Janet Suzman

Dame Janet Suzman (born 9 February 1939 ) is a South African-born British actress who had a successful early career in the Royal Shakespeare Company, later replaying many Shakespearean roles on television. In her first film, Nicholas and Alexandra, her performance as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna earned her several honours, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Suzman later starred in a wide range of classical and modern drama as well as directing many productions in the UK and South Africa. Suzman appeared in A Dry White Season (1989), a film that examined apartheid.

Early life Janet Suzman was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a Jewish family, the daughter of Betty (née Sonnenberg) and Saul Suzman, a wealthy tobacco importer.

Her grandfather, Max Sonnenberg, was a member of the South African parliament, and her aunt was the civil rights and anti-apartheid campaigner Helen Suzman. Suzman was educated at the independent school Kingsmead College, Johannesburg, and at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Stage career After training for the stage at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art,

Personal life and honours In 1969, she married director Trevor Nunn and together they had a son. They divorced in 1986.

Suzman holds honorary DLitt degrees from the universities of Warwick, Leicester, London (QMW), Southampton, Middlesex, Kingston, Cape Town, Edge Hill and Buckingham.

She is an Honorary Fellow of the Shakespeare Institute, and was awarded the Pragnell Award for lifetime services to Shakespeare in 2012. She is a patron of the London International Festival of Theatre.

Awards and nominations

Filmography Reference: