Kathryn Hunter

Aikaterini Hadjipateras (; born 9 April 1957), known professionally as Kathryn Hunter, is an American-born British actress and theatre director known for her work in physical theatre. Hunter has appeared as Arabella Figg in the Harry Potter film series, as Eedy Karn in the Disney+ Star Wars series Andor, and as the Three Witches in Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth. Hunter's accolades include the Olivier Award for Best Actress and the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Early life and education Hunter was born as Aikaterini Hadjipateras on 9 April 1957 in New York, United States, to Greek parents. She was raised in England. She has a twin sister and two brothers.

Hunter trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where she later became an associate and directed student productions; she also studied clowning with at in France.

During Hunter's time at RADA, she was seriously and permanently injured in an incident referred to for most of her career as a "car accident"; she broke her back, pelvis and one arm, smashed an elbow, crushed a foot and suffered a collapsed lung. Hunter was told she would never walk again and was left with a crooked back, a bent elbow, and a permanent limp. Years later, Hunter stated in an interview that her injuries occurred when she attempted suicide by jumping out of a window.

Hunter has worked with renowned companies, including Shared Experience and Complicité.

Critics have noted Hunter's unusual physical presence and her range. Charles Spencer of The Telegraph wrote, "diminutive in stature, and slightly lame, she has a deep, guttural voice, eyes like black olives and the most expressive of faces. Almost nothing seems beyond her range, from farcical clowning to deepest, darkest tragedy."

Hunter's "uncommon ability to shape-shift" has led her to play roles typically reserved for male actors. She was the first British woman to play King Lear professionally. Hunter's portrayal of Lear conscientiously challenged the audience to separate character and performer: her voice and clothing read as male, but she physicalised lines such as "Down from the waist they are Centaurs/Though women all above" to remind the audience of the female body playing the part. She also played a male role in The Bee, directed by Hideki Noda, which played at the Soho Theatre in June 2006 and 2012.

Hunter has also played animals and other creatures. In Kafka's Monkey, a solo piece based on Franz Kafka's "A Report to an Academy," she played a monkey delivering a speech to a scientific society about its transformation from a monkey to a man. The piece was a highly acclaimed sell-out success at the Young Vic in 2009, where it was reprised in May 2011. It toured to the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York in April 2013. According to Charles Isherwood of The New York Times, Hunter's performance had "wry wisdom, a touch of cheeky humor and, above all, a sense of dignity." Ben Brantley of The New York Times described Hunter's Puck as "genuinely original" and "part music-hall comedian, part fairground contortionist."

In 2008, Hunter co-starred in Fragments, a collection of short plays by Samuel Beckett that was directed by Peter Brook. Of the London run at the Young Vic, Andrew Dickson of The Guardian wrote, "the evening belongs to Kathryn Hunter, who crams into a few minutes of stage time more than most actors achieve in a career." The piece toured internationally, appearing in New York in 2011.

From January to March 2009, Hunter debuted as an RSC director with a production of Othello at the Warwick Arts Centre, Hackney Empire, Northern Stage, Oxford Playhouse and Liverpool Playhouse. Her husband, Marcello Magni, was movement director on the production and appeared in it as Roderigo. Other cast members included Michael Gould as Iago, Patrice Naiambana as Othello, and Natalia Tena as Desdemona.

In 2010, Hunter played Cleopatra in a production of Antony and Cleopatra and the Fool in a production of King Lear at the RSC's Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. The latter performance was described as "outstanding".

In February 2016, Hunter took the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac at the Southwark Playhouse, London. Guardian critic Michael Billington wrote, "Hunter is an astonishing shape-shifting performer who can play just about anything" but Telegraph critic Jane Schilling called Russell Bolam's production "an opportunity squandered." In 2017, she starred in the title role in The House of Bernarda Alba at the Royal Exchange in Manchester.

In 2018, Hunter returned to the RSC to play the title role in Timon of Athens, directed by Simon Godwin.

From December 2022 to June 2023, Hunter played the lead role of Janina Duszejko in a stage adaptation of the Polish mystery novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, adapted for the stage by Complicité.

Film and television Hunter's screen work includes a supporting role in the TV series Rome as Cleopatra's companion, Charmian, and voicing Gorn in Tron: Uprising. In a 2001 Silent Witness story titled "Faith" (BBC), Hunter played the role of Sister Geraldine Catterson. In 2018, she starred in the BBC Two drama Black Earth Rising as Capi Petridis, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Beginning in 2022, Hunter portrayed Eedy Karn in the television series Andor.

Notable film work includes Mike Leigh's All or Nothing (2002) and Harry Potter's neighbour, Arabella Figg, in the fifth film of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007). In 2021, she earned acclaim in her portrayal of the Three Witches in Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth; for her performance, she was awarded the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Personal life Hunter married actor Marcello Magni, the co-founder of Complicité, in 2011. The couple remained married until Magni's death in 2022.

Filmography

Film

Television Year Title Role Notes 1992 Screen Two Margarita Guzman 1 episode 1994 Grushko Dr. Sopova 2 episodes 2001 Silent Witness Geraldine Catterson 2 episodes 2005–2007 Rome Charmian 4 episodes 2012–2013 Tron: Uprising Gorn 2 episodes (voice role)2018 Flowers Wendy 3 episodes Black Earth Rising Capi Petridis 2 episodes 2019 Les Misérables Madame Victurnien Miniseries, 1 episode 2021 Landscapers Tabitha Edwards Miniseries, 3 episodes 2022–2025 Andor Eedy Karn Recurring role 2024 Grotesquerie Maisie Montgomery 4 episodes 2024 Black Doves Lenny Lines Recurring role 2026 Ann Droid Eileen Recurring role