creatures Great and Small (1975) and It Shouldn’t Happen to a Vet (1976) [All Things Bright and Beautiful].

4.Lisa’s inspiring journey throughout her acting career and becoming a household name

In the second-season episode ‘The Rack’ (1978), produced by Brian Clemens, Harrow appeared as a powerful counsel protesting at a Court of Inquiry for the disbandment of CI5. She also played Deputy Controller Lynn Blake in the BBC2 series 1990.

Harrow starred as reporter Kate Reynolds in Sam Neill’s horror film Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981), and performed with him again in Krzysztof Zanussi’s film From a Far Country. In 1985, she appeared in the New Zealand film Shaker Run and as Lizzie Dickinson in the BBC series Lizzie’s Pictures (1987). For her performance in The Last Days of Chez Nous, she received the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role (1992).

In Sins of the Father, Episode 13 of the Inspector Morse series for ITV, starring John Thaw, Harrow performed the tart-tongued, overlooked wife in a devious family of rich brewers. That same year, she appeared in the ABC-TV limited series modification of Come in Spinner and as Imogen Donahue in Agatha Christie’s Poirot novel ‘The Kidnapped Prime Minister.’

Her most recent television appearance in the United Kingdom was as Kavanagh’s wife Lizzie in the series Kavanagh QC, which also starred Thaw. She left the show after the third series (which aired in 1997) to move to America.

She starred as Marion in the New Zealand television series Step Dave in 2014.

5.Lisa was awarded an accolade in 2015 for her outstanding performance as an actress

Harrow was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to the dramatic arts.

6.Lisa’s private life away from the screen and her family background

Lisa Harrow, of the United States of America, received the insignia of an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the dramatic. Photo by New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General –Wikimedia commons

She was once married to actor Sam Neill, with whom she co-starred in Omen III: The Final Conflict, for a decade. Tim, their son, was born in 1983.

She now resides in Vermont with her husband, whale biologist Roger Payne. Payne is the Ocean Alliance’s CEO and chairman. He and Scott McVay unearthed that the lengthy, complicated, and seemingly random sound produced by male humpback whales are undoubtedly melodic, frequent sequences, and thus are appropriately referred to as ‘Whale songs.’ ‘SeaChange: Reversing the Tide’ is a lecture/performance piece established by the couple.

7.In the late 1990’s Lisa’s acting gigs started decreasing, she appeared less on films

Harrow’s busy screen career started slowing down in the early 1990s. Notwithstanding the positive reviews and an AFI award for Chez Nous, she received few film deals during the following five years, until she won awards for Sunday.

The film, which was shot in Washington, follows a short conversation between an English actor and a man (David Suchet) implying to be a film director. Variety described her as “hypnotic,” and the film won best film and script at Sundance.

Lisa had asked to be published out of TV’s Kavanagh QC in order to join her biologist husband Roger Payne on the Odyssey to study whales.

8.Aside from acting, Lisa has also written a book titled ‘What Can I Do?’

Lisa is the writer of the environmental guidebook ‘What Can I Do?,’ which has been published in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She has a website where she promotes her book. Lisa Harrow; Roger Payne’s introduction to the US edition (2004).

9.She has a lot more work with her husband, Roger in regards to the improvement of the environment

Lisa Harrow, of the United States of America, received the insignia of an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the dramatic. Photo by New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General –Wikimedia commons

Lisa and Doctor Roger Payne, founder and president of “Ocean Alliance” and internationally recognized whale expert, share ecological issues, particularly in her husband’s study area.

This resulted in the creation of “SeaChange: Reversing the Tide,” a performance piece that uses science and creative writing to encourage everyone to prioritize sustainable lifestyle.

Lisa and Roger also created and performed “Lessons From Copernicus,” a work of art and science that powerfully depicts how humanity has gone terribly wrong.

10.Lisa has narrated two different audiobooks

If you are interested in listening to audiobooks. It would be great if you took the opportunity to listen to ‘The Michael Palmer Value Collection’ and ‘The Patient.’